First 48h Living in my Truck in Africa, Solo

0:00 In today's episode, I finally arrive in Morocco

0:02 after a five day journey across the Mediterranean Sea,

0:05 marred by unexpected fire emergencies and delays.

0:08 (speaking in foreign language) (Ewa speaks in foreign language) Of course,

0:12 my first 48 hours in Africa don't exactly go according to plan either.

0:17 I gotta admit it, I'm not feeling great.

0:19 But we're here, and I've just gotten off

0:22 the Mediterranean ferry and driven onto the African landmass.

0:26 Oh my god, we have finally left that damn ship!

0:29 I am on Moroccan soil.

0:32 And now, I suppose the next step is to go through passport control and customs.

0:39 I just really hope that everything goes smoothly,

0:41 because I have heard and read that Moroccan

0:44 customs can be very strict and very thorough.

0:48 I don't have anything illegal with me, so that's a start.

0:53 But I don't know.

0:55 This might take a few hours, you know?

0:57 Someone told me yesterday that last time they were here,

0:59 it took them five hours to get through customs,

1:01 which is (huffs) a long time, so, let's see how this goes.

1:05 (ethnic acoustic music) Okay, we are approaching the customs check right now.

1:13 (ethnic acoustic music) I was told to switch off my camera and turn into a bay.

1:25 (Vilk barks) Okay.

1:27 I was really getting ready for a grilling.

1:30 And then.

1:30 Okay, all done.

1:32 We got through customs, and I am frankly shocked.

1:37 Because I was really expecting a grilling.

1:38 I was expecting questions about drones, about Vilk, about my plans.

1:44 Nothing.

1:45 Not a single question.

1:46 They just waved me through, and that was it.

1:49 It took like 15 minutes.

1:51 (laughs) Oh my god, I'm so, I'm just so excited.

1:55 I'm exhausted and excited.

1:57 Let's go to the beach.

1:59 I think Vilk and I really need to go to the beach right now,

2:02 and just sit on the sand for a little bit.

2:04 (whoops) (squeals) We're in Africa!

2:09 We're in Africa!

2:10 Vilk, we're in Africa!

2:12 He's like, "I don't think I care." (laughs) Let's do this!

2:17 (bright acoustic music) After months of prep,

2:20 it feels so surreal to finally be on African soil.

2:25 Right now, it feels like I'm living some kind of daydream,

2:27 and maybe that's because I didn't sleep much last night,

2:30 but it's still a little surreal that this is the third

2:33 continent that Vilk has been to, and the fourth for Odyssey.

2:38 (bright acoustic music) This is ridiculously beautiful.

2:44 What the heck?

2:46 Where am I?

2:47 (laughs) (speaks French) Well,

2:55 I guess we got our first river crossing in Morocco.

2:57 And this is day one.

2:59 You know, it's kind of amazing how you arrive

3:02 here and you're just immediately thrown into the culture.

3:06 Right now, I'm just driving through

3:07 these beautiful mountain villages on the coastline,

3:12 and oh my gosh, it just feels like this is the real thing, you know?

3:16 There's not a tourist in sight,

3:17 not a hotel in sight, just local life, that's it.

3:22 So cool!

3:24 (laughs) My strategy for finding spots

3:26 to camp or rest isn't particularly refined.

3:30 Perhaps as a full-time traveler,

3:31 I should have come up with something more reliable.

3:34 But my go-to method is to simply scan the satellite map of a region

3:38 with my own eyes and fingertips until I find a place that seems cool.

3:43 That strategy will get me into an unexpected pickle tomorrow,

3:47 but we'll get to that.

3:50 There's Odyssey in Africa.

3:52 (squeals and laughs excitedly) And here we are in Africa.

3:57 Buddy!

3:58 (ethnic music) Free.

4:06 I'm just in awe, honestly.

4:10 (ethnic music) You know,

4:14 it's kind of crazy to think that it took so long to get here,

4:18 like, basically almost five days.

4:22 And that over there is Europe.

4:23 You can see Europe on the horizon.

4:25 I believe that's Gibraltar, Spain.

4:30 Oh, so close yet so far.

4:33 Lead the way, Vilk.

4:34 Lead the way.

4:35 (ethnic acoustic music) Yes!

4:42 (Vilk barks) Good boy.

4:45 (ethnic acoustic music) There's a little tent here.

4:51 What's inside, buddy?

4:55 Kinda interesting.

4:55 I wonder what this is used for.

4:57 It's literally just a little tent perched on the shore here on the rocks,

5:01 and inside there's a pillow, and another pillow, I think, of some sort.

5:08 And that's it.

