Day 239: Cape Town to Jo-burg to Abu Dhabi to Istanbul

Four different airports and three flights over the span of twenty-four hours sounds like a chore, but after some of our epic bus rides through Africa, it really didn’t feel so bad. Our flights were rather uneventful. I wish I could say the same for the airports, but they were all a bit of a hassle.

Joburg changed gates for multiple flights and people (including us) were running around confused and trying to prepare themselves for the possibility of missing their flight. Luckily we made it and were fortunate enough to accompany half of China on our flight to Abu Dhabi. The poor flight attendants were extraordinarily patient. Andrew and I were extraordinarily immature, wide-eyed at the women in front of us eating their pudding desert with a knife. There are spoons in China. There were also spoons on our trays. We didn’t get it.

Abu-Dhabi, while beautiful, had a ridiculous amount of people crammed in one terminal, unwilling to go to their gate as additional long lines for security checks would have prevented them from sneaking back out for a snack or a bathroom. The security checks were frustrating. I thought one woman was going to lose it, but she managed to keep it together after we were shuffled from one line to another only to realize we were split up into two lines to then merge back into one line. Andrew had to go in and out of the scanner because something kept beeping on him.

It was here, where we think he lost his baggage ticket repeatedly trying to empty his empty pockets for security.

Once we arrived in Istanbul, we waited at baggage claim before realizing our bags did not arrive with us. A seemingly competent third party ground services company helped us file a report. We were told to call later with details of where our bags were.

We were nearly two hours late meeting Juliet in Taksim Square. I was counting on her not still being there waiting for us, but low and behold, she was. (What a wonderful friend, right?) We made our way to her house for a restful night of dinner and drinks in after a day of jumping continents.

Day 124: Abu Dhabi

After meeting Kate’s friends, Anna and Ray, it’s official, I’ve decided the best thing about the UAE are clearly all of Kate’s friends. Ray lives in downtown Abu Dhabi and graciously let us crash at his place. We stayed up late chatting, and then when we got up in the morning, Anna (another awesome friend of Kate’s) was adamant we had to go on “The history of the UAE” ride. It was something of a joke, like a “Does this kind of ride really exist” kind of adventure. We found it. It exists. Not only did we go on it, but we got escorted out of the (mostly closed) park by security when we cut through to get back to the car. We got in trouble again when visiting the Grand Mosque for attempting to take a picture with our arms around each other, “No hugging!” a guard yelled out at us! We immediately dropped our arms to our sides and it became a theme for all subsequent group pictures.

Just in case you were wondering why we were so covered, the Mosque had abayas available for scantily clad (exposed heads/shoulders/legs) female visitors like ourselves. An abaya is a loose over garment robe-like piece of clothing worn by some (sometimes all) women in Middle Eastern countries and/or in Islamic countries and especially in mosques.

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque was named after the founder of the UAE. Most things in Abu Dhabi are named after him. It can be a little confusing. So, most people referred to it as the Grand Mosque. It covers an area the size of five football fields, holding up to 40,000 people. The opulence inside the Mosque was unbelievable. When I searched for more information about the Mosque, I found a really great blog post that goes into great detail about the Mosque. If you’re interested in learning more, go here!

After our visit to the Mosque, we had lunch at The UAE Heritage Village, enjoyed reading nationalistic poems about Sheikh Zayed, and saw how people lived in the UAE before there were cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi towering over the desert and the wood and grass houses. After we enjoyed the view, we parted ways with Anna (sadly!) and headed back to Ras al-Khaimah. (Thankfully, there were no speed bump accidents involved on the way back!)

Day 123: Repelling in Ras al-Khaimah

In continuation of Kate having the hook-up, her and Andy (her Andrew) took us repelling in Ras al-Khaimah. A quick drive through the desert and we were in the mountains (kinda) for an afternoon of walking down the sides of a canyon. We didn’t have time to rock-climb in Thailand, so I was super excited to get on a wall, even if it was just to do the easy (sometimes most fun) part! Just like TJ, Andy knew exactly what he was doing (it’s his job, after all!) and was super professional as he guided us down the canyon walls.

Guess who made everyone pose for scenario pictures again? (It’s me! It’s me!) Only we weren’t as organized, and I forgot what each scenario was… Maybe being silly in climbing harnesses for all of them?

After repelling, we headed out of Ras al-Khaimah to drive and spend the night in Abu Dhabi for some sightseeing the next day. The normally two hour drive turned into five because we couldn’t find a gas station ANYWHERE! On empty, we were a little nervous, driving in the middle of the desert, but finally found one with Andy’s (Kate’s Andy) help using the internet at home. Whew! We were in the clear, until Andrew (my Andrew) took a turn behind the wheel and learned the hard way there are speed bumps on the expressway. We were in the midst of finding our way back to the right expressway to Abu Dhabi and all of a sudden the car is airborne and Andrew is freaking out out in the front seat apologizing to Kate over and over again, who was also apologizing on behalf of the UAE for the crazy amount of speed bumps without warning paint, lights, or even signs. Andrew couldn’t stop referencing The Office, whenever he talked about there actually being a speed bump in the middle of a highway...