An Abu Dhabi Adventure (Day 8)

My last day in Abu Dhabi seemed to have dawned so quickly! I wasn’t ready for it to be my last day with my mom! I wasn’t ready to pack my bags and head home. But the time had come and I decided to make the most of our last day together…

We started off the day with another swim at the Corniche. The water was lovely – just the right side of warm but cool enough that it was refreshing. Then it was time to go home and get ready for the day’s activities. I did an online check-in for my flight which meant that I didn’t need to be at the airport 3 hours before my flight, but rather an hour before so I could check in my luggage and have enough time to get through passport control and find the boarding gate. Once that was done and we were ready, we went to the material shop as I had decided to get 2 pairs of pants made by my mom’s tailor. I had brought them with me and I got chatting to my mom about how well they fit etc etc, and she suggested we find some material and have duplicates made. What a brilliant idea! And even more exciting was the huge discount we were given on the fabric!

From there we went past a Dirham store which I called a Dollar Store as everything is “cheap and cheerful” but mostly there is tons of crap that you dig through to find a gem. It was fun shopping here and made me super happy to know I had bought some things that cost me less than a pair of shoes in SA.

After my little shopping spree, my mom took me to meet Achmed and Carrie. Achmed is a doctor and practices at one of the main hospitals in Abu Dhabi. He was also the one who came to my mom’s aid when her husband passed away. Carrie is his wife and is American. She’s been living in Abu Dhabi for the past several years but it still sounded weird to hear her speaking Arabic with her accent. I asked her if she could please write my name in Arabic as it’d been something I’d wanted to know since arriving (it is read right to left).

We left their house around 3:30pm and went past another Dirham store so I could have another small spree, and we were home by 5:30. We went for a quick swim at the apartment complex’s indoor pool to cool down and then it was time for me to bath, finish packing and have a small bite to eat before leaving for the airport.

Even though I didn’t want my trip to end, it had to. And it was sad to hug my mom goodbye knowing I wouldn’t see her again until her trip to Johannesburg at the end of July. But all trips need to end and we always need to get back to life.

I got through passport control very quickly and headed to my boarding gate for my 10:30pm flight. Boarding started about 15 minutes later than scheduled but you could easily tell the South Africans apart from the other passengers as they were already queueing from the time as listed on their boarding passes.

The flight was uneventful save for the guy behind me who must not have known that the screen (for viewing movies etc) was a touch screen as he was banging and hitting it which resulted in my head feeling as if someone was hammering it. I did try and get some sleep on the plane though it was difficult as I had the stupid man to deal with, and because I find it difficult to sleep in planes.

We arrived at 4:30am (about 30 minutes earlier than expected) and I breezed through passport control and again had my bag delivered on to the carousel first.

I was home and my trip was officially over. I was now left with tons of laundry, and gifts to deliver. But all that could wait! I changed into my pyjamas and climbed into bed and enjoyed a three hour nap!

Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles

An Abu Dhabi Adventure (Day 7)

We began our Friday morning with a walk along the Corniche. It is a long road (about 6km) with beaches and pathways and picnic spots and small gardens to the one side, and roads and city buildings to the other. We finished off our walk by going onto one of the public beaches so I could swim in the sea (the Persian Gulf to be more specific). As a Friday is technically a Sunday in the UAE, the beach was relatively quiet. After our swim we took advantage of the quietness and hit the shops as these too would be quiet until around lunchtime.

We went past the same shop I had bought my swimming costume at so I could buy a bikini top to match the bottoms. We also went past the Krispy Kreme Doughnuts store as I just had to have a taste of these. We got 6 doughnuts, each a different flavour. Honestly, when I ate them later that day, I discovered that they weren’t out-of-this-world amazing. Perhaps I can attribute that to having super high expectations and having a whole day to salivate over them… Either way my sweet tooth got satisfied.

After our small shopping trip we made our way home to have some breakfast, shower and get ready for the day’s activities. Our first stop was Marina Mall so that I could go up the tower and get a 180 degree view of Abu Dhabi. It was quite spectacular! We then visited a few shops to see if anything caught our fancy before getting back into the car and heading to the port.

