"Though each path is different, there is only one way."

Moroccan Proverb

So we arrived back from Marrakech last Monday and were immediately thrown head-first into crazy work schedules, broken boiler sagas, and the terrible realisation that it's almost Christmas and we hadn't done any present shopping yet. I also had THROWN TO THE WOLVES released, and running around (online, not physically) organising promo for that took up a big chunk of time. All of which meant, I haven't had time to talk about Marrakech yet.

And I really want to talk about it! We had an amazing time! We rode camels at sunset! I feed many, many cats. We saw beautiful palaces and ate street food on the Night Market, and Kyle was harassed non-stop because of his beard, but in a nice way. It was simply an incredible experience. I feel so lucky to have been on two such different holidays this year. Iceland was an unforgettable place to visit for it's raw, rugged landscape, and Morocco was unforgettable for it's opulent beauty. I took a zillion photos, but I'll spare you the whole zillion. I've tried to pick a few of my favourites instead, just to show you the variety we found in Marrakech and beyond.

The view from our riad - the Atlas Mountains

Mountain creek running through Imlil, where we stayed

Inside the Bahia Palace

Courtyard garden inside the Bahia Palace

Grafittied bamboo at the Majorelle Gardens

Aisha, my valiant desert steed

Some of the many, many street cats we found

Lamps on the Night Market

Inside Medersa Ben Youssef, a theological school

Another example of the stunning architecture in Medersa Ben Youssef

One of the many, many pots of mint tea we consumed

Inside the Museum of Marrakech

Sunset from camel-back

Saadian Tombs

Gardens of the Saadian Tombs

On the souks

Twilight on the souks

Sunset over the Night Market

Delicious lemon-chicken tagine. Not pictured: the cat I shared it with

I'm really just scratching the surface here of the beautiful places we visited. I'm working on uploading all my photos to Pinterest if you're interested in seeing more, but in between boilers/work/Christmas it might take a while!

And of course, there's writing to get back to. I haven't touched any of my WIPs since before we went away - there just hasn't been time yet. But this is my last week at work for the year, and I'm looking forward to a week off over Christmas to catch up and make some solid progress on Through Fire and Lich Queen (formerly known as Pale Queen). It's good to go away. It's also good to come home and share the memories. Hope you've enjoyed seeing some of them!

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.”

Robert Louis Stevenson

So another Friday is upon us! November, and thus Anti-Nano, is over and December is here, bringing me a broken boiler (bad) and a holiday to Morocco (good). Hopefully the boiler will be fixed before we go away next week. Otherwise, barring the odd crucial piece of office work that I actually can't do without either driving myself mad or killing someone else, we're all set to go. If I survive, next Wednesday, we'll be off enjoying these gorgeous views:

And hopefully I won't be attacked by a monkey! I can't wait. I know it's not been that long since I was on holiday in Iceland, but I think I've definitely earned this one (today I've certainly already earned a holiday and I've only been at work about an hour). And of course, it'll be Kyle's birthday while we're away and this just seems like a spectacular place to celebrate.

In the meantime, I've completed the first and second round edits for THROWN TO THE WOLVES and am hoping to hear about a release date and cover art soon (hopefully before we go away!). Pale Queen and Through Fire are coming along nicely, and I've scheduled a snippet from Through Fire for next week. I'm also debating changing the title, but that's by the by.

So now it's just a question of not killing anyone (metaphorically) and hanging in there until next week. The weekend promises to be a whirlwind of house work and teaching my younger brother how to look after Ket, and Monday and Tuesday will be mad, but then...but then...Escape!

Áfram með smjörið*

*On with the butter - move your butt and keep doing what you're meant to be doing.

So I am officially back from Iceland. Happy to be reunited with Kyle and Yuki and my tea collection, but already missing Reykjavik. Mum and I just completely fell in love with the city and the countryside. We managed to cram in a hell of a lot for just a few days, from geysers to beaches to the Northern Lights to waffles. Even so, I really wish we'd had just one extra day to do a bit more - whale watching was something we fancied but didn't have time for (plus the weather probably wasn't ideal for being out at sea). And I personally could have gone for one more round of waffles.

Look at that perfection.

I took soooooooooooo many photos, and if you want to see the best ones, I made a Pinterest board for them here. I won't clog up this entire post with photo after photo, but I am sharing a few of my favourite with you!

This is in the lava fields outside the Blue Lagoon, a really surreal and stunning location. The water is super-heated by a nearby lava flow, and a beautiful milky blue colour due to the mineral content. The spa itself is a huge man-made lagoon with the same water. It rained a little bit while we were there, and it was a truly unique experience to be floating in that gorgeous hot water while cold rain fell down on us.

This is Reynisfjara beach, my hands-down favourite location from the trip. The black sand and basalt sea stacks make it a completely magical, mysterious place. It was absolutely pouring with rain the day we visited, so we couldn't spend as much time on the beach as we wanted, but even just a short visit was worthwhile.

There was a lot of cool street art around Reykjavic, and this was my favourite piece because werewolves.

Sunset over the harbour in Reykjavic. This was from our first night, when we were supposed to be going out for a Northern Lights tour. The weather wasn't right for it, but luckily we managed to get booked in for another tour on Monday night. We got driven out to Pingvellir National Park at around 10.30pm. Getting off the coach, we were greeted by perfectly clear skies, and with no light pollution for miles around, we could clearly see countless stars - and ghostly white bands that almost imperceptibly moved and changed as we watched. That was our Northern Lights sighting - very beautiful and eerie. It was a shame not to see any colour, but getting to see anything at all felt very special, and the sight of all those stars was amazing all by itself.

So we started back to Reykjavik...only to find the coach driver stopping ten minutes later and the tour guide urging us all to get off the coach again.

And we did. And outside we got those Northern Lights. The great shimmering arcs of green and pink light, dancing overhead, moving so fast and gracefully, I can only describe it as magical. My phone camera wasn't good enough to capture any shots, but I'm glad in a way. It was much better to just stand and watch, and soak it all in, rather than be staring at it through a camera lens. It was icy cold and my neck hurt from staring up so much, but it didn't matter. I fulfilled a lifetime's ambition and saw the Northern Lights in all their glory, and I won't need photos to remember how incredible that felt. I've wanted to see them ever since I read Philip Pullman's Northern Lights (or the Golden Compass to my American friends), and not only did we get to see them, but we saw a truly special display.

It would be hard to pick one favourite experience from the holiday, but the Northern Lights and Reynisfjara will stay with me for a long time. I'd love to go back to Iceland at a different time of year, fit in some whale-and-puffin watching, or go back to Reynisfjara and explore more. Everyone we met was lovely, Reykjavik is charming, and the entire holiday was just perfect. Coming back to reality, and all the bills and housework and emails that entails, you can't help but experience something of a slump.

Well, after a long discussion with Kyle, we decided there was only one way to combat such a slump, and that was to book a holiday.

It will be Kyle's 30th birthday in December, and we've been talking for ages about what to do for it. In the end (like, literally at 11pm last night), we settled on a trip to Morocco! We'll be staying in a mountain hotel near Marrakech for five days. It'll be completely different to anywhere I've been before, and I cannot wait! We need to find a nice cat hotel for Yuki so she can have a little holiday too. So...thank you, Iceland. I love you very much. And on to the next adventure!