R&R in Tatooine

We're off for a week of vacation at the El Mansour Hotel and Resort in Tunisia. I'm not normally one for beach vacations, but in this case I just can't wait to spend a whole week relaxing either by the pool or on the shores of the Mediterranean. The hotel is right on the coast, and the beaches in this area are legendary. We got an all-inclusive package, so all our meals, drinks and snacks are already taken care of - we never have to leave the hotel!

Our original vacation plan was to go to India for my friend Anita's wedding. Michael and I talked about it for a long time, and in the end we decided that it just wouldn't be a good idea for us right now. I'm not a great traveler to begin with, and add to that the burdens of traveling around India to see the sights with the heat, and worrying about food, and less-than-luxury travel methods, we didn't want to end up being miserable the whole time (ie. Michael stated quite flatly that he refused to spend two weeks in India listening to me moaning and complaining and refusing to leave the hotels because I didn't feel well).

So we're onto plan B. We went into a travel agent and asked for a last-minute deal. Some of our other options were Spain and Portugal, but I didn't want to feel obliged to go out and see things. The appealing thing about this resort is that there is absolutely nothing else to do there. 40% of the country is covered by the Sahara desert! Michael is threatening to go out to see the remains of the Star Wars movies (all the scenes on Tatooine were filmed in Tunisia - this is Luke's home planet, and also where Jabba the Hut lives). I told him that if he wants to get on a camel to venture out into the desert to see the remains of an old movie set, then to make sure he gets a picture of himself going "These are not the droids you're looking for", and that I will see him again for dinner back at the hotel.

We're not sure if there will be internet access in the hotel or not. If there is, then we'll try to post the occasional picture, and if not, then we'll be back in a week!