Lucas Peters first landed in Morocco in 2009. He came for a new career, teaching English Literature, and a new adventure in a new country. He had lived in different parts of Europe and the US, but never in Africa before. He didn’t count on starting this new life from complete scratch, but that is exactly what he had to do when none of his luggage arrived with him. He spent his first two weeks in Morocco in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan, shopping in markets for food, clothing and other basic necessities without speaking a word of the local language. His unexpected, sudden immersion in Moroccan life made him fall in love with the country.

Since 2009, Lucas has been traveling Morocco, from the date groves of the Sahara to the fishing villages along the Atlantic Coast. He’s dined at Rick’s Café in Casablanca, caught a ride on the Marrakesh Express, gotten lost in the labyrinthine maze of the Fez medina more times than he cares to count, and followed the Beats in Tangier. Along the way, he picked up some of the languages that make Morocco so amazing, made a few great friends, and married his wife, a Tanjaioua from Tangier.

Though Lucas no longer teaches professionally, his travel writing has led him to manage one of Morocco’s most successful sustainable tour operators, Journey Beyond Travel. He lives full-time in Tangier with his wife and two kids. Together, as a multi-lingual family, they continue to explore Morocco: the small towns dotting the national roads, the difficult-to-access mountain villages, secluded beaches, and vibrant, twisting passages of the old medinas.