Today just so happens to be my birthday. To celebrate, I ordered room service and spent a relaxing morning sailing along the African coast. Sipping a cup of coffee from my balcony, I gazed out at fishing boats against the the backdrop of the Atlas Mountains, undulating along the distant horizon. Africa beckoned from afar. I was a “traveler in romance,” a phrase coined by one of my favorite authors during my youth, W. Somerset Maugham.

In the afternoon, Silver Cloud docked in Agadir, where I joined a tour to sample this fascinating resort city, completely rebuilt after an earthquake destroyed it in 1960. A relaxing morning, followed by a cultural immersion. From a traveler’s perspective, the day could not have been better.