Why going to Morocco on my own will always be one of my greatest life achievements

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Yesterday morning, I wrote about the demise of STA travel while on a news reporting shift at The Guardian (but from home). It was a reflective piece featuring former staff and clients and I suggested it because I had noticed a wave of sadness and nostalgia all over my social media feeds when people heard the news that the youthful travel agent was going bust. I enjoyed writing it despite the bittersweet nature because I love hearing other people’s travel stories and because it reminded me of some of my own brushes with STA.

When I was a student the first time around it was the mid-2000s (well 2003-2007 to be exact) and STA Travel was in its height. Campuses had their own STA stores and anyone who had been on a round the world trip (I had not and still have not) or gap year (same) had booked their trip through the travel agent. My experience with it is slightly different as I would instead scroll through the STA website without actually booking anything and even used to request copies …