One month for the perfect Digital Detox
A Road trip with Kids over the north of Morocco

Text : Florencia Serrot

Photo : Detlef Schneider

The idea of this trip was to combine the need for a digital detox of 1 month of no digital devices with an adventure. The year had been intense, and many things started to swift after this turn of a full month of disconnection from the digital life and retaking the contact with the now that the lack of technology gives to everything.

 

There is suddenly time available again to write on notebooks, have long conversations and focus on yourself once you get out of the digital world that brings a lot of reconnection with oneself.

 

Right here, right now. The rest doesn´t exist. Combine that with a road trip around the north of Morocco with little kids, and you will feel like a different soul after the experience. Connecting in real life is much more rewarding than all the rest.

Pack your things, notebooks, books, analog camera, and pen and say bye to computer and mobile phone for a month. That means, you will not be available for anybody than the ones around you, that means the way you can reach other people is through a telephone call from a standard phone, that means you are not checking your email or working while you are experiencing life at its fullest. That also means no social media. For a month. Ever done it? What are you waiting for??


We decided that to be able to achieve a disconnection vibe, to do it from a different environment was going to be a huge help. Not in the city, or Europe, but Africa, and Morocco is one of my favorite countries. I had never made a trip over there with little kids and sounded like the perfect adventure. So we went as the hippies did in the ’70s, with a car, crossed the Atlantic through the south of Spain and the boat left us in Tangier..


Tangier is a marvelous city and a perfect start of a Road Trip due to its modern infrastructures and capacity to reach any other smaller city pretty fast. The pace of the city and the legends of the Boheme and artists that have fallen in love with the city inspired great walks. We enjoyed the cafe Hafa, a local restaurant founded in the 1920s where the beat generation writers used to hang out while living in Tangier in the ’60s where they serve a fantastic tea a la menthe. It was also fantastic to see that our little son loves to discover new places by taking long walks.

The Hills of Tangier is a wonderful neighbourhood on the top of the city full of Villas full of Buganvilles & 50´s arquitecture.

After Tangier, we headed to Asilah, to spend a few days at the beach.

We loved Asilah, a fishing little town with fantastic beaches, where we spend some sunny and relaxed time off. The next stop was going to be Chefchaouen, and we drove direction Tetouan, at the Riff Mountains, the mountains of the North, famous for the Riff cinema movement of the ’70s of Morocco. The ride went all the way up reaching Chefchaouen, a magic city where the walls of the houses have a sort of a cyan blue as a tone that has become the sign of the town.

 

Old Riads, adventures in the Zouk, and the chants of the prayers in the mountain gave this aventura trip a round effect. It was a magnificent  way to disconnect, but you need to organize a bit yourself to not fall in the worries of not being constantly available.

 

 

Our house in Chefchaouen was a Riad of 400 years with a fantastic rooftop and views of the city. Like any other city of Morocco, and you are sleeping in the Kasbah, you need to watch out how to get back to your house since there are no names of streets or nothing that can help you to get back. Again without mobile phones, your memory and how you remember the tiny streets and labyrinths is your only help to get back.

 

The city of Chefchaouen and the Riff Mountains at the back.

 

I love this photo because it was taken by our little son and is me and my husband after a month of having quality time as a family living the aventura road trip. Our second baby was conceived during this Road Trip and is a beautiful gift life sent as a surprise to us.

 

When you should consider a digital detox.
– In case you have been diagnosed with a burnout – which was my case – and need to make a significant break from the digital pace and lifestyle, is super helpful to have this kind of interruptions to detox from the noise of digital.
– When you feel that digital life is more important than what you experience in person, it sounds like a good time for this experience.
– When you are addicted to your devices and can´t even have a nice lunch without your mobile phone on the table, go for it. Detox.
-To see the world from a perspective of here and now again. Feels a bit like when you were younger, and the decisions were made as the day unfolded, and not based on notifications and knowing everything about what you are going to experience before it even happens. Yes, life before Google, social media and the distractions is a fantastic thing to experience.
-Consider the logistic of a digital detox depending on your capacity to be offline. You don´t have to start with a full month off, start with a day offline and from there see what happens. You can add up days to the experience and organize yourself to that break.
– Your awareness will be raised to the top once you get out of the digital sphere. You will feel more inspired and open to share conversations with strangers and live openly in the present moment