Daydream Weddings: July 2008

Welcome to our first Glamour Guest post!

Jen and I are now going to be looking for the Glamour Guests at the weddings that we attend and we will profile them here on our blog.

Wedding: Lori + Scott Barrick

Name: Sandra Hunter

Where did you get your wedding outfit? Dress: Winners Shoes: Zellers Earings: Ardene

What is your favourite accessory? Shoes

What is your day to day look? Everything has to match. I'd say dressy/casual

Where are your favourite places to shop? Winners, Lululemon, Walmart

What was your last fashion purchase? My dress

What was your last random purchase? My dress!

Who is your style icon? Jewel

What does the word Glamorous mean to you? It means having the purse, the smile and having your hair blowing in the wind!

Why did we pick Sandra? She looked fantastic in the black and white halter dress and her heels were killer! Welcome to the Glamorous club Sandra!

~Amy and Jen

I have to apologize to Jen, Travel Tuesday is going up so late today, it's turning into globe-trotting Wednesday! (I'm hoping to get it posted before midnight!) So here we go....

Located on the northern coast of Africa, Tunisia has boundaries with Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east.

The Atlas Mountains divide the country into two regions, the well-watered north and the semi-arid south. The northern region, which contains the Kroumirie Forest, Bizerte, and the Medjerda River Valley, is further divided into three sub-regions: the northwest, with extensive cork forests; the north central, with its fertile grasslands, and the northeast from Tunis to Cap Bon, noted for its livestock, citrus fruits and garden produce.

The southern regions contains a central plateau and a desert area in the extreme south, which merges into the Sahara and is characterised by the date palm oases and saline lakes. The Medjerda Mountains, which run from Kroumirie to Bizerte, and the Tébessa Mountains (or Massif Meridional), in the southern region, are the two most important mountain ranges. The Medjerda, the most important river system, rises in Algeria and drains into the Gulf of Tunis.

I travelled to Tunisia when I lived in England and found that it's beautiful beaches and historical treasures attract millions of tourists from all over the world. It is a very popular destination for people who live in the UK. Nearly 5 million tourists visited Tunisia in 1999 and in 2004 they reached more than 6 million.

I stayed in the capital city, Tunis, which is a two-hour flight from Paris and London and a fifty-minute flight from Rome. Daily flights connect Tunisia to virtually all European, African and Middle Eastern destinations.

Travelling around I felt very safe and the people were very friendly. The official language is Arabic and French. When walking down the streets shopping, people try to get you to go to their store by mumbling stuff to you so you keep asking questions of what it is...and then they say" come on and I'll show you..." lol be wise to their tactics!

The temperature is quite humid, but when you are lying on the one of golden beaches and looking at deep blue sea in the morning, it's not out of place to look down the beach and see a camel in the distance. That's something you wouldn't see on Kits beach!

Tunisia is not a budget buster, especially for Western visitors. It's usually possible to get a clean room for about US$5 per person, and main dishes in local restaurants are often in the US$4 range. If you're fighting to keep costs down, you can get by on around US$15 a day, but you'll have more fun with a budget of about US$25 and can live like royalty for upwards of US$40. Credit cards are accepted in souvenir shops and upmarket hotels and restaurants. Tipping is not a requirement, but most local café and restaurant patrons toss a few coins on the table as they leave, and waiters in tourist restaurants are accustomed to tips of around 10%. Handicrafts are about the only items you'll be able to haggle over in Tunisia.

There are a few small movies you may know that have been filmed in Tunisia... You may know of a little one named Star Wars, The Isle of Djerba is popular because of it’s seclusion from the mainland, it’s quiet and calm atmosphere, and the fact that one of the Star Wars set is on the island. Definitely a favorite for those who want to escape the hustle and bustle of busy life and enjoy peace, quiet, great beaches, and nature. Due to it's extraordinary form, Matmata was the location for disco scene in the first Star Wars film. Also all the houses are all underground! Before you leave for Tunisia, try to see the film first, then you go on to experience Matmata. Oang Jamel- it is out in the middle of the desert, but it is here that one of the most famous Star Wars sets still stands. You can only reach this area with a 4×4 because of the washboard road, but more importantly because the winds blow the Sahara sands onto the roads and will get anything less stuck.

One of my favourite movies, Gladiator, was filmed in El Jem- is the biggest and most in tact Roman coliseum in the world. World Heritage-listed and quite possibly the single most impressive Roman monument in Africa, the colosseum at El-Jem was also the third-largest of its kind in the Roman world. At its best at sunset, the colosseum is towering and sturdy but with sufficient sections in ruins to evoke the ghosts of the long-distant past. In summer, the arena where gladiators once fought for their lives is given over to concerts - we challenge you to find a finer venue.

Parts of The English Patient was filmed in Toezeur, you reach through the Sahara desert. It is famous for the yellow bricks, and the palm tree forest in the middle of the desert.

I also took a bus tour to the Sahara and a camel ride. The camel wranglers expect to be given some money to take their photos. As I was on the sunset camel ride in the Sahara.....of course for the tourists, the Arabian's came out on their Egyptian horses, or some type of horse and dressed to the nines, looking for some moola from all us wide eyed tourists. We were told by our guide before we went out on the camels that this would happen and they would expect to be paid. They come at the perfect time when we take a break from our camels and get to walk around the desert.

One comes to me, of course the young blonde hair blue eyed girl, with lily white Vancouver skin! We were talking with him and I had wanted to get my photo on the horse, as it was so beautifully decorated....so the guy jumps off and picks me up and throws me on the horse! As I was opening my eyes again wondering how the hell I got up there so fast, got my photo snapped and as soon as I heard the shutter release....the Arabian was on the horse behind me and off we took off like a BULLET!!...OK, i was not prepared for this at all, I grabbed on to the hair of the horse to steady my balance and clenched my thighs so hard i would have broken a Suzanne Summers Thigh Master, the Arabian man made sure I didn't fall off as he grabbed me around the waist!

side bar: as we went off like a bullet everyone in our tour group whiplashed their heads to the crazy blonde girl screaming her head off on the horse with the man with a sword!! LOL!! We went for a fast gallup in the desert and he dropped me back off at my camel my headscarf slightly ascue from the bullet ride! I peeled myself off the horse and wobbled back with thighs of steel to my to my camel....everyone giggling, as well as myself, at what just happend....and I took a bow and gave him some money.

I must say that is one of the most memorable moments of my life!!! Every time I re-live it with my sister we laugh so hard we cry.

Tunisia's list of attractions would do justice to a country twice its size. From the Roman-era hot springs at Hamman Mellegue to the space-age sets of Star Wars, Gladiators in the coliseum, crazy Arabian horse rides and amazing sunsets. It's a country that is rich in history, offers so many different kinds of scenery it's a photographers paradise and with over 1200 kilometers of coast this sunny Mediterranean land is heaven for the vacationer. Enjoy!

~ Jen