1. Coffee
This is so petty, but if you know me, you know I
LOVE my coffee. It was deliciously
smooth and satisfying. I didn’t need to
add anything to it at all. I usually add
cream and sugar to my coffee until it looks a bit like really light hot
cocoa.
2. Welcoming People
We were obviously very out of place
everywhere we went. In the states even the most polite of people avoid or
sidestep a situation where people don’t look like they are “from around
here.” Others might take it to the
opposite extreme and be rude or condescending to the people who are out of
place. This was not our experience in
the UAE. Most people said hello to us. They asked us where we were from, what we
thought of the country, were we enjoying ourselves, etc. These weren’t just hotel people who are paid
to be nice or shopkeepers looking to make money. Everyone was amazingly nice to us.
They were especially welcoming to
the kids. I can’t count the number of
high fives and fist bumps they got or the times that people asked their names
or considered their feelings about things.
Lynn’s name was the name used for our family at the Rogo’s restaurant.
Joe’s afternoon tea was free because he didn’t really like it. We didn’t complain or ask for it to be free;
it just wasn’t on our bill when we were checking out of the hotel. The lifeguards at our hotel and at the
Atlantis Aquaventure played with and talked to our kids like they were the
paying guests. Lynn gave a picture she colored to Jerome, one of the doormen at
the hotel, and Joe named his stuffed camel for this same doorman. Everywhere we
went, the people enjoyed our kids acting like kids and they wanted our kids to
be satisfied. This was a very sweet
change from our lives here where we feel like we always need to keep our kids
in check, seen and not heard, when we are out in public.
3. Weather
This is obvious coming from a Midwesterner at the
end of winter. We were in the UAE at
what we were told was the best time of year.
It is about to get extremely hot there, but we enjoyed temps of 70-85
degrees most days. There was usually a
cooling breeze out in the open and one could always escape inside to uber cool
air-conditioning if they sun got to be too much. Our hotel had lounge chairs
with umbrellas set up at the pool and the beach at no extra charge. This bit of shade was really enough to make
the hotter afternoons more comfortable.
Don’t get me wrong, I am sure I would miss the seasons of the Midwest,
but the idea of sun and beaches everyday is more appealing than anything I can
think of.
4. Highway System
Yes,
this is a weird thing to miss. The UAE’s
infrastructure is so new. The system is
well thought out and marked very well.
We learned very quickly to trust the road signs and not our GPS. The one thing I miss the most is the
dedicated truck lane. Trucks were only
allowed in one lane and they had different speed limits than cars. This just made the highways so easy to
navigate and seemed to move things along at a better pace.
5. Public Transportation
We did enjoy driving between Abu
Dhabi and Dubai and around our hotel’s local area. However, we also were extremely pleased with
the public transportation system. The
train system in Dubai was highly efficient and inexpensive. There were also taxis everywhere that were
very cheap. Getting a taxi wasn’t a
fight either. In the places where we
needed to catch a cab there were organized lines for the people waiting and
everyone took their turn.
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| Excellent coffee at breakfast our first morning |
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| Afternoon tea |
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| Dinner at Rogo's in the Yas Mall |
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| Joe retrieving his dinner from the roller coaster at Rogo's |
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| Lynn trying on different hats in the souks. |
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| Gorgeous day on the Persian Gulf |
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| Underpasses and tunnels were all decorated in different mosaic designs. |
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| The highways were so well planned and easy to navigate. |
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| Waiting for a cab in line at the Abu Dhabi Mall |