5:09 And then if you go inside, this is the view.

5:19 So I wonder if this is like, a fisherman's tent?

5:22 Or like, an army tent, you know?

5:24 Like a kind of lookout.

5:26 I guess it could be either.

5:28 Nice.

5:29 You wanna stay here for the night?

5:32 That's a clear no.

5:34 Okay, we don't have to stay here for the night.

5:37 (ethnic acoustic music) Okay, that's it.

5:47 Ready to go.

5:49 Where do we go?

5:51 Where do we go next?

5:52 That's the big question.

5:54 I am really starting to feel the after effects of that long ferry ride.

5:58 Bye, beautiful beach!

6:00 Bye Europe!

6:01 (laughs excitedly) We're in Africa!

6:04 (squeals) In truth, all I wanna do is to rest somewhere on solid

6:09 ground with fresh air for a day before really embarking on my journey.

6:14 (uplifting acoustic music) Are you a good boy?

6:22 Are you a little good boy?

6:24 Yeah.

6:26 A couple of first impressions in my first few hours on the road here in Morocco.

6:30 So, number one, the roads are really nice.

6:33 Very modern, smooth, lovely roads.

6:37 I'm not gonna be spending too much time on asphalt during this trip, I hope,

6:41 (chuckles) but it's good to know that, you know, there's a plan B out there.

6:46 And then the other thing that I've noticed is that there's

6:50 a lot of police presence and army presence on the roads here.

6:55 It seems like almost every 15 to 20 minutes there is,

6:59 you know, a police officer with a little,

7:01 little speed gun just waiting to catch you and incriminate you,

7:05 (laughs) hoping that you're over the speed limit.

7:08 And yeah, they're everywhere.

7:10 So much.

7:11 So much.

7:13 I mean, I don't think I'm in any immediate

7:15 danger of being caught on a speed camera because,

7:18 frankly, Odyssey's top speed is embarrassing.

7:23 About a hundred kilometers an hour, 60 miles per hour.

7:25 That's the top speed.

7:27 I have not driven that fast in Morocco yet.

7:29 (laughs) (uplifting acoustic music) See a little coffee car here.

7:36 Cafe Mobile.

7:37 Mobile Cafe.

7:39 (Ewa speaks French) Nice.

7:55 Aw, look at that thick, thick goodness.

7:57 Oh my gosh.

8:02 Okay.

8:03 (speaks foreign language) Yes!

8:09 I have been needing this so badly all morning.

8:13 Good boy.

8:15 Oh.

8:18 So, about 70 cents for this beautiful espresso.

8:25 Oh my god!

8:26 (laughs) That's a solid, very caffeinated kick.

8:34 (gentle acoustic music) So there are three things that I need to get done today.

8:43 Number one, I need to find water and fill up all of my water containers,

8:48 because I have exactly zero water.

8:52 The second thing that I need to do is get some lunch, because I'm starving.

8:57 And the third thing is find some kind of campsite for the night.

9:02 That's the mission for today.

9:04 I found a spot near the famous blue city of Chefchaouen.

9:07 It's an organized campsite, and my plan is to stop there for a couple of hours,

9:12 get water, reset, reorganize,

9:14 and then set off again to find somewhere less organized to spend the night.

9:18 I'm just about to arrive at a local campsite here.

9:22 I'm not planning on staying here for the night, but they should have water.

9:26 So I'm really hoping that I can just

9:29 use the amenities without actually staying the night.

9:34 To be honest, I really dislike staying at campsites.

9:38 It's kind of like staying in an outdoor hostel.

9:41 Okay.

9:42 So 65, yeah?

9:43 [Man] Mhmm.

9:43 So you wanna stay night or you leaving?

9:46 I will probably leave in a couple of hours.

9:49 (acoustic ethnic music) Okay,

9:52 so I had to get an overnight stay in order to use the amenities here,

9:57 but it's not very expensive.

9:59 It cost me about five bucks.

10:01 So we're gonna fill up on water, park the car,

10:05 go for a walk, take a little break,

10:08 and then come back and continue on to my campsite for the night,

10:10 which is gonna be somewhere in the mountain.

10:13 The idea behind campsites is that you're in nature,

10:16 but in fact, you're surrounded by people and campers.

10:20 Not my idea of nature.

10:23 But in the end, you know what?

10:24 I'm grateful that they're there,

10:26 because they can definitely come in handy on days like this.

10:31 We have a little problem.

10:33 So I was originally just gonna park here for a couple of hours, you know?

10:38 Sit down for a moment, fill up my water,

10:40 eat something, and then go up into the hills.

