07 Dec 2024
From the very first communication to the last, Karim made our Tangier experience the highlight of our trip! This is not TLDR, read all of this.
My average review scores on TripAdvisor and Viator is 3.42. I believe if you perform a contract as ordered—that’s a 3. You did as asked, handled any issues that came up? Good, that’s why someone pays you.
Karim was not a three—at all. He should be a “6”. The scale is broken for him. Why?
- within one hour of booking he texted contact information and asked if he could help in any way
- After 3-4 texts, he asked permission to call—get that! He asked and then waited for me to approve.
- He did a sort of interview asking what were not the typical 20 questions. He listened to me and my wife. You could tell he was processing a decision tree to ask each next point of interest or concern.
- He assembled an itinerary as we spoke then as items were added he adapted time tables and the order of events.
- His instructions not only included EVERY detail about the ferry from Tarifa to Tangier, but advice to use our car (since we had one) to GO TO Tarifa for the fast ferry and sleep in another 2 hours and get the same exact schedule! He even gave Spanish hiway driving advice.
- What we did?
- Ferry over. He and Abdul (our driver) met us as we debarked. These two were a TEAM!
- City tour. Included history. Sites of the city improvements done (many) by the current King of Morracco. Cultural heritage of a three religion city.
- The beautiful main mosque.
- All the time taking more pictures of us than we ever did, including advice if we were missing something!
- Abdul was a super efficient driver the entire time. I could tell the two were in constant planning mode.
- Visited American “California”
- Saw the Lighthouse, where we had a traditional Morrocan lunch (I think we could have asked Karim for anything and he would have found it)
- Rode camels on the Atlantic beach
- Visited the old city where everyone knew Karim (he grew up there). People would see him and stop to talk. Even a regular customer of his (cruise ship captain) was glad to see him and disappointed we had booked him ahead of his own wife.
- Visited the Kasbah
- Visited the markets. Karim coached us on when barter was part of the shopping culture and when not.
- Visited a community oven and had fresh toasted cashews and almonds.
- And even as we were headed back to the ferry, my wife wanted to look at one more shop. He immediately figured out how to make it happen.
If you want a private tour at a great rate—THIS IS IT! I knew I was over tipping when I handed it to him. He deserved every bit of it. If you have the chance, forget joining a bus tour at 110€—see Karim in Tangiers it’s more, but not much more and it’s CUSTOM!