We were a little excited at JTC this week to see the royal couple, aka Megs and Harry, visit The Kingdom of Morocco. It brought back happy memories. Have you been? I begged “Getaway” to let me go as part of an amazing Captain’s Choice journey, that also took in a safari in Kenya and a whip around Libya. It was years ago, but feels like yesterday. The images are so vivid.

I was mesmerised by the Majorelle blues of Yves Saint Laurent’s garden and all the characters I observed in the souks and markets (yes, they ship goods back home easily). I say ‘observed’ as, at one point, a snake charmer got very upset with me for taking photos of him telling men their fortunes. Word of advice there: respect the man with the snakes.

I still treasure my brightly-coloured tassels, my massive candles, and have never once used my pretty pink Tagine for cooking… but geez, it looks professional on display in my very clean kitchen.

I remember being startled when we went on to Libya, having smoked apple-scented, ‘hubbly bubbly’ shisha pipes openly in the restaurants and bars in Morocco. Men in Libya were shocked at the site of my female producer and I doing so there. Morocco was so liberal by comparison.

• Get ready for a fabulous shopping experience;
• Sample a treatment at a Hamman (I never had the time to do this and regret it still); prepare to be inspired by the interiors of all the riads;
• Try to read “A House in Fez”, by Suzannah Clark and all the YSL interiors books you can;
• Brush up on your French; and
• Shop till you drop.