All Things Words: Top 5 Things I’m Missing About the UAE

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.