Finally Leaving Monastir in Style

My alarm sounded at 6:00 AM, waking me as I was set to embark on my journey back to Paris. I got dressed, packed up my things, and left the room 15 minutes later. I checked out of the hotel, paying 250 TND (Tunisian Dinar) or about $75 for laundry from my stay for the last four weeks and the concierge made a joke that I could’ve paid for the machine with all that laundry. He ordered me a taxi, and I left the hotel as the sun began peaking over the horizon. I gathered my belongings and went in to check my bag at the airport. Everything went smoothly until I saw my flight was delayed an hour. I felt some frustration for not being notified of this before I left the hotel this morning, but it subdued and I grabbed a double espresso from the lone café in the airport. Monastir Habib Bourguiba International Airport has a grand total of two shops and zero Wi-Fi. I went to grab my laptop as I sat down with my espresso, but there was no computer to be found. Mild panic set in… did I leave it in the hotel room?? Shit.

I grabbed my bag and went to the security check point to inform an agent of my situation. He instructed me to call the hotel and see if a taxi could bring it to the airport. Without any data, I had a serious challenge ahead, luckily the flight was delayed. We used his phone to google the phone number for the hotel, contacted them and explained the scenario again. They called Lachlan, my roommate, waking him up and forcing him to bring the laptop downstairs. Still borrowing the security agents' phone, I told Lachlan that I needed him to come to the airport with my laptop and that I would pay for the taxi. He obliged and left the hotel, laptop in hand. As I waited, time stood still. I sat there in silence, sipping my double espresso as thoughts and emotions berated my consciousness.

Finally, Lachlan had arrived and called the agent back on his cell phone. We traversed backward through the empty security lines back to the entrance. Lachlan cruised up the escalator with the laptop, however I needed to pay the taxi driver and had no cash on hand. Fortunately, there was an ATM in the airport, so I sent Lachlan with my debit card to retrieve 50 TND. When he returned, I told him to keep 40 TND for the taxi since I needed 10 TND to pay the security agent who made this possible. I declined to declare anything as I went through security, knowing that you cannot leave Tunisia with any cash Dinar. I made it through security unscathed with 10 TND in my wallet, yet somehow, I had lost the agent. Unable to find him again, I headed to my gate with an hour to spare before boarding even began. Just 30 minutes had passed, and the fiasco was over.