In the airport the boarding announcement for destination Tunisia finally arrives just when our patience had reached its peak. How can you be calm after a delay of several hours? So happy and relieved to get rid of the uncomfortable chairs and the noisy lounge, we board the aircraft to our assigned seats. Now we are ready to start our wonderful vacation overseas.
Fear of flight? Just of incompetents…
While on the runway, I realize that the aircraft speed is a little high but my attention is turned to the cabin flight attendants and the usual briefing. Suddenly, probably in good faith and wishing us a pleasant journey, a precipitated Arabic speaker is heard coming from the pilot cabin. A 9/11 instant atmosphere rules the plane. No matter now but if you have a plane full of Romanian citizens going in vacation isn’t there appropriate to address them in their language? Or at least in English, everyone understands English. No, it did not happen. What was said remains until today a mystery. Meanwhile, the plane’s joints were trembling going over to the auxiliary runway for takeoff. Waiting for the plane to stop a few seconds before going into the air, I was surprised by the fact that the pilot turned and started the engines, Top Gun style.
Ok. Let’s grab the arms of the chair, the man probably wants to catch up on lost time. The steep ascent, the complaints in the plane and a loud cry ” Jesus, take it slowly” from a passenger made me panic a little. On reaching high altitude, with a final turn on a wing, which suddenly and abruptly pushed me into the chair, our route was set and the atmosphere calmed down.
So we are flying to Tunisia. Judging by the way this journey began I had no idea what to expect when landing. Back home when we had picked the destination we wanted something else than old Europe and its ” must see”. Now, before landing, turbulences, shakings and panic again during the landing maneuvers. Through the windows we begin to distinguish the red ground, the palm trees, olive trees and the cactus bushes. A murmur of surprise crosses the plane, some finally glad that we had landed safely, others unhappy by the desert landscape.
Soon, the air and its aromas fill our nostrils. Far from the Mediterranean atmosphere but it was what I had wanted. Tired, shaken and more than 3 hours late then when we should have landed, we get into the hotel shuttle. On the way we stared in all directions, at the old cars that ran on the roads, to the newly built hotels and to the unfinished ones. On arrival in Sousse it was already too late to catch a ride or walk for sightseeing as it was dark: 17:00 hours on a December day. As angry as we were for the delay we quickly unpacked and run out, in an attempt to save what it should have been our first vacation day. We rushed to the hotel reception, requiring some guidelines:
– It’s ok to go out now? Where should we go first?
– You can go out, just do not enter the Medina after dark. Instead, stroll in the new town as much as you want.
Ok, so that is the way things go. When everything was said and done, we went to the town. The warm air, around 20 C, the friendly people and their relaxed attitude made us forget about our terrible afternoon. But it still remained the question: who will give me back the one day I have lost from this holiday? In the coming days, we crossed the country from south to the north and I can only say good things about the destination.
Tunisia is surprising, full of flavors and colors. Until you arrive here is more difficult. But about this destination and its people, next time.
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