ExpaT-TraveL
TUNISIA I left the southernmost country in Africa destined for the most northern nation on the continent. The strange thing was that the cheapest options available involved spending a few hours outside the continent in a stop-over either in Paris, Rome or Dubai. I chose to mount Emirates given the pleasant experience I had the last time I flew on this airline, the highlight being generous space in economy class which I find to be a must for a lanky individual on a longhaul journey.
ten hours later, I embarked on my onward six hour journey to Carthage airport in Tunis. When I emerged through customs, there was no one to meet me and I panicked momentarily. I was about to pull out my laptop to search for the last email I had received from my hosts when I spotted a board with a name that I recognised – that of a colleague from our Lyon office who was joining me on the four day assignment. The driver, Abdel, had confused our arrival times and we had an uneasy laugh about it on the way to the car.
After a lazy waltz through the thousands of Dubai duty free shops
When I heard that I was being dispatched to Tunis, I expected a hot dusty city with burka clad women concealing their faces. Surprisingly, it was fresh air, cool temperatures and although the women were of the Arabic persuasion, they were dressed like Europeans with all the takings of modern fashion, beautiful skin and long, flowing hair. Deterred by folklore of such countries that claim that the hands of thieves are chopped off and imagining what they do to fornicators, I decided to halt my admiration of the women and instead expressed a verbal