The port was an eyeful! There were so many dhows and they were so closely packed together that you could hardly tell one apart from another. And then there were the masses of wire fish nets strewn on the dock.

And then we passed a “dhow graveyard”. Excuse my attempt at putting 2 separate photos together but you get the drift.

We then headed on to Saadiyat Island to the Saadiyat Al Mannaret Museum to see the Mesopotamia exhibit. The exhibit was amazing! Not only did you not have to pay to enter the exhibit, the information booklets were free too!

Mesopotamia means the land between two rivers, thus it had very fertile land which allowed it to become known as a granary (storehouse for grain) of the ancient world. It had three regions – Sumer to the extreme south, Assyria to the north, and Babylon in the centre. The cities of Mesopotamia were centres of learning and knowledge. Babylonian astronomers studied the night sky and recorded movement of the moon and planets. Cuneiform tablets were kept in the palaces and were used to record aspects of the city (land belonging to this person, that person bartering with another person, etc). These cuneiform tablets were made from clay and a blunt reed was made to imprint their alphabet. There was so much to see that the exhibition left me gobsmacked! The huge pieces of stone slabs portraying different battle scenes, the various sized cuneiform tablets, the clay pots, the beaded headwear, etc etc. I wish I could have taken photos of some of the items but unfortunately museum policy prohibited this.

After exhausting our feet walking through the exhibition, we decided it was time for a late lunch. We drove back to the city and enjoyed lunch at the Lebanese Flower Restaurant. The flat bread and humus were yummy as usual but the meat dish we ordered kept repeating on me. We stopped at the Lebanese bakery so I could indulge in some baclava after lunch and this helped keep the lunch repeats at bay.

The most exciting part of the day happened next…The Red Bull Car Park Drifting Challenge! We had seen something being set up while we were at the Corniche in the morning and this jogged my mom’s memory and she told me that this drifting challenge would be starting at 6pm that night. And our day had worked out so well that we arrived back at the Corniche and found a suitable parking spot by 6pm. We stood just behind a fence with the contestants’ cars in front of us and the demarcated challenge area in front of them. We were there to see a demo run of the course (the video below) as well as see the first few contestants have their go. But we left shortly after the third guy had finished as it was too hot, we were so exhausted, and the challenge was taking too long. It was fun though and quite an experience!

*Day 8′s adventure to come soon…

Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles

PS: I thought you may enjoy this as much as I did… The traffic lights at the Corniche have a 3D walking man when you are allowed to cross the street, along with a timer of how many seconds you have. (Apologies for the poor quality but I was trying to walk and record at the same time.)

An Abu Dhabi Adventure (Day 6)

We awoke earlyish on Thursday and got ourselves ready before heading down for a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. As it had been our last night staying at the hotel, we went back to our room after breakfast to pack and get our things together for the drive back to Abu Dhabi. Before we headed back to the Oman/Abu Dhabi border post though, we went to Khasab Castle.

Khasab Castle overlooks the harbour and within its low walls is a massive central tower that pre-dates the castle itself and preceded the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century. The castle was renovated in the latter half of the 17th century and was used as a strategic outpost by rulers in the following centuries.

The main entrance to the castle is on the left, and the main watchtower is on the right. The ‘holes’ seen in the watchtower are strategic down-facing, angled holes for shooting arrows or guns without being seen.

The central pic is the only door to gain entrance to the castle. Many double doors (like this one) include a smaller door (to the left of the bolt). This smaller door ensured an advantage to the castle (or home) as visitors could only enter one at a time and they needed to bend over and step over a high sill in order to enter. I really love these doors and the the intricacy of the carvings.

Once we were inside the castle I took this overview shot of the courtyard. The central tower provided a last line of defence in case the outer walls were breached.

Walkways “hug” the walls as these would be occupied by soldiers during an attack. After entering the castle and going up a steep stone staircase, the pic on the left is the walkway to the one side and the pic on the right is the walkway towards the main watchtower. And just next to the staircase is the little alcove where these clay pots were hung. I’m still not sure if the pots were used for water or gun powder.

