A dash to Tunisia, Geneva, Portugal and Bahrain (picture review)

[henleybeach]

Tomorrow morning (Saturday) we commence our first overseas holiday since 2019.
Covid has meant the last couple years we were forced to see some great parts of Australia (Tassie, Kimberley’s), however its
now time to get back on international scene.

I’ll predominately make this trip report pictures with minimal comments. I’ll try anyway

Tomorrow is ADL- SIN in J class with SIA
Stopover at Crowne Plaza and then SIN-LHR J class with SIA.
Overnight in London before flying back down to Tunis.
Bags are packed, glass of Rockford Riesling in hand, we are ready to go!

 

[Guvner]

Safe travels!

 

[henleybeach]

Ready to go
Adelaide’s new international plaza premium lounge

 

[RooFlyer]

This is an interesting design. Any idea how they 'work'? You put a drink or nibble to one side and look out at your fellow loungers?

 

[henleybeach]

This is an interesting design. Any idea how they 'work'? You put a drink or nibble to one side and look out at your fellow loungers?

View attachment 330747

Yer they feel like they are half work stations/ half loungers. They are around the corner from the main section of the lounge near entrance

 

[craven morehead]

Tomorrow morning (Saturday) we commence our first overseas holiday since 2019.
Covid has meant the last couple years we were forced to see some great parts of Australia (Tassie, Kimberley’s), however its
now time to get back on international scene.

I’ll predominately make this trip report pictures with minimal comments. I’ll try anyway

Tomorrow is ADL- SIN in J class with SIA
Stopover at Crowne Plaza and then SIN-LHR J class with SIA.
Overnight in London before flying back down to Tunis.
Bags are packed, glass of Rockford Riesling in hand, we are ready to go!

Dialing in as usual for a good TR

 

[henleybeach]

Uneventful flight
First time in the regional J class
Not bad, however they do feel a little small
Food was nice, and service was the usual Singapore standards.

 

[henleybeach]

We Haven’t seen the Jewel, so after checking in at the CP, we headed for a look.
Looks great, however we didn’t hang around long, too many kids running around

 

[henleybeach]

We boarded at 0830 for a 0900hrs departure

There is something about flying upstairs on the big girl. I haven’t got long but one day I’d like to fly upstairs on the Queen.
Business class was 100 percent full and we were seated in middle seats at the rear of the smaller J cabin.
I ordered BTC for the “breakfast” and “dinner” meals on the flight

Was it too early to pre-order the satays for Breakfast? Nope! You only get one opportunity in life and I’m having satays from breakfast.
After the fresh fruit and pastry, the sticks came out and they were delish as always.
I watched some Tv, did Some reading and Napping and then it was time for satays again, this time as a starter from the menu.
I ordered the lobster with BTC and it was nice, likewise the dessert.
We arrived on time and transferred to Sofitel Gatwick in readiness for our flight to Tunis.

 

[kookaburra75]

Looks like a good trip, setting up the comfy chair now to ride along

 

[henleybeach]

We arrived at Gatwick airport 3 hours before departure thinking we would Check-in and have a civilised breakfast in the airport.

Well that was thrown out the window when we lined up for checkin. There was only 2 agents checking in everyone and the flight was being used mainly by local Tunisians.
I think every Tunisian person checking in had 3-4 bags per person, and every single one of them argued with the agent. Because of this, the check in process took ages.
By the time we cleared immigration, we had 25 minutes to now quickly grab something.
The only other time I’ve seen so much checked in luggage and carry on luggage was on Royal air Maroc a few years back.

Whilst sitting in my seat, I really started to wonder if the plane would be able to take off and get airborne. There was full size suitcases coming onboard. The last row of seats were vacant and the crew were placing peoples suitcases there! I hope the flight crew have the right weight calculations!!

The plane looked and felt brand new, it was an airbus a320neo and with the doors closed, the captain announced a 50 minute delay!
Finally we departed 60 minutes after the scheduled departure time.

We were served a small meal, consisting of a tuna salad, frittata and salad, roll and cake. It tasted alright, maybe because it was a surprise and I didn’t think we would be getting anything .

Zero care was given in regards to remaining seated. The whole flight, I estimate 20-30 people at one time were just standing in the aisle chatting to other families, seriously never seen anything like it
We arrived at our accommodation, Villa Edo and it was excellent, similar to a Riad in Morocco except we had views of the Med.
We had our own private courtyard which opened up direct from our room.


Our room at Villa Edo

 

[henleybeach]

After having breakfast in the terrace we headed to the Carthage ruins.
This included the Carthage Saint-Louis Cathedral, Byrsa Hill, Roman theatre of Carthage and the Baths of Antoninus.
There is a big project to redevelop the Carthage Saint-Louis Cathedral, Byrsa Hill site with completion to be 2026.
The museum on-site had all the details and drawings, if it comes to fruition, it will be impressive.

 

[henleybeach]

Around midday we headed to Sidi Bou Said for a look around. This place is known for its resemblance of Greece with all the white and blue buildings.
It was a great little place, and whilst tourist prices were present ($3.50Aud for a chicken kebab and bottle of water) it is still cheap compared to what the world pays at other touristy places.
There was a couple tourist buses that arrived, but other than that, it was quite pleasant and not overcrowded

 

[love_the_life]

Around midday we headed to Sidi Bou Said for a look around. This place is known for its resemblance of Greece with all the white and blue buildings.
It was a great little place, and whilst tourist prices were present ($3.50Aud for a chicken kebab and bottle of water) it is still cheap compared to what the world pays at other touristy places.
There was a couple tourist buses that arrived, but other than that, it was quite pleasant and not overcrowded
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We were in Tunis maybe 15 years ago but only a port stop on a cruise. We were looking forward to Carthage etc but unfortunately poor planning by the cruise company meant it was the end of Ramadan and a public holiday so almost everything was closed. We did go to Sidi Bou Said though and it looked very similar to your photos. There was a house museum with lots of wonderful tiles that I remember.

 

[henleybeach]

Today was Medina day in Tunis
Medina not as big as the ones in Morocco,
and you hardly get harassed.

 

[VeniVidiVici]

How is Tunisia to travel around? Noting you mentioned not as much harassment as Morocco

 

[Ade]

Is that rice cakes with Satay?

 

[Ade]

Today was Medina day in Tunis

As in, the Friday prayers? or something else?

 

[OZDUCK]

Is that rice cakes with Satay?

Seems to be ketupat which is normally served with Satay in Singapore/Malaysia.

Malay Compressed Rice (Ketupat) | Asian Inspirations

Ketupat is a Malay compressed rice cooked in coconut leaves. Perfect for summer. Served with cubed pieces of red onion and cucumber to dip in the peanut sauce or satay sauce. This is the simpler…

asianinspirations.com.au

 

[henleybeach]

As in, the Friday prayers? or something else?

No nothing different for the locals, it was just Medina day for us to go and check
Out.