It's strange to be back on this page after more than six months at home on maternity leave with my new baby boy. Landing here is like reappearing at the gym after a long absence and forgetting how to programme the rowing machine. Your muscles feel stiff and it takes a monumental strain to pull the handles - an action that in previous days was a reflex.
The day before I came back to work, I had a stint on the rowing machine at my local gym (desperate attempt to regain pre-pregnancy figure) and found myself next to the esteemed, panting, travel editor of the Daily Telegraph, rowing at a zillion miles an hour and clocking up digits like an athlete at peak performance. I realised that after having a baby, you have a bit of catching up to do... and it's not just on travel sections!
Once I'd managed to remember my password, switch on my computer and delete the 9,788 emails that arrived in my inbox during my absence I started to write. A 500-word article took 10 hours - a task that in former days took an average of 24 minutes. A small decision such as choosing a picture or writing a caption took a dozen attempts rather than one. A week back in the office and I have finally worked out that you can't use your Matalan (bargain kids' clothes) card as a security pass, and the only machine I am now a slave to is this computer and a desk of sub-editors rather than the four insatiable machines (dishwasher, washing machine, fridge and freezer) in my kitchen (which I continue to serve in addition to work demands). I am missing six-month-old Max's energetic air cycling and walking my daughter, Hanna, to school in the sunshine. Whereas time goes pleasurably slowly on maternity leave, it passes at break-neck speed at work.
I'm thrilled that The Observer and Guardian Travel Awards ceremony is going ahead in Marrakesh tomorrow. More than 24,000 readers voted earlier this year for their favourite travel companies and holiday destinations.
Mariella Frostrup will present the awards at the ceremony attended by 150 top travel industry bosses, who are flying out for the event.
After the Casablanca bombings earlier this year, we asked those invited whether we should still go ahead with the event. More than 90 per cent said yes. The Guardian Group pointed out that the Foreign Office travel advice was at the same level of alert for Marrakesh as for London.
It's great to see the travel industry practising what it preaches. It was a disappointment when last year some companies stayed away from the Association of British Travel Agents' conference in Cairo because of fears about safety. How can you expect your customers to travel to Muslim countries if you won't do it yourself?
I took baby Max to Marrakesh last February, before the Iraq war. The city was almost empty of tourists. One night we were the only customers in a 100-seat traditional Moroccan restaurant full of beautiful twinkling candles and live music. Tragic. I'm dying to see more of Morocco, and that first taste has made it one of my top three destinations worldwide (the others are Brazil and Cuba).
