If you have two weeks at your disposal and are interested in photography here is what is the Casablanca looks like, and it's definitely worth an overnight stopover. I can recommend my regular accommodation, Hotel Mon Reve, 7 Rue Chaouia, behind the Central Market and ideally located for the CTM bus station and Central Market tram stop for travel to Casa Voyageurs railway station.................
http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/stream/photoID/4754899/users/Bennytheball/
https://bennytheball.travellerspoint.com/6/

To get to the desert take the train from Casa Voyageurs to Marrakesh, then bus to Ouarzazate where you will find plenty of clues for onward travel to Mahamid Ghozlane, there is one CTM bus daily, you don't need to pay for an expensive tour, it's possible to do it all by yourself on public transport, use the Lonely Planet Guide book or Rough Guide to Morocco for more detailed information.

He travels faster who travels alone!

Last month I took the 07:00 Phetprasert bus from C. Mai to Loei and arrived there late afternoon. Stayed overnite and went next day to Nong Khai via Pak Chom using two local buses. Was a long day as the 07:45 bus to Pak Chom was totally packed with locals and it’s just a big truck with us sitting in back on benches. On arrival in Pak Chom around 10:00 another old local bus was waiting to take us on a 4 or 5 hour trip along the Mekong to Nong Khai. A more comfortable and easier way from Loei would be to take a bus to Oudon Thani (leave every couple hours) and then minivan to Nong Khai. Nong Khai is right at the border and only 40 minutes to Vientiane after crossing the bridge.

I agree with lifesupport....most people go to Jaisalmer, and then Khuri from there. There are lots of people who might try to convince you that you should go to Sam Desert over Khuri or visa-versa, but really the entire scrub desert is unimpressive as far as deserts go--it's the people and culture that are worth experiencing.

Also, I agree with the assessment of Pushkar--it's a tourist trap. Nearby Ajmer is amazing though, and a visit to the Dargah Sharif is worth it.
I suggest you leave some open days in your trip so you can be flexible. For example, plan extra days in Jaipur. If you feel like moving on, you can always head to Agra early and visit Fatehpur. And if you end up with extra days in Delhi at the end of your trip, they won't go to waste.
Being flexible is more important in India then having your trip planned to a T. Hope you have a great time.

1. Desert Tour after Fez - we want to go from Fex to Merzouga to spend 2 nights in the desert. Is it best to arrange from Fez or make it by CTM to Merzouga and do it that way?

Guess it depends on what you want. A tour brings you probably faster to Merzouga and/or may have more interesting stops on the way. You do however pay for the service.

1. Following that desert tour we want to head straight to Essaouira and I am finding it difficult to figure out how to get there. Are there direct buses, maybe overnight?

Don't know the entire schedule, but strongly doubt it. Given your destination list I wonder why you want to do so. Just go to Marrakech and from there continue to Essaouira.

You will have no trouble there as it is frequent and cheap I assume you will be heading that way around peak hour which could make the trip a little longer. You probably won't reach the old town til after dark which is a pity as most things you might want to look into might be closed. I think I would have been inclined to go there first since you don't arrive in Ecuador until 4.30 and it starts getting dark around 6.00 and you have to get out of customs and immigration to which will take half an hour at least. The old town starts getting deserted around 9.00 in most places there so you won't want to to wandering around alone then. I don't know what happens around the old airport but I imagine it would be rather quiet at night too and there won't be much to see or do. Best to avoid parks at night in my opinion.

Many years ago I did a bus trip (I bought a Greyhound pass) for a month in Dec-Jan from Sydney to Sydney with stops in: Coolangatta - Cairns - Mt Isa - Tenant Creek - Alice Springs (then a 5 day Uluru tour) - Coober Pedy - Adelaide. I didn't drive and this was before the advent of cheap flights so I was pretty used to long bus rides. I have to say that I really enjoyed the 29 hour bus trip from The Gold Coast to Cairns. I'm not sure that I'd be up for such a long trip these days, however.

But I had already been to both the Gold Coast and Adelaide so I didn't need to do much sightseeing there. Still, it was a fairly busy trip. Friends drove a shorter loop in 6 weeks a while later and found it rather tiring.

So even with starting in Coober Pedy, if you drive to Sydney (or even Brisbane) it will be pretty tiring.

I love the heat and you soon get used to it, but every single day in the outback it was in the 40Cs, including a day of 48C in Coober Pedy.

As an alternative, you can travel from South Africa to Mozambique by Intercape bus and rent a car in Maputo. Bus travel will certainly be cheaper than the additional fee, unless you are four in the car and share the costs.

Hi Michel,
My tour will be private just for the 2 of us and will be flexible. I have zero concern that I won't be free to do as I choose, plus I'm assisting in the planning of the tour. I'm not worried about knowing how to catch a bus to get around, I just don't want to wait around for busses to take me from place to place. As I said I am planning the rest of the Country without tours and taking public transportation. I'm sure I'll be looking forward to someone else driving me and stopping when I want to take some pictures or walk around. I took the bus to the desert 20+ years ago and feel that I missed a lot being on the bus and not being able to stop when I wanted. Like I said, it'll be a treat to sit back and enjoy the ride ;)

Hue deserves 2-3 nights, its the cultural bedrock of all things Vietnamese....

What are the Top 5 things you like to see in Hue?

Taxi hire would be the way to go to Hoi An, if you are in a rush...otherwsie Bus.