10:43 But as it turns out, I just sat down and I almost fell asleep.

10:47 (laughs) I am just now realizing how exhausted I am.

10:53 I got like three hours of sleep last night on the ferry.

10:55 And so I'm thinking that maybe, maybe I should just stay here for the night.

11:01 Maybe I should just set up camp and take it easy today, you know?

11:04 Day one.

11:06 I don't need to rush anywhere.

11:08 And it would be nice to take a warm

11:11 shower at some point today or tomorrow morning.

11:15 (sighs) Yeah.

11:19 Change of plans.

11:20 Oh man, this is exciting.

11:22 I haven't done this in a while.

11:24 (laughs) It's been months!

11:27 (soft ambient music) Oh, yes.

11:31 (soft ambient music) Home sweet home.

11:45 (soft ambient music) (soft ambient music continues)

12:05 (soft ambient music continues) Okay, you guys.

12:12 So, I gotta admit it, I'm not feeling great.

12:16 I feel really, really woozy, quite weak, and my head is spinning.

12:21 So really not awesome, so I'm really happy that I'm staying here for the night,

12:26 not going anywhere else.

12:28 I'm just gonna walk into town to get some food

12:32 from a restaurant that's about 10 minutes away from here.

12:35 So it's quite close.

12:37 I'm not bringing Vilk,

12:38 because I'm certain that restaurants don't allow dogs inside in Morocco,

12:45 and I want to just be able to quickly get some food and come back here.

12:49 So, he'll be fine.

12:50 He's inside Odyssey.

12:52 He's taking a bit of a break as well.

12:55 Oh my god.

12:57 I am so excited about getting into bed tonight.

13:00 (soft ambient music) There is this pretty little

13:06 forest path that leads down to the city center, the Medina, as it's called here.

13:12 I thought I would see like, dogs and cats here, but look who I just met.

13:17 Hello!

13:18 (soft ambient music) Hi!

13:25 Did you guys see that dog that was guarding his little flock of goats?

13:31 Yeah, I'm really glad I didn't bring Vilk along,

13:33 because I feel like that would've created a lot of conflict.

13:36 Vilk is a pretty dominant dog,

13:38 and I'm sure that dog is also protective of his herd,

13:43 so I feel like that could have definitely escalated.

13:47 So it was a good call not to bring Vilk along for this little walk.

13:52 Oh wow.

13:53 Look at those buildings!

13:55 Oh, how beautiful!

13:56 (soft ethnic music) I'm sure you've seen this town on Instagram.

14:00 Chefchaouen has become a super popular

14:02 destination thanks to its striking blue architecture.

14:05 There's a ton of different theories as to why this city has been painted blue.

14:09 Some say it's to keep the buildings cool in the hot months.

14:12 Others say it's to keep mosquitoes away,

14:15 or to bring the town closer to God and the idea of heaven,

14:18 or to mirror the Mediterranean sea.

14:20 Maybe there's a grain of truth in each of these explanations.

14:23 (soft ethnic music) It's really hard to like, convey just how blue this blue is.

14:30 It's so blue that you feel like you're inside a paint bucket.

14:37 Or a painting.

14:38 So intense!

14:42 Okay.

14:43 Thank you.

14:44 (speaks foreign language) (soft ethnic music) Oh, Moroccan mint tea.

14:53 This is exactly what I need right now.

14:55 (soft ethnic music) Mm.

15:01 So good.

15:02 Bye!

15:03 (speaks foreign language) Got myself some tagine,

15:06 got some olives, got some bread, got some cheese.

15:11 I'm so excited to get back to the truck,

15:13 get back to Vilk, and just chill for the rest of the day.

15:16 As beautiful as the city is,

15:18 I am barely even able to hold up this conversation between you and I.

15:24 (laughs) Let alone, like, properly focus on exploring.

15:28 You know, when you're traveling, you'll get days like this as well.

15:31 Like, it's just part of the deal,

15:32 especially if you've had a really long journey to get here.

15:35 (soft acoustic music) Oh yeah,

15:39 I forgot that I have to go up the hill on the way back.

15:43 (soft acoustic music) Hey buddy!

15:53 Hi!

15:54 Finally back.

15:55 (sighs) Hey buddy!

15:58 Hi hi!

15:59 (chuckles) Hi hi!

16:01 Okay, here we've got our quick snack.

16:04 Got some olives, some goats cheese with herbs, and some cheeky prawns.

16:10 Oh, and of course, that delicious Moroccan bread.

16:12 (soft acoustic music) You want a little bit of cheese?

16:27 (laughs) Good boy.

16:30 I have no idea where the day went.