We took the walkway towards the main watchtower. The pic on the left is of my mom on the walkway and the pic on the right is the entrance to the main watchtower.

The exhibits in the central tower and other corners of the castle were very interesting. There were old coffee pots, clothing aspects, kitchenware, letters, chests (how gorgeous is the chest below), etc.

All the windows had iron bars and wooden grills, and wooden shutters that closed from the inside with a thick crossbar.

We spent about an hour at the castle and then took one last drive through the small town before heading back to the border post.

We stopped a few times on the way. One of these stops was to take a pic of an old dhow in the sea. Can you spot the bird posing inside?

The trip back to Abu Dhabi took about 3 hours and was quite uneventful (which was good). We did stop on the side of the highway though as this group of camels just had to be “shot”. Unfortunately when I tried to get close-up shots of them, they took off.

We got home around 4pm and had some leftovers for lunch. We relaxed a bit before getting ready to go to my mom’s friend for a braai. We fetched another one of my mom’s friends and on the way, we stopped off at Charles’ resting place. My mom’s husband passed away at the end of August last year and not only did I want to pay my respects, I also wanted to be with my mom as this was the first time she had visited his resting place. I really am glad that I was able to be there with her during this difficult moment. We had to climb over the small fence in order to spend a little time at his unmarked graveside. Although it was a sad ending to our Oman trip, it was necessary and I’m sure very cathartic for my mom.

We spent the rest of the evening at the braai before calling it a night and heading home around 9:30pm.

*Day 7′s adventure to come soon…

Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles

An Abu Dhabi Adventure (Day 5)

Wednesday morning was another chilled one besides the fact that we were awake and ready and down at breakfast by 8am! We had a leisurely breakfast and then returned to our room to brush our teeth and get ourselves ready for our Dhow Cruise. So we “sunscreened” ourselves head to toe and put our costumes on underneath our clothes. We packed a small bag with sarongs, cameras, towels, etc and headed down to the lobby at 9:30 as we were being fetched and taken to the harbour where the cruise would depart.

We arrived at the harbour in about 10 minutes and our tour guide informed us we were waiting for another 20 odd German tourists who had been collected from their hotels in Dubai (about a 3-4 hour drive so they must have been fetched super early). So we busied ourselves taking a few pics before making ourselves comfy on the boat.

The Dhows resting in the water. These are the traditional fishing boats for the area and are constructed entirely out of wood.

As these are used for the Dhow Cruises, they are kitted out with carpets and comfortable cushions to sit on.

The other passengers finally arrived and our tour guide handed us each a piece of paper mapping the cruise we would be doing. We were also told that we would be stopping at Telegraph Island to snorkel and then again at Seebi Island.

And then we were off. On the left we have our “captain” with our tour guide seated next to him.

And then an awesome pic of my mom and I.

We passed many small villages on the way to our first snorkelling spot. And they were quite difficult to spot considering the houses blend in so well with the mountainside. These villages are only accessed by boat and so each family has a speedboat in order to get to the “main land” for school or shopping. We were told that the largest village has about 100 people. Another interesting bit of info is that water and electricity/gas is provided by the government to each of the villages.

Our first snorkelling spot was at Telegraph Island. For a short time in 1865, this island was a manned land station when the telegraphy line to India was built. This island has a diameter of about 150 meters and was home to several British men during this time. The phrase “going round the bend” originated from this island as not all of its inhabitants could cope with the isolation.

We snorkelled for about an hour here before getting back onto the boat. We had a yummy lunch of flat breads, humus, chicken and rice before heading to our next snorkelling spot at Seebi Island. The island marks the end of the fjord and is secluded so it was perfect for a swim and some snorkelling.

