Yes, and what is your flight number?

"We will be arriving much later than we expected; Can we still check in that late?"
"Oh, yes, that is perfectly acceptable. We can send a car for you. It will be 50£. Is that OK?"
"Yes. We would like you to send a car."
"OK, he will meet you at the airport. What is your flight number?"
"We are arriving by ferry at the port of Tunis."
"Yes, yes, yes; OK. What is your flight number?"
"We are not flying. We have no flight number. We are coming by ferry from Palermo."
"By ferry. OK. What is your flight number?"
"We arrive at the port of Tunis on Grandi, that's G R A N D I, Navi, N A V I, Veloci, V E L O C I ship Majestic. Boat, embarco, ferryboat, ship, OK"
"Uh....yes, yes, yes, I see. Majestic. He will meet you.

That was the conversation I had with our hotel last week. We caught the ferry early Saturday morning in a torrential downpour. Most of southern Europe has been experiencing some funky weather, so we were happy to be heading to Africa. We met some really interesting folks on the ferry, but I spent most of my time asleep. Because of last year's experience with vertigo, I had taken some anti-sea sick med that made me drowzy. Little did I know what was making me so tired.

Two couples we met were headed for a camel ride/camping trip through the desert. I feel for them because the weather followed us here. Thankfully, we had an indoor place to stay; when we finally got there. We really were expecting to see our driver at the ferry dock, but knew there was a pretty good chance he wouldn't be there. After clearing customs, we found several drivers waiting, but none for the Olsons. We eventually found a phone that works, called the hotel and had a conversation similar to the last one: "Our driver isn't here."
"Oh, yes, yes, yes, he is there. He has a sign with your name on it."
"He didn't meet us."
"He called me to say he is there. What is your flight number?"

I grabbed a nearby person who spoke Arabic and French, they spoke for a while and when I got back on the line she directed us to a nearby caffé where our driver picked us up about an hour later. Since then, our Tunisian trip has been less than the best. The weather has been terrible until yesterday and I came down with, what I thought, was the flu.

We did do some traveling here. We visited some Roman ruins in an area that has evidence of population going back 200,000 years. The ruins are very intact of a city of 20-30 thousand people in the B.C. times. This area was a bread basket for the Romans. It is so amazing to think of the extent of the Romans. We stopped at a site (which is being rebuilt) where the Romans captured water out of the Atlas Mountains and sent it by aquaducts to all of there cities in Tunisia. We also passed through the town of Jedidi. The STAR WARS movies were shot in Tunisia and they used a lot of the local names in the movies. A lot of the costuming in the movies looks very similar to the way locals dress in the cold rain.

We did miss seeing the city which was our main reason for coming to Tunisia, because our tour group forgot to pick us up yesterday. This became a good thing. My fever had returned, plus extra symptoms and I would have had a misserable day. It gave us time to go to a doctor where I found that I had picked up a systemic infection and needed to start antibiotics right away. Today I feel great, the sun is shining and everything is fantastic! We are headed to Cairo tonight. See you soon.

Dan & Gail