16:33 I came back with food,

16:35 had a little walk with Vilk, planned my route for tomorrow,

16:40 and all of a sudden it's 8:00 PM and I'm about to fall asleep.

16:47 The wolf is already there.

16:51 He's so exhausted.

16:52 Bless him.

16:54 And I'm about to climb up to my bedroom.

16:58 If you are new to this channel,

17:00 then you probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but I'll show you.

17:05 And if you know what I'm talking about, then welcome back to the channel.

17:09 You know, I should definitely do like, a full tour of this truck.

17:14 Oh!

17:15 At some point, and I will, for sure.

17:18 But for now, I'll just show you this.

17:23 This is my bed!

17:25 It's kinda like a separate little floor.

17:27 So Vilk sleeps here in his little nook,

17:31 and then I sleep up here, and it's amazing.

17:34 Check me out.

17:36 I got a sheepskin blanket on top of my duvet.

17:41 This is like, real luxury.

17:43 So I'm gonna switch the main light off, just leave the fairy lights on.

17:47 So I still need to do a bit of work.

17:50 I'm actually uploading the files for this series right now as we speak,

17:54 because we're editing it pretty much as we go.

17:58 So my editor and I are working together on making sure

18:02 that we can publish these episodes for you as soon as humanly possible.

18:08 I'm kind of struggling to believe that just this morning

18:12 I got off the ferry from Europe and arrived in Africa.

18:17 Today has felt like the longest day I've had in a very long time.

18:22 So much has happened.

18:24 I am drained and exhausted.

18:26 I just finished up a little bit of work,

18:30 and now I'm definitely ready to go to bed.

18:35 I think for tomorrow, I wanna make sure that I find a really good wild campsite,

18:41 somewhere really remote,

18:42 where I can't hear noise and traffic in the background, you know?

18:47 I really wanna start getting out there and being more self-sufficient.

18:54 So that's the plan for tomorrow.

18:57 But in the meantime, let's get some sleep.

19:00 (soft acoustic music) Ooh.

19:04 Goodnight, buddy.

19:06 Good night, you guys.

19:09 Good morning!

19:11 So I left the campsite and Chefchaouen a couple of hours ago,

19:14 and I have since gone into these beautiful green hills

19:20 of Morocco where there's a ton of olive oil refineries.

19:25 Like, look at this one.

19:26 See, look at that!

19:27 That's, those are all olives!

19:29 Those little mounds of little black things?

19:32 Olives everywhere.

19:33 So I kind of wanna see if I can stop

19:35 at one of these and grab myself some beautiful fresh olives.

19:37 Oh, here we go.

19:38 That place looks really good.

19:39 (soft acoustic music) (speaks French) (speaking French) I

20:05 didn't know that I would be getting an entire,

20:08 this is like a three liter bottle of olives.

20:11 This is the most olives I've ever bought in my entire life.

20:15 Probably put together.

20:16 (chuckles) Okay.

20:17 (speaks foreign language) Okay.

20:19 This?

20:19 Wow, okay.

20:21 (speaks foreign language) This cost me five bucks!

20:29 Look at the size of this.

20:31 (laughs) It's crazy.

20:33 What am I gonna do with all these olives?

20:35 Vilk!

20:37 What are we gonna do with all these olives?

20:39 (speaks French) (laughs) (speaks French) (soft acoustic music) Sheesh,

20:50 I didn't think I'd be getting a lifetime supply of olives.

20:54 (laughs) I just wanted like, a little bag,

20:57 but I don't think, I don't think he understood what I wanted.

21:00 Or maybe he just didn't sell them in little bags.

21:02 Maybe all he sold was these giant containers of olives.

21:06 Vilk, I think he wanted you in exchange.

21:09 Yeah, I think he said that he would take you in exchange for the olives.

21:12 You wanted to stay there in Morocco?

21:14 In the mountains?

21:15 Yeah?

21:16 Don't worry, I wouldn't give you away.

21:18 No, I wouldn't give you away.

21:21 (lively acoustic music) Honestly,

21:27 driving through these northern parts of Morocco

21:30 feels a little bit like driving through Tuscany,

21:32 'cause we've got these beautiful, green,

21:34 rolling hills, all the olive trees everywhere.

21:38 It's absolutely gorgeous.

21:40 (bright acoustic music) All right, this is looking better and better.

21:50 We've just reached the end of the asphalt road.

21:53 So now this is just a dirt track,

21:55 leading deeper and deeper into these fields and olive groves.

22:00 And I'm really hoping that the spot I found on Google Maps last night,

22:04 just by scrubbing through the satellite maps, that it's,

22:08 that it's a good spot, that it's quiet, and nobody lives there.

