Sailcoop: the alternative to flying to Corsica or crossing the Atlantic

Written by Sophie Renassia

Published on August 17, 2025

Paris–Morocco… without flying, and with the whole family? That’s exactly what journalist, author, and lecturer Nassira El Moaddem does every summer.
In the 55th episode of Je t’offre un rail, our podcast that will get you hooked on trains, Nassira shares how she swapped the plane for the train to reach Morocco every year with her husband and their three children.
She recounts this in her book "Et si on rentrait au bled en train?" (What If We Went Back to the Bled by Train?, Voyages Gallimard), conceived both as a personal narrative and a practical guide.

From plane habit to train choice: a decision that changes everything

A turning point: the train cheaper than flying

Until 2022, Nassira had never considered traveling to her “other country” by train. “It was in the back of my mind, but I’d never taken the plunge.”

The post-Covid reopening changed everything: summer airfares to Casablanca for two adults and three children shot up to €2,500 or more. By comparing, she found the train (full journey with ferry and bus) cost only €1,800, even in peak season: “We still had a difference of several hundred euros.”

Changing travel mindsets

Nassira wants to break fixed travel habits: “We’re very set in our ways… It’s hard to break these travel habits.”

She stresses the difference between leisure flights and family trips: “It’s not a vacation, really. It’s… spending time with my loved ones.”

Her book aims to be a “toolbox” for others to try the experience without fearing it’s too complicated.

Used to train travel since childhood, Nassira knows the French, Spanish, and Moroccan networks well. For her, the train is “a synonym for freedom, for letting go” far from the constraints and anxiety she associates with driving.

A question of social justice

For her, it’s crucial not to guilt-trip diasporas: “We shouldn’t be put on the same level… It’s almost a matter of survival, because we live in a context of growing extremism in French society.”

The word “bled” in her book’s title is no accident:

“When I say bled, I mean the countries of North Africa, mainly the Maghreb… It’s also a way of reclaiming an insult: you tell me ‘go back to your country’? Yes, I go back to my country, and I come back to my other country, France, every year — and I’m not about to stop.”

Planning a Paris–Morocco family trip

Tailor-made routes

The typical journey starts with a Paris–Barcelona TGV in 6h30, or soon an overnight train to Latour-de-Carol. In Spain, “the rail network is extremely dense” and allows varied stops: Madrid, Córdoba, Málaga… before taking the ferry to Morocco. Once there, the Tangier–Casablanca high-speed train in 2h30 is “just amazing… It would have been unimaginable a few years ago.”

Travel light and plan ahead

Her first tip: “Travel light.” Each adult carries a large backpack, each child a small bag with toys and books, and only 3 or 4 outfits. Spain makes logistics easier with station luggage lockers: “We drop off our bags and then we’re free.”

Preparation starts as early as March–April to set the stages, book, and avoid Airbnb rentals in cities hit by overtourism, such as Cádiz.

Rituals that matter

Nassira keeps up the Paris–Barcelona picnic tradition from her mother: potato salad, cumin-spiced hard-boiled eggs, grilled peppers. “It’s also a way of passing on this immigration story… for them to be proud of it.”

Her children — now 12, 9, and 5 — have grown up with these journeys; the youngest has never flown. For them, it’s “an adventure”: train changes, stadium visits in Madrid and Barcelona, cultural discoveries.

With her book and her testimony, Nassira El Moaddem proves it’s possible to travel from Paris to Morocco by train for less than the cost of a flight, even in peak season and with three children.
More than just an economic or ecological choice, for her it’s an act of transmission, of freedom, and of reclaiming travel narratives. “My idea was to say: it’s possible to do it.”