On an aside… We met a wonderful Australian guy while on the cruise that ended up spending the day in our company – snorkelling with us, sitting and chatting with us, eating with us, etc. At both snorkelling spots, the three of us were the last to get out, and this provided us with many a chuckle and giggle at the other passengers. I’m not quite sure why the ladies did what they did or why it was necessary but it was funny nevertheless. There were 2 rather round ladies who decided they needed to change out of their costumes after the first snorkelling spot. They started off with a teeny tiny towel around themselves as they shimmied out of their full piece costumes. It became quite interesting when they decided to bend over. And at that point I told my mom and Jake to turn around and look at the scenery. The ladies performed the same procedure after the second snorkelling spot only this time we saw less bottom and more boob. Although it was funny for us, I couldn’t help feeling uneasy for the Omani guys on the boat…

Back to the trip. I had to include these pics as evidence that my hair is curly. My mom was ecstatic when she put snorkelling and my straight hair together and realised it would result in my hair getting wet and my curls being let loose. It had been so long since I had worn my hair curly that for a moment I thought I had GHD’d my hair permanently straight.

The best part of the cruise was seeing three separate schools of dolphins playing in the waves made by the boat. I had wanted to upload a video I had taken but it was just too large to imbed. So I hope these pics will do!

We arrived back at the harbour around 4pm and awaited our transfer back to the hotel. And once we were safely back at the hotel, we made our way to the pool to cool off. We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling in our room as it had been a fun but exhausting day.

Once my red-from-the-heat face had returned to normal and we had rested and cooled off enough, we headed into Khasab to see the Khasab Castle and to find some place exciting to eat. (All Khasab Castle pics will be posted in Day 6 as the castle wasn’t open when we went.) After taking pics of the exterior of the castle, we took a drive through the town and found a small restaurant to have dinner. The restaurant must be used by local workers as there were no patrons when we arrived. And we agreed that they must have decided to stay open when they saw us arrive. We ordered a local fish “sheri” to share and it was grilled and served with the usual salads and flat breads. It was a yummy dinner that was made all the more special because it was local and I experienced it with my mom.

*Day 6′s adventure to come soon…

Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles

An Abu Dhabi Adventure (Day 4)

I was so excited when I got to “sleep in” on the Tuesday! I got out of bed at 8am and had a lazy morning of showering, doing my hair and packing before we left for our trip to Khasab in Oman.

On our way out of Abu Dhabi we went past a few of the palaces. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take any pics as that could have seen me spending some time in prison. And unfortunately I couldn’t see most of the palaces as they were behind tall walls, but I can say that they must be huge as their properties are each the size of a large surburbian block.

We also went past this gorgeous fountain on the Corniche road, as well as what has been dubbed “the paper building” by my mom as it looks like a folded piece of paper.

We then made our way onto Saadiyat Island so I could see the Yas Marina circuit and the Ferrari World theme park. The pic on the right of the starting grid was taken through the plexi-glass on the bridge hence the blue tinge.

Don’t you just love this dustbin-bicycle contraption! The country is so pedantic about cleanliness that there are street-sweepers at every corner. This contraption was only spotted on Saadiyat Island though, not in Abu Dhabi itself.

We then made our way to the IKEA store. I just had to go in as it’s apparently quite an experience as you are guided through the store in such a way that you see absolutely every item they have to offer. This is not good if you, like me, are a keen shopper battling the “I wants”. So I spent the next 30 minutes oohing and aahing over everything and mentally placing objects in a house that I don’t even own. It was awesome! And to top it all off, I bought us a hotdog-and-drink combo that cost me a total of R16.00!! And it included a free drink refill! I was in bargain heaven!

So we took our free refill and continued on our road trip. We travelled through Dubai and onto Ras Al Khaimah (RAK). We got lost in RAK as the map we were following said we needed to be on the E11 but no E11 could be spotted. Luckily my mom has a keen sense of direction and we managed to get onto the right road which led to the UAE/Oman border post. After about 20 minutes sorting out entry and exit visas, we were in the Sultanate of Oman.

Technically we were in the Musandam region of Oman as it is separated from the rest of Oman by the UAE. It’s location gives Oman partial control of the Strait of Hormuz.

We stopped quite a bit on the way to our hotel as there were so many gorgeous pics to take.

This was the first beach we saw and we just had to stop to take pics. We noticed that each beach was equipped with these “gazebos” which allow visitors some shady respite from the heat.

A little further on our journey we stopped at Bukha Fort. This fort was built in the early 17th century and was later restored/renovated in 1990. It was the west coast’s main line of defence as it had a great view of both the land and the sea. Apparently the main watchtower’s unusual pear-shape was believed to repel cannonballs and other projectiles better than the normal convention straight-sided towers.