22:13 And that I can spend the night there.

22:16 I have no idea what it looks like.

22:18 The problem with my method of finding wild campsites,

22:21 ie, by looking through Google Maps, satellite maps,

22:26 is that sometimes it's pretty risky and you just have

22:30 no idea if the place that you found is any good.

22:34 It can be really hard to tell.

22:35 Sometimes you find real hidden gems, and sometimes it's just like, "Oh, oops.

22:40 Well, I better backtrack and find something else,

22:42 'cause this ain't gonna work." So I'm curious

22:45 to see which category this one belongs in.

22:46 (soft steelpan music) (Vilk yelps) It's telling me that this is my turn.

22:57 Oop!

22:58 That ain't gonna happen.

23:00 (speaks foreign language) (man speaks Arabic) Ah, okay.

23:15 Okay.

23:16 (man speaks Arabic) (Ewa responds) Alright.

23:23 I think this older gentleman has just invited me to camp over on his property.

23:28 Which is very sweet.

23:30 So that's what we're gonna do.

23:33 So it turned out that the spot I'd found on Google Maps was private property.

23:38 Just as I was about to turn and look for something else,

23:40 an elderly man approached me and explained that I

23:43 could come on his land if I wanted to.

23:46 So I said, great!

23:47 Muhammad offered me some oranges and took Vilk

23:51 and I for a big walk around his olive grove.

23:54 Gosh, this is so beautiful.

23:58 Look at this amazing landscape.

24:00 This is Morocco!

24:02 (speaks foreign language) What a place.

24:11 (both speak foreign language) (both laugh) He's very cheeky.

24:17 (laughs) And then, eventually,

24:20 he led me up over the hill where we ended up in his family's house.

24:24 Stay!

24:25 (men chatter) (Ewa laughs) We had no idea what to do with Vilk.

24:31 They said it's okay for me to go inside the house with him,

24:34 but I know that it's a little bit culturally inappropriate,

24:36 so I thought I'll just tie him up there for a minute.

24:41 Oh, okay.

24:43 (Ewa speaks foreign language) So these guys

24:47 have literally just brought out a feast.

24:50 Oh my god!

24:51 Wow!

24:53 (speaks foreign language) That's incredible.

24:56 (Ewa speaks foreign language) (man speaks foreign

25:05 language) I have no idea what we're eating, but this is delicious.

25:10 (speaking foreign language) Well, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia.

25:29 But I'll let it slide this time.

25:32 (soft acoustic music) (Ewa laughs) Real Moroccan tea.

25:39 (speaks foreign language) So delicious.

25:46 (speaks foreign language) So we're just on our way

25:54 back from Muhammad's family's place to the truck.

25:59 I honestly never dreamt that today would pan out like, like it did.

26:04 I never expected this in a million years.

26:07 I thought I would just be alone somewhere in the mountains,

26:10 but this is why I travel solo, is because things like this happen.

26:16 And honestly, my heart feels so full.

26:19 I'm so happy that I got to meet Muhammad's family.

26:23 (laughs) What a trip.

26:27 (speaks foreign language) What a life.

26:35 (soft acoustic music) Okay, I'm finally back in the truck,

26:45 and I'm ready to go to bed.

26:46 It's already dark outside.

26:47 It's not very late, but I am exhausted.

26:50 It's been a mad day.

26:53 And everything is great, except I don't wanna ask Muhammad to use his bathroom.

27:00 Besides, I'm not sure if he has one, and probably not.

27:03 And I don't wanna pee out in the public on his field.

27:07 So that's where a pee bottle comes in really handy.

27:09 So, gimme a couple minutes.

27:11 I'll be right back.

27:12 I am beyond excited about everything that's happened so far.

27:16 It's been so wild.

27:18 The first 48 hours, less than 48 hours in Africa, in Morocco,

27:25 have been such a whirlwind that I feel

27:27 like I've been here for two months already.

27:29 I'm like, how did all this happen in such a short space of time?

27:35 And yeah.

27:37 God.

27:38 What a gift it is to be solo traveling and meeting all these amazing people,

27:43 being able to stop by the side of a road

27:46 for a coffee or to get three kilograms of olives.

27:51 (laughs) It has been so much fun so far,

27:54 and I just know that this expedition is going to be wild.

27:59 And in the next episode,

28:01 I continue to struggle to find my perfect wild campsite.

28:05 I find snow in the desert, nearly get myself into car trouble,

28:09 and start my deep dive into solitude.

28:12 (soft ethnic flute music)