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Tunisia’s Chott el Djerid is an enormous salt lake stretching about 5,000km around the southern half of the country. Neat, tidy stacks of salt line the road that traverses it, and the sight of occasional souvenir stands make you scratch your head, wondering what they’re doing there and who is there to man them. Then you realize how thirsty you are, and secondary questions disappear. The desolate, stretched-out, mirage-inducing landscape is the kind of place that invites pondering, as my friend is doing here, and as Luke Skywalker did before her. Yes, yes, a scene from Star Wars was filmed here, which I only found out later because I’m not a huge fan of the movies (...maybe). You can cross Chott el Djerid on a road running from Kebili to Tozeur, which is arguably one of southern Tunisia’s most fascinating towns. While there are signs for camel rides throughout the surrounding desert, I would leave the camel behind on this one and bring the car instead.

The ancient walled city of Tamerza, at the edge of a beautiful oasis, was abandoned in 1969 following 22 days of (unbelievable!) torrential downpour. A new, modern Tamerza was built to take its place, making use of the oasis in the middle of a canyon. The area boasts a few pretty waterfalls, but the panorama of Old Tamerza remains one of the most beautiful photo ops in Tunisia. Stop at Tamerza, as well as two other picturesque oases (Chebika and Midès) on your way to Tozeur, the largest city in the region and a veritable oasis for travelers looking for some creature comforts.

January is a lovely time to visit the Roman ruins at Carthage. Fewer people. Cooler temperatures. And, if you are lucky, beautiful blue skies over the adjacent sea. While the ruins themselves are quite small (especially in comparison to Pompeii or some of the other Mediterranean ruined communities), they make for a nice hour-long tour.

Adobe streetfront: door...window...sky. Color. Much of Tucson, like most western U.S. cities, is devoted to strip malls and parking lots, but the historic core still has blocks of 19th-century Sonoran-style row houses. In the 1960s, acres and acres of the Barrio Viejo was razed, but fortunately not all of it. Today it’s a combination of gentrification and the pleasantly decrepit: attorney’s offices, student rentals, and family homes share this yard-less streetscape in a bilingual neighborhood. In reading about the history of the neighborhood, I came across this description, written back in the 1930s by Dr. James Harvey Robinson of Columbia University, who was visiting Tucson for the first time: “But this cannot be the United States of America, Tucson, Arizona! This is northern Africa - Tunis! Algiers! - or even Greece, where I have seen as here, houses built flush with the sidewalks with pink, blue, green and yellow walls, flowers climbing out of hidden patios and overall, an unbelievable blue sky. And the sweet-acrid smell in the air? Burning mesquite. Lovely! And the people - charming. But all this is the Old World, not America.” The Barrio Viejo is perfect for a bike ride. You do feel as if you’ve left reality-TV-obsessed Gringolandia...if only for a few blocks...

If you make it up to Sidi Bou Said (a small blue-and-white ‘village’ near Carthage), make sure you stop at the bambolini seller to snag a piping hot sugar-coated doughnut. While the ‘village’ is somewhat of a tourist trap (i mean, i lost count of the number of sellers selling the identical ceramic wares), the doughnuts make the climb worth it (as do some of the lovely sea-views from the top).

You can’t come to the Sahara and not ride a camel through the dunes. Or, I’m sure you can, but would you want to? Also, the signs advertising camel treks - usually accompanied by packs of the bored-looking beasts themselves - are so ubiquitous throughout the region that you may as well hop on eventually. While you’re indulging Lawrence-of-Arabia fantasies on a trek through the desert, it’s also a great opportunity to chat with the guides, many of whom speak English and all of whom speak French. By the time you dismount your steed, you’ll have had ample time to gather insight on good restaurants, cafes, or hotels at your destination. Nearly all towns on the Sahara tourism circuit have a “Zone Touristique” where you can work out a trek. While an hour on camelback outside of the town of Tozeur was enough for me, I’m told there are many opportunities for overnight trips as well.

Wymara Resort Turks & Caicos (formerly the Gansevoort aims to be as much a scene as it is a hotel. Of course, with tots wandering through the lobby with sand buckets, it isn’t quite the party you might have in South Beach or NYC. But then, trendy urbanites don’t have this—the white-sand beach of Grace Bay, or an infinity pool with wood-deck islands that can be reserved for sunbathing, private dining, or just making everyone else feel less important. The 91 rooms are designer chic, with an open floor plan and plenty of space to stretch out. Also available for booking are seven luxury oceanfront villas, located on an elevated hillside overlooking the bay and Turtle Tail. Each features four to five bedrooms as well as two private pools, expansive indoor-outdoor living areas, sunken outdoor lounge areas with firepits, and over-the-water swimming platforms with direct ocean access. Stelle, the Mediterranean-influenced restaurant, has a DJ who spins on Friday nights. And Exhale Spa counterbalances the chill party vibe with sunset yoga in an outdoor pavilion.

While the art of puppetry is common throughout much of Asia, Vietnam has the unique discipline of water puppetry. These puppets are carved from wood and then lacquered to protect them from the water. The stage for a show is a pool of water, with the puppeteers standing behind, hidden by a screen, manipulating and moving the figures with rods and strings. Water puppetry is believed to have originated in northern Vietnam in the 11th century, possibly in the rice fields around the Red River Delta—flooded paddies were the original stages—and themes often explore the daily routines of rural or coastal life or old folktales. Today visitors can most easily catch a performance in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City at one of a handful of well-established theaters.

In this week’s episode of Unpacked by AFAR, we hear from Tom Turcich, who—along with his dog, Savannah—spent seven years walking around the world.