ATM Tour – Meknes to Casablanca – Day 9 – 19 January 2026

The breakfast at the Riad Royal was exceptional. Besides, the Msemmen and Harsha were two more Msemmen like preparations, honey, butter, cheese, orange marmalade with bread, freshly squeezed orange juice and heavenly Moroccan coffee. With the intention of skipping lunch I tucked into the breakfast spread leisurely, taking time over the meal. There wasn't any sightseeing on the agenda for the day. It would just be the drive to Casablanca and return of the car to the rental company.

Fortunately, the skies were clear when I took the bags to the car from the riad. The working day traffic was picking up as I was leaving Meknes. The motorways were super, as is usual in Morocco, with a speed limit of 120 kph. Police patrols and mobile speed guns, besides the radar control kept vigil constantly. I bypassed Rabat and got to the outskirts of Casablanca in about 3 hours. The traffic snaked on the way into the city. I called up Riad 91, where I was booked for the overnight stay, and requested them to unload the baggage from the car so that I could drive directly to the rental company parking. They obliged.

As I was driving into the rental parking one of the executives met me and inspected the car. Apart from not having cleaned the car, everything else was alright. Hoping that I could escape the 50 MAD charge for cleaning, I told him that it was raining heavily on the way and I had no chance of getting the car cleaned, which was true. Anyway, the cleaning charge was nominal and hence, I didn't press the point. My deposit was immediately released with little documentation work. The executives asked me to give them feedback online, which I did.

The seven-day car rental had cost me Rs. 17,000, including full coverage. I had booked it through Discover Cars, which has become my favourite aggregator, thanks mostly to the Jordan experience. In the seven days I had driven 1564 km in Morocco, spending about Rs. 13,000 on fuel and Rs. 3300 on tolls. The MG3 had served me well and Morocco became the 48th country I had driven in.

On the way back to the riad I picked up a couple of cans of the local Moroccan beer "Flag Pils". It costs about Rs. 200 per 50 cl can. Created in 1960, the beer is brewed by the Brasseries du Maroc, using selected barley and aromatic hops. It has a coppery blonde colour with abundant foam and a pleasant fizz. Dinner was in one of the KFC outlets nearby. The chicken tasted pleasantly different from what I have had back home.

Back in the room I rearranged stuff in the suitcase and got ready for the flights the next day to Cochin via Kuwait. Rajiv Shah, the proprietor of Network Tours and Travels who had done the visas and flight bookings, sent me the boarding passes. The 18-day, 3-country ATM Tour has come to an end. 67 countries so far visited, of which I have driven in 48 of them. “100 at 70” remains my dream - to travel to 100 countries by age 70. 2 years and a bit left to travel to 33 countries. Reality happens when you dream and dreams are free.