We arrive in Dubai and quickly immigrate into the UAE. Flying Business class with the Emirates is quite nice. But sadly, the quick entry into the country was the last thing that was expedited on our trip. I stood and watched the bags go round and round the turnstyle. Eventually new bags were no longer being spurned out from the hole, and still, no sight of the bag. I start to panic a bit. Rick and I packed our things into one bag so we had nothing but the laptops on our back. So we talk to customer service. All we get is told there is a 90% chance our bags are somewhere in Dubai and a 10% chance it never made the flight. Being the skeptical statistician that I am, I doubt these numbers are anything more than grabbed out of thin air to satisfy a worried passenger. I was not convinced. Where was her data to back this up? She had none. Clearly she didn't realize who she was dealing with, but i was so happy. Am so happy. I don't care. I didn't fight or fuss. I just accepted it and hoped the bag would show up that night.
We finally arrive at the hotel once we realized our bag was not going to show up on the turnstyle, but our room is not ready, like five hours of not being ready. so we are seated and left to wait for a while. They then profusely apologize and usher us up to Sloanes Restaurant (how apt) for 220 AED a person nice super buffet. We are staying at Grosvenor House. The food -- it is over 55$ a person. It was free for us. We have been so blessed. Finally after much waiting and a slow meal of eating what you can and waiting a bit longer, FINALLY we are led to the room, we are tired and we are full, but we have nothing to wear and nothing to do, so we decide to go for a walk.... WE went for a long walk on the beach, and had a wonderful time being alone without distraction. Just the two of us. By the time we walked on the beach, one of us got really hungry and one of us was still totally stuffed from FOOD FEST 2010 as I like to call it. Because we really did eat sooo much. I don't think we ever ate again that night, so the hungry party got over it. Our lost bag finally arrived at the hotel, and I cant remember much of it though because I was wiped out and the lack of sleep from the past... well all of this year really, and I was done. Vacation at last.
Today was nice. I finally slept past 8am which was amazing in itself. I had a nice breakfast on the hotel patio. That was amazing too. It really has been quite nice staying here. We went to the beach and for a swim. We had a wonderful afternoon. Went to "a" mall (there are tons here), and then here and there. We had dinner with an old college friend of Rick's father, who is now the provost at Zayed University. He and his wife had us over for dinner. We went for a walk first, took a small taxi boat to the SOUQ, shopped a bit and drank in the culture. I have been in enough markets to learn how to avoid eye contact as the sales people try to lure you in with their products. It was funny to watch how they gravitated to me, but not uncommon. I am a young blonde female in a country where dark hair and dark eyes are the norm. Had I been in a scandanavian country, they would have let me be. But, as it turns out, I am in the Middle East. Its just like being in mexico. The first time, I was 12 and lori was 14. We walked through the shops and people just stare. Secretly i like the attention. Maybe its not a secret. Dinner and conversation with Dan and Elaine was excellent and I really enjoyed it. Dubai is amazing. The beach is great. The water is awesome and you can open your eyes in it and it is so clear. No salt water does not burn. We have been busy. The next few days are going to be down time for us.
Here is a funny story I will leave you with: Getting into an elevator is quite exciting when Rick is there and nobody else. Since the Middle East is quite conservative, he uses the time to kiss me. Yeah yeah, i'm sure you've all found time and places to sneak kisses, but since we are hardly able to express our ever growing excitement for one another, we have found the confines of elevators to be the place. In our flat in Bahrain, after the first few days, I realised there was a camera in the elevator. Rick laughed and said, "Well, I'm sure that's why the door man is so nice to us when we come in from work." Maybe they do enjoy it?
So here in Dubai, we are leaving the beach to come back in for a few minutes and as soon as the doors close he kisses me. Quite passionately I might add. We are on G... the next floor up is L. We did not hear the elevator stop at the next floor. We did not hear the doors open. But what we did hear, were the doors closing. I stopped him because I was quite stunned by the noise, and I looked at the doors, expecting them to be on their way to open... But no. This was not the case. The doors were closing...
I couldn't see anyone there, but i can imagine that someone caught an eyeful of my fiancé giving me quite the kiss and quietly stepped out of the way, to let us revel in our passion for one another.... The doors closed, and after a bout of hysterical and tearful laughter, and despite my red-faced embarassment Rick didn't think twice before coming in for another kiss. Round 2. We are like high school lovers. I have never found so much joy and satisfaction in kissing. And that is fine for me. After all. Rick plans to wait until we are married before we take our love any further. And i am totally ok with that.
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