To the one side of fort was an old building. We’re not sure if it used to be a house but it provided us with some awesome pics.

After this little walkabout, we got back in the car and continued on the winding coastal road. The sea was on its best behaviour showing us several shades of enticing turquoise. The mountains were just amazing to look at. And we stopped at each town to take a pic of the houses or the fishing boats. There was so much to see. And so much that was captured to memory because the pics just don’t do any justice.

After all the stopping and pic taking, we arrived at our hotel, The Golden Tulip, around 16h30. We were quickly checked-in and given a gorgeous room on the fourth floor which allowed for breathtaking views of the hotel as well as the Arabian Gulf and the main town of Khasab.

We quickly changed and went downstairs for a swim. After cooling ourselves down, we went back up to our room to chill a bit before dinner and bed.

*Day 5′s adventure to come soon…

Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles

An Abu Dhabi Adventure (Day 3)

Another early start was in store for me on Monday 16 May as we had to leave the house by 07h30 in order to get to the first school on the list (of three) for the day. We didn’t spend more than an hour at the first school before moving on to school number two for another hour or so, and then finally onto school number three. We left school number three around lunch time and as I was starving, we stopped at a local restaurant in the Bani Yas district. We had flat bread and humus and salad (though my mom ate all of this) and roasted mutton. And we washed this down with some soft drinks. The tee total of the lunch came to about R36.00! I was gobsmacked! Nowhere in South Africa (that I know of) can feed two people for R36.00 and leave them so full that they roll home. It was awesome!

While driving away from one of the schools, we spotted two baby camels that had been fenced in by their owners. They didn’t care about the lack of space, they were just happy to have some food to munch on.

After lunch we made our way over to the Sheik Zayed Mosque (the mosque that helped create the perfect sunset on Day 2′s adventure).

As it is a religious building, it was necessary for my mom and I to dress accordingly. We both donned our abaya’s (a black dress/tunic) and shaylah’s (a piece of material used to cover your hair).

In trying to explain the next set of pics, I need to explain the layout of the mosque and the surrounding infrastructure. If you look at the mosque from the parking lot, the mosque is on the right. To the very left of it is a large open quad. And to the “top” and “bottom” and left of this quad are covered walkways with the most beautifully decorated pillars.

This pic is taken from the entrance to the mosque showing the quad and the covered walkways that flank it’s sides.

This pic shows the myriad of pillars that decorate the covered walkways, and a close up of the intricate detail that covers the pillars.

And these pics were taken when my mom and I walked through the covered walkways to the opposite side of the quad (ie looking toward the mosque now and to the walkway on the right).

And if you thought the exterior is amazing, just look at the interior now!

Isn’t this the most gorgeous ceiling decor and chandelier you have ever seen?! And this is only in the foyer area of the mosque.

Also in this foyer area are gorgeously decorated panes of glass. The left pic is looking through the glass over the quad. And the right pic is looking through a set of doors down a covered walkway.

As I entered the mosque, I immediately got the feeling of how small I actually am. The building is immense! And I don’t think the few pics below will accurately depict the size and proportion of this beautiful building.

Again there are a myriad of pillars and domes all beautifully decorated. And again the most gorgeous chandeliers I have laid eyes on.

The gorgeous pillars

And the detail at the top of each set of pillars. This is made out of solid gold.

And the roof and wall detail

This is the wall that is faced when you pray. The words on the wall are all prayer words in Arabic.

After exhausting our cameras at the mosque, we headed over to Madinet Zayed Shopping Centre which is known for it’s discount shops. We know how much I love a bargain so I was in seventh heaven. We made our way to a perfume shop first and I bought a gorgeous smelling Arabic perfume. (If you see me in the next few months, be bold and take a smell at my neck as the perfume really is gorgeous!) We then went to a shoe and clothing store and went a bit mad buying things for my niece – gorgeous shoes and cute summer dresses. And before we left, we went past the main perfume shop and I managed to hunt down my favourite Lacoste perfume. Not only was I given quite a discount, when I converted the price back to Rands, I realised I had a real bargain on my hands and purchased a bottle immediately – 1 large bottle of Lacoste “A Touch of Pink” for roughly R280.00. I think I may need to get my mom to stock up on a few bottles for me and bring them over when she comes to visit in July.

