Dubai so far

After a short flight (we took off, ate lunch and landed), I arrived in Dubai at about 2:30 this afternoon. I haven't seen much but so far the service at the hotel is amazing (everyone knew who I was- I felt like a movie star!!) and the building itself is really incredible- sort of futuristic and space-aged (the picture of me is in the lobby). They upgraded me to a huge 2BR suite, so if anyone wants to come and keep me company, you just have to get here! The amenity pictured here was waiting for me when I got back from the gym. As much as I love chocolate, I was even more impressed with the fruit basket- there were some different kinds of lychee fruits in it- one hairy pink one, which is think was a rambutan and another that I'd never had but it was pretty much the best thing I've ever eaten!

Until I moved to these parts I wasn't really sure exactly where Dubai was...wellll, here's a geography lesson for y'all {I met someone on Friday who actually says that!!} Dubai is part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which is comprised of several Emirates, or city states. There are a lot, but some of the biggest and best known ones are Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The UAE is on the "toe" of the Arabian Penninsula (I think it looks like a ski boot).

Tomorrow I'm going to hit the gym (the treadmills have personal tvs that you can plug your headphones into - today I watched scrubs), read the paper, sunbathe in one of the two pools (the have one on each side of the building, so you never lose the sun) and go shopping at the GAP since we don't have one in Cairo (I KNOW!!!)...also, since this is actually a work trip, the rest of our team is arriving tomorrow afternoon, so we have a meeting about Makkah before we fly off to Beirut together on Tuesday.

Hope you're all doing well! Miss you! xoxo

Over and out from CatinDubai.