As some of you may already know, I cover the Middle East territory, and once a quarter I strive to visit my market and clients who are primarily located in the U.A.E. Two weeks ago I planned my visit to Dubai and Abu Dhabi to meet with my clients and introduce them to my editor-in-chief. For her first visit to the country, we had an ambitious itinerary.

We started the journey out of Dulles International Airport (IAD) with Royal Air Maroc business-class tickets — a route recently launched by the carrier. This flight arrived in Doha, Qatar, for the night with a layover in Casablanca. Although long layovers aren’t travelers’ favorite, we were actually looking forward to our 12-hour layover in Casablanca on the way back. This was an opportunity to explore a new city and add a new notch on our travel belts. With three days of meetings in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha in just five days, our return trip out of Doha had already begun.

We arrived in Doha from Abu Dhabi via Qatar Airways, and our luggage was simply transferred to our Royal Air Maroc flight without any issues. After a long week of full-day meetings, I was looking forward to my nap on my way to Casablanca — as we would need the energy to immediately hit the ground running once landed. There are a few things I noticed about Casablanca: People are helpful and very kind to strangers or visitors, make sure to agree on the price before getting in a cab — otherwise get ready to pay a premium — and Rick’s Café has great drinks and food.

— Banu Yilmaz, advertising director