We called it a day after the shopping excursion and went home exhausted. We weren’t allowed to laze forever though as my mom had planned a dinner with friends on level five of her apartment building. Luckily dinner didn’t end too late and we didn’t have far to go to find our beds.

*Day 4′s adventure to come soon…

Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles

An Abu Dhabi Adventure (Day 2)

Sunday morning rolled around before I had the chance to rest enough. I was woken early by my mom as Sunday is a weekday there and I was going to be tagging along on her school visits. I had a quick breakfast and shower (and managed to break the shower rail with barely a tug) and we were out of the house by 07h30.

Our first stop was ADEC (Abu Dhabi Education Council). And then it was off to the first of the five schools my mom advises.

There were a few things I found really interesting about the schools in general. Firstly, each student is given a cardboard lunchbox daily which contains a juice, a water, fruit, a yoghurt and a sandwich of sorts. So there is no need to bring your own food to school, and no “tuck shops” I could see. Secondly, the schools are a square building with the central area being the play area. This play area is usually under cover because of the year-round heat. And all the windows have guards on them. I’m still not sure if these guards are there to keep the kids in…

As Abu Dhabians are keen “feeders”, they will offer you copious amounts of tea and coffee and juice and water at every opportunity. I got so used to it that if I wasn’t offered something at a school we were visiting, I felt robbed. We stayed at the first school for a few hours allowing my mom time to catch up after being on home rest for 10 days as she had hurt her ankle. At 11h00 I was called in to the Social Worker’s office as he’d arranged a pizza party in honour of my arrival. Their pizzas are the size of a normal side plate and feature rich cheeses (not the normal mozzarella). They were quite yummy and I felt very special to have had a little party organised for me.

We then went off to the second school, the only girls school on my mom’s list of schools. And while we were waiting for the principal (my mom wanted to introduce me), we spotted a lady who wore the tell-tale signs of having attended a wedding over the weekend – henna tattoos on her hands and feet. Isn’t the design absolutely gorgeous?!

After we’d finished at the second school, we called it a day and went past Khalidya Shopping Centre so I could buy an appropriate swimming costume for our trip to Khasab (because a bikini is not appropriate, especially not my itsy-bitsy bikinis).

Next we went to Marina Mall as my mom said I just had to see the spice section at a shop called Carrefour. And while my mom paid for our purchases I went to exchange some Rands for Dirhams. Who knew that there are so many places available to exchange money?! There are literally a handful of places in each shopping centre.

After our brief shopping expedition my mom put on her Tour Guide hat and began to show me some of the sights. We went to the Emirates Palace Hotel first and it really was a sight to behold. It was built for the Sheik, but apparently once it was finished, he decided it should be turned into a hotel and another palace should be built for him. (Prepare for a multitude of pics…)

This is the view of the palace as you drive in. One of my favourite shots in this group is of the water. Love how it came out… In the top pics you can just see my mom standing at the top of the stairs – that gives an indication of the enormity of the palace.

Just before we entered the palace I took this shot. I love the lines and the shadows. Perhaps I’m a photographer in the making…

The inside of the palace is spectacular! All luxurious and spacious and filled with gold! Top left pic is of the many levels seen from the central atrium. Top right pic is of the ceiling in the central atrium. Bottom left pic is of one of the lounge areas in the foyer. And bottom right pic is of one of the staircases (love the lines).

And then I was told that we just had to visit the bathroom! I love how the bathroom sign takes their religious attire into consideration.

And while we were on one of the upper levels, we spotted a couple camels walking on the palace beach. How cute!

An overall view of the palace from the other side of the lagoon. It really is quite an impressive building!

