Passports, Tickets, MAD Money

Although Morocco is not known for crime the danger of opportunist petty theft is something to keep in mind. We have to carry quite a lot of cash with us becuase there is no guarantee that ATM machines will work and if we need emergency repairs then cash will be king. The Moroccan dirham (MAD) is a closed currency so you can only exchange it in country with an official rate of about 10DR to 1 Euro.

I plan to take my normal multi-currency ATM debit card and also a Travelex prepaid card with some money on it as it is Mastercard and not Visa. Some outlets in Morocco only take one or the other and if one of the cards gets eaten by an ATM machine then I have a fall back.

With around 25-30 days on the trail even €50 a day would mean carrying about 1500 euros in cash at the start of the trip. Add to that all the key documents such as passports, original vehicle registration documents, medical insurance and other items and an opportunist theft would be a nightmare. Most of these papers would be discarded by a petty thief but the repercussions for me getting out of the country and back to the UK would be huge.

To help deter anyone who wants to smash a window and grab what they can I have bought a cheap car safe from Amazon. It would not resist an angle grinder (so no good for Liverpool) but if I put the box under the seat and connect the steel lanyard to the seat mounting it will give someone a real headache for smash and grab raid.

Hotels and B&B hotels are probably the most challenging places to store valuables and having the box locked in the car and secured to the seat rail is probably better than taking valuables into the room.