I took a whirlwind trip to Dubai to meet up with BF while he was on one of his shorter leaves. It was a really, really good trip...I got to meet some of his deployment buddies and just generally have a fun weekend. It was a long trip for not much time together, but anything is better than nothing (and we have no idea when he'll get leave again, because there are a lot of things up in the air right now).
Dubai is the most surreal place I have ever visited. You're in the Arab world, but the population is 80% expat, so everybody speaks English. Honestly, it reminded me a lot of NYC. On our first couple of days, we hung out with his buddies and I partied like I haven't partied in many, many years. It was a lot of fun, but got exhausting after two solid days because I felt like we weren't getting any alone time (because, well, we weren't). So the last full day I was there we had a date day...went out to brunch and then to the Dubai Mall (the second-largest mall in the world...it has an aquarium and a dinosaur skeleton and an ice-skating rink and a huge waterfall), then out for drinks/hookah and a nice dinner. Then we both got on airplanes; I flew home, and he flew to Germany for an interview for a promotion at work. So, overall verdict...SUPER FAST, but a good trip.
Pictures!
Part of the Dubai skyline. The huge skinny building on the left is the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. Dubai sort of has fits and spurts of huge skyscrapers--this is one of the areas where the tallest ones are.
One of the strangest, most surreal parts of Dubai is the landscaping. It is solidly in the desert...but there is grass and flowers and fountains everywhere. It's amazing what a little oil money can buy.
I had never eaten at a Tim Horton's, but my sisters went to school in western New York and LOVE IT, so of course I ate there and took pictures to send to them. They are everywhere in Dubai!
The waterfall fountain at the Dubai Mall. The mall is 4 stories tall, so that gives you an indication of how big this is.
BF and I bonded, many years ago, over a book about camels, so they've sort of become the symbol of our relationship . So of course I took pictures of me with a camel statue and then of the camel trying to give us kisses!
AND, while I was there, something very exciting happened...MY SISTER HAD HER BABY! I have a niece:
Her name is Rosemary Elisabeth, and she's perfect. 9 lbs, 8.5 oz, 21 3/4 inches long. Those CHEEKS!
So the other important thing I did at the Dubai Mall was to buy presents for them. BF was totally on board and told me to buy ALL THE SPARKLY HEADBANDS!
So anyway, it was a super good weekend and I'm all sappy and YAY!