From there we headed off to Spinneys which is a shop perfect for all ex-pats! It sells South African magazines, jams, teas, etc. So if I felt a little home-sick, this was definitely the place to visit. What’s more, they even have a Mugg & Bean above them! We bought a few things and then made our way to The Noodle House for an early dinner and so I could watch the sun set behind the largest Mosque. (Let me just tell you that I have a ton of pictures of this sunset but chose only to share one to ensure I don’t bore you with pics…)

Once dinner was finished we headed home so I could have a bath, some tea, and an early-ish night (was in bed by 22h00).

*Day 3′s adventure to come soon…

Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles

PS: Thought you’d enjoy some of the signs I saw while driving during the day. I really loved seeing each sign with the English and Arabic versions.

An Abu Dhabi Adventure (Day 1)

Saturday 14 May arrived far quicker than I had expected it to! I was a mixture of excited and happy and sad and emotional all at the same time.

I arrived at the airport around 10h30 and went straight to check-in so I could relieve myself of my heavy bag. The Etihad check-in guy was awesome! Not only did he greet me with a smile, he also had a great sense of humour. He asked me if I had anything of value in my bag and I replied with “only my GHD”. He laughed and replied with a “thought you would say your shoes” quip.

After a quick bite to eat and something to drink at Mugg & Bean, I proceeded through to passport control. Luckily it didn’t take too long to get through and soon I was waltzing through to my boarding gate which seemed to be on the other side of the airport. The first view of the plane was awesome as my excitement started to outshine my other emotions.

If you haven’t noticed already, or if you don’t get out much, South Africans love to queue. We do it without fussing or whining (most of the time). And it made me laugh when passengers on my flight started queuing to board when boarding hadn’t even begun yet. The Etihad crew were quick to tell them to sit down until boarding began. And once it did, everyone flew to queue even though there were only about 20 passengers.

Boarding was quick and painless. I hadn’t realised that the flight had come from Cape Town and so I was expecting to have a semi full flight considering the amount of passengers at the boarding gate. I found my seat and hoped against hope that there would be a little space available in the overhead storage compartment for one of my carry-ons. SCORE! There was just enough space for my little bag. I then took my window seat, taking my handbag with me as it contained the necessary items that would ensure I didn’t have to get up, climb over my “next door neighbour” and look for something in the storage compartment. Even though the flight had come from Cape Town, there were still a number of open seats. I was hoping I’d be lucky enough not to have a neighbour. But unluckily I discovered it was taken when a guy sat down beside me. To make matters worse, he sniffed and snorted every few minutes! I tried to distract myself with the copious magazines and crossword puzzles I had but they could only distract me so much. I would have used my iPod but I was told to put it away until after take-off (who knew?!). So I suffered with the snorting and sniffing for a good 30 minutes until my unspoken prayers were finally answered and he decided to move seats. WHOOP WHOOP! I now had 2 seats to myself which meant I could spread out, put my feet on the seat if I wished, use whichever tray table I felt like… Life was good!

And life got even better when I was handed a menu (A MENU!!!) informing me of what would be served/available.

And indeed life got even better still when I discovered the awesomeness of the in-flight entertainment. There were movies and TV programmes to watch, games to play, etc.

The touch screen was a little “iffy” at times but that didn’t stop me from watching THREE movies (I am number four, The Dilema and The Mechanic)! I had a 9 hour flight on my hands so I had to busy myself somehow. And since I didn’t want to sleep in case I messed with my sleeping clock, I decided the in-flight entertainment would have to do. And it did!

The rest of the flight was uneventful. Until I got my first look of Abu Dhabi. Granted I couldn’t see much other than the lights but that was quite a view in itself.

We touched down at 23h15 (Abu Dhabi time)! It was a breeze getting through passport control. And it was even easier to locate my pink bag as it was the first one on the conveyor belt when I walked through to collect it. I sauntered through to arrivals and ended up hunting my mom down as the flight had come in earlier than expected. It was then time to go outside so we could get to the car park. It was quite a change to be in a 38 degree humid heat when I had been freezing on the plane and in the airport because of the aircon. We eventually got to my mom’s apartment at around midnight and I did a quick unpack before passing out as I knew it’d be a busy Sunday ahead…

*Day 2′s adventure to come soon…

Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles

Where’d the holiday go to…

Today is the last day of my three week holiday. I’m still wondering where the weeks went to as they seemed to have whizzed by! I may think that I didn’t do as much as I should have, but aren’t holidays supposed to be filled with doing nothing?

