Tunisia - 24 September 2010

 Travelling to Tunis

The paperwork for our Explore tour clearly said to check in at 14.05 for our flight at 17.05, so it was not surprising that four of us met in the queue long before any Tunisian Airways staff materialised – or any other passengers for that matter.

It was good to have three new friends when we had finally been checked in and had gone through security.  After a late lunch, we had somewhere to leave our bags, as we disappeared, one by one, for sorties into duty free for those last minute purchases.

It was even better to have three new friends when the plane was delayed until 20.00 by industrial action from French air traffic control.  Heuly, Vic and Caroline were all very experienced travellers and we happily exchanged stories of our adventures as we waited and waited and waited.

Heuly, Vic, Lotfi, Caroline and Ruth (in Sbeitla)

When we were finally on the plane, I sat next to Anne and Robin, two more members of our group.  I don’t remember much about the flight, except that they did manage to provide a decent vegetarian meal and the coffee was really nice.

We were lucky when we arrived in Tunis airport because several other planes landed just after us.  We were first at immigration, but huge queues gathered behind.

Once through, we met Ruth our guide.  She was German and, although she had a smattering of Arabic, did not speak any French or Italian.  It was also her first time on the tour.  We also met Barry, who had been on our flight but had stayed hidden because he had a terrible cold.

After getting some Tunisian Dinar (£1=D2.350), we headed for the bus which took us to our hotel near to the centre of Tunis.  It was called the Maison Dorée and was in the Rue El Koufa.  Ruth gave us our room numbers and I found that I was sharing with Caroline.

This hotel was one of the two worst on the trip.  At least things did get better, but our initial reaction was concern that we would be staying in similar places for the full three weeks.  The lift did not work very well and the door closed on me which was quite painful.  Our room was very very hot, but when Caroline opened the window, the smell from outside was terrible.  The bathroom was adequate but not that clean.  Caroline and I chatted until 01.45, a pattern which was to continue through much of the tour, but we did fall asleep eventually despite the heat.