1

Just to let you know, in case you don't already, that the Morocco-Algeria border is closed and has been since 1994. There were some rumblings about opening it last year but nothing seems to be happening.

2

Hiya,
I'm half Algerian and half English and planning to go and live there this summer hopefully, I've lived in London my whole life.
My advice would be to get to know a family in Algeria that you could stay with during your stay.
People are usually extremely welcoming and honestly treat you as family, Algerians can be a bit dodgy with foreigners so don't openly speak in English when your out, people wont know you're American as long as you don't speak haha, there's loads of Algerians who look Caucasion and they could just assume your from the Berber community who are very pale and usually have European features. Always welcome to stay a bit with me if you'd like if I'm there at the time. Also try to dress decently. By decent I mean like jeans and a top, just no really revealing clothes (even though loads of Algerians wear odd clothes but are obviously looked at different + you'll be foreign to them), I find it easier to just wear a pair of skinny jeans and a top, it's seen as perfectly normal. A lot of my friends in Uni in Algeria have gone to the Sahra so as I said making links is VITAL, by doing so everything will be significantly easier for you honest.
Algeria's honestly a beautiful country hence the reason I want to go back and live there, the people are amazing you just need to rely on your natural instinct and stir away from the bizarre ones, you'll get better at judging people with time over there. Honestly I wish you the best of luck and it'll definitely be a memorable adventure, I always say that you must expect some bad times but they always seem to be the funniest and most memorable when you look back.
GOOD LUCK!
Ruby

3

Hi,

You should absolutely feel safe. I went to Morocco alone and to Algeria and Tunisia with one other female friend. Algeria was amazing. I was there and in Tunisia literally a week before the Arab Spring really hit international news so I figure if I can feel secure then, it must be a pretty safe travel experience in genera. Algeria is also one of the few countries I've traveled to where men were very respectful and I never felt like anyone was trying to hustle me or get over like I've found in more popular travel destinations.

As far money, my trips have only been 2 weeks at a time max so I'm not sure what kind of budget you'd need to live for 3 months but I found things to be on the more inexpensive side. (I live in a really expensive city in the U.S. though.)

I loved my time in N. Africa and would be happy to answer any questions that you have as you plan your trip.