Pâtisserie Gourmandise Aéroport

Travelling with two kids is no easy feat and it is made worse by the fact that I am tired and tense. I don't know what it is, lack of sleep maybe, because I haven't slept very well during our stay in Tunisia. Which isn't to say I had a bad time, because I did. It really was like a warm bath to be back and see all those familiar places and faces again. The kids really enjoyed themselves too, and genuinely seemed to like being around each other for such a long time. Rihanna Gaga is great at keeping Billie Stormzy entertained, singing songs with him, reading him books and generally keeping him cheerful. The little one, in his turn, was surprisingly easy throughout the week, especially considering that he is not used to travelling at all. But most of the times, he was having a great time, not in the least because he was with us all the time. He clearly loves it when the whole family is together.

We woke up early this morning, having ordered a taxi to make it on time for our flight at 10:30. The hotel in Sidi Bou Said where we are staying consists of a large courtyard, with the hotel rooms around it. Breakfast is served int he courtyard, and the weather was nice enough to make that really enjoyable. The breakfast was the same very morning: boiled eggs, chocolate buns, bread and jam, lemonade and coffee or tea. As we ate our breakfast, there would always be some cats around, lounging on the chairs in the courtyard, or begging for some food. Rihanna Gaga loved the fact that there were so many cats and she would always be trying to play with them, or with the ones in the alley just outside the hotel, and I was forever telling her to wash her hands after petting them. Billie Stormzy, however, kept his distance. The cats were nice too watch, but he didn't like it when they came too close. 

Then the taxi came, and we were off to the airport, driving down the road that I had travelled on so often in the year that I commuted between Tunisia and the Netherlands. The airport has been done up, looking much nicer than it did back then, less run down. It all went quite smoothly, until I ended up into an argument with the lady checking us in, who told us our suitcase was too heavy to be accepted as carry on luggage. It wasn't so much the message - fair enough, and we could easily distribute some of its heavier contents among the other bags - but the incredibly rude and haughty tone in which she delivered it. That, and my own tense mood, I guess. In the end, she didn't even weigh the suitcase for the second time, so we could even have spared ourselves the effort of unpacking it and redistributing its contents. 

The lines in front of customs were long, as usual, and Billie Stormzy was difficult to manage while we waited, running around and trying to sneak into places he should not be. As we went through customs, I realised that what we did back in 2015 - staying in Tunisia many more days a year than allowed on a tourist visa - would not be possible anymore, since stamps have been replaced with computers and every entry and departure is now processed digitally. In fact, back then, it wasn't even our wish to stay in the country on a tourist visa - however, the process to get a residence permit was so unclear and bureaucratic that by the time we made any progress in it, we were already leaving again. 

By the time we made it through the second security check, I felt quite relieved; keeping check of all our bags, and two lively kids, while also negotiating whatever was expected next by customs officials and airport staff was exhausting. Just before we left, Rihanna Gaga decided she wanted to take a huge monkey doll with her. That came out of leftfield - I never knew she was particularly attached to it, and it was too big to fit into our bags, but as always, once Rihanna Gaga had something in her head, she wouldn't take no for an answer. That's something she has in common with her brother, for sure. I wasn't keen on the monkey joining us, as it meant one more item that could get misplaced or lost on the trip from the Netherlands to Tunisia and back again, but right now, the monkey was not just trouble. It also was a great source of entertainment for the kids, as it had to go through scanners together with the luggage. My partner, always brilliant at giving life to stuffed animals, made a big show about the monkey not wanting to go through the scanner and wanting bananas, and that kept the kids entertained throughout. 

Anyway, with everything going so smoothly, we were well on time, so much so, in fact, that we could sit down for a drink. Almost immediately after customs, there is Pâtisserie Gourmandise Aéroport. There always was a place to drink here, but I didn't remember it like this: all new and shiney, very chique in that typically Arab way, which means lots of white, beige and gold, with some dark red thrown in. Back then, it was black and red, old and worn. However, like lots of places in Tunisia, it had a battered Italian espresso machine and good coffee was made with it. That is one thing that hasn't changed, although the machines they now had behind the counter did not look battered anymore. My partner sat down with Rihanna Gaga, as I stood in line with Billie Stormzy on my arm. They had smoothies and juices too, so I bought some kind of apple-kiwi juice for him, and cake too, for the kids to share. Back at the table, Rihanna Gaga wanted her own cake, so I got back to the counter, Billie Stormzy still on my arm. He didn't want to wait in line again, however, and told me he was going back to his mother. 

When I got back to the table, my partner and Rihanna Gaga looked confused. "Where's Billie Stormzy?" they asked.  Nobody knew, and he was nowhere to be seen. Panic. We split and spread out throug the halls of Tunis Carthage Aeroport, and not before long I had found him. He was enjoying himself at the security check, where he walked repeatedly through the gates, observed by amused Tunisians. Apparently he was fascinated by the lamps that flashed green and red when someone walked through. I picked him up - it seemed as if nobody had drawn the conclusion that this kid was without parents, everybody probably assuming he was someone else's kid, as he was completely at ease and not, in any way, looking lost. 

Much to everybody's relief, I returned with him to our table and we finished our coffee. Despite the shock of the little one suddenly disappearing, I was now feeling less tense than earlier. On the other side of the passageway that Pâtisserie Gourmandise Aéroport looks out over, there was a duty free shop, the sight of which made me smile as I remembered how I once gave a storytelling training to the staff that was setting up the company for these duty free shops. As said, our week in Tunisia had been a great success. For Rihanna Gaga, the reunion with the country where she spent two formative years at a point in her childhood that she may not remember too much consciously, but which still seemed to stir something inside her. So much so that she decided she wanted to learn to read and write the Arabic alphabet, and we bought some books yesterday. It is also nice that Billie Stormzy is now somehow a little bit part of our Tunisian adventure, by visiting the places we used to live with us. We've already agreed that we will most probably visit again. Somehow, in those two years back then, a bond has been formed with that will not go away.