So what did I get up to…?

The first couple days were spent helping my sis and her hubby in getting their baby’s nursery ready. The Gary’s (one is my fiancé, the other is my brother-in-law -> forever mentioned as BIL) spent a day putting up the dado-rails and replacing the light, while my sis and I searched for curtains, curtain rails, and other curtain paraphernalia. The second day was spent painting – a light yellow below the dado-rail, light green above the dado-rail, and a bronze ‘wipe’ on the dado-rail. (My sis and her hubby have chosen to have the sex of the baby as a surprise, so no pinks or blues were used.) When I visited the other day, I saw that BIL Gary had ripped out the ugly and old carpets and replaced it with wooden laminate flooring. The fantastic part about how they have decorated the room is that it won’t need to be redecorated until the little one is not so little anymore.

Can you believe that Gary and I were blessed enough to enjoy five different Christmas feasts? The first was celebrated with my immediate family on the 12th December. We usually celebrate early because half of my family is away over Christmas. Our second feast (a fondue) was with Gary’s immediate family on the 18th December. The next was another fondue on Christmas Eve with Gary’s parents and his two brothers. The next feast was a lunch on Christmas Day with Gary’s extended family – aunt, uncle, cousins, grandfather, etc. And the last was when we joined my sis and her hubby at their house. We were joined by BIL Gary’s mom, brother-in-law, sister, and his various nephews. The best part of joining my sister was that we were just in time for dessert! And how I love to satisfy my VERY sweet tooth!

New Years Eve was quiet this year. Perhaps it’s a sign that I’m getting old, though I hope not! Makes mental note to have a raucous new years’ party this year! Anyways…back to what we did… We joined Gary’s parents, his grandfather and his two brothers for a prawn feast. We arrived at Gary’s parents’ house early as there was a lot of preparation to be done. We helped with marinating the prawns, making the lemon-butter, garlic, and peri-peri sauces, setting the table, and braaing the prawns. When it came to digging in, we didn’t hold back! We devoured what our tummies could manage and boy was it delicious! We finished eating around 22:30 and, once everything was clean and back in place, we decided to go home (taking Gary’s brother Ross with us). Once home we turned the TV on, watched a bit of this and that, and waited for the countdown. 2010 was brought in in a very quiet way, though I did get one heck of a kiss!

This past weekend, a last minute two-day trip to Sun City was planned. We arrived around 8:30 and check-in was first on the agenda, followed by a very necessary breakfast at Wimpy. The rest of the morning was spent at the Valley of the Waves – enjoying the popular sport of ‘people watching’, trying to catch a tan in the overcast weather, and taking Ross (Gary’s brother) to the clinic after bumping his head and nose on the super tubes ride. Gary’s parents stayed at the Palace so we were all invited there for a build-a-burger lunch. After lunch we made our way to the Cabanas to get our room keys so we could settle in before getting ready for drinks and a posh dinner at the Palace. Monday morning started with a yummy buffet breakfast – what better way to start the day than by feeding my stomach – followed by a morning at the Valley of the Waves. Before we knew it, it was time for lunch and time to go home.

Today I finally got to tick off one of the items on my to-do list – spring cleaning…errrr rather summer cleaning! I bought this awesome plastic six drawer tower thing from PicknPay the other day and I have put it to really good use. The first three drawers are filled with my masses of gift-wrapping paraphernalia (gift boxes, tissue paper, gift bags, ribbons, bows, etc, etc). The bottom three drawers are filled with Gary’s important things (read “junk”). I finally got him to sort out the many boxes of his “important stuff” and to keep what was necessary and to throw away what was not. We now have empty boxes and full black bin bags of what is not important piled in the centre of our entrance area. Pity I wasn’t able to spring clean yesterday as these boxes and bags would have been taken by the garbage guys this morning, and would not look like chew toys for our doglets to enjoy while we’re sleeping. BUT I’m happy that a bit of spring cleaning took place.

What did you get up to? Anything exciting?

Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles