Aghhhh...another Sunday....another fabulous week to look back on. Well weekend...the week was pretty lame. I have been doing a much better job at being responsible and not going out during the week so the only outing was dinner with Oliver on Monday night. Had a great steak which was way overdue....heard all about his new flat in Dubai (so jealous!!!!)and then had one drink at Trader Vics and was home and in bed in record time!
So Liana and I had been planning to hit Bahrain for the weekend with Alice and Alisa but everyone (other than Liana) was up in the air until the last minute as A & A didn't know if they'd have to work and I hadn't received my passport back yet. I got word it was done on Wednesday so we booked our trip for Thursday after work. Alice and Alisa both ended up with work committments on Friday and couldn't come (sad :( ) but Liana and I went.
Thursday at work was great....we did a long lunch with Alice and then left "early" to get ready. We are both slackers and needed to pack and stuff. Our flight was at 9:40 so we got a cab to the airport and made it early so what did we do? Found free booze. Ha. You have to walk through duty free to get to the gates and Liana was like lets go find the sample guy. Brilliant. Absolut had a little bar set up so we roll up and start sampling what they had. Vodka/Cran, Vodka/Apple, Vodka/Orange, Vodka/Cran Apple, etc etc. The guy loved us and didn't seem to mind us drinking all his vodka. Ha. For his sake we did buy a bottle to take with us so he did good. So at this point we're a little buzzed and just laughing about dumb sh*t. Then we get on plane and there are like 20 ppl total. Of course Liana and I are window/middle of one row but we figure we're good so she takes aisle and me window. Then this big woman rolls up and says shes the aisle so she sits down and we're like ugh..this is gonna suck. So then clearly no one else is getting on the plane and the aisle right across from us is open (with noone in the middle)....any normal person would get their a** up and move..doesnt she want more room too? But no...things in the UAE are never normal. So the exit row in front of us is wide open so we move...score..more leg room, middle open....then we debated whether it was safe to have drunk girls sitting in the exit row. Liana's argument was that the pictures on the seats showing the directions didnt look like her, she was clearly missing the sideburns. Lol. You really prob had to be there.
Anyway...very short flight, hour and 10 minutes of which Liana passed out and I tried but coudln't. We get to Bahrain and get through immigration which was pretty easy. It's 5BD to get a tourist visa which is like 50 dirhams which is like $14. Let me tell you how difficult this became as we were drinking. Converting BD to Dirham to Dollars to figure out how much stuff costs....at the end I just sort of hoped we weren't getting terribly ripped off! We get to hotel, check in and get ready for our first night out.
We went to an Irish bar...which touted itself as "Clubbing Reinvented". I'd agree with that. Had the chill atmosphere of an Irish Pub with great music....1/2 DJ and 1/2 live band. Lots of Ammericans in Bahrain...some of the military guys looked like they were 18!!! We had some drinks, did some dancing, made fun of a girl wearing a one legged pant suit. No joke, she had on these "short pants" so one leg was full length and the other was shorts. And with flats. It was not attractive, but somehow she had scored the best looking guy in the bar. Next time I'm wearing my pair. Ha! Anyway, we drank far too much and decided that taking shots was also a good idea so Friday morning was a bit rough. Oh one other thing...we met this Irish guy...I tell him I'm an accountant (I never learn to make up something better) and Liana tells him she teaches religion in Abu Dhabi. He believed her. He also believed her when she told him she was the 3rd wife of an Emirati guy and that she used to be a hooker. Liana has this effect on men. Anyways...he finally starts to see holes in her ridicilous story and then goes to me, I bet you aren't an accountant either. Um yes, I wouldn't make up something as boring as that. So he's like prove it...umm....yeah how do you want me to do that?! Oh also...this guy was wearing a mu-mu (how do you spell that?). Liana kept pointing him out and we had a good laugh, we decided both of us could have fit in the shirt with him still in it. Biggest polo shirt I've ever seen. And then he turned out to be the DJ.
So Friday morning we came to and leanred something fabulous...that Bahrain has a Ric's Kountry Kitchen. Liana knows about this fine establishment from Qatar but had no idea Bahrain had one. We roll over there at like 1pm for "breakfast". Had one of the best omelettes of my life with hash browns, yum. Then we went back to hotel and took long naps until it was time to start over. Unfortunately Bahrain was too cold for the pool and for the first weekend day since returning, I did not get to sunbathe. Sad day. Anyhow.....we got up and got ready and went to Zoe's for dinner (Liana had been here years ago and her recommendation did not fail). Food/wine was fab. Then we went to a sweet club called Havana's. You'd think it would have a Cuban flair right? Wrong. Hip hop club and Liana was in heaven. So much so that she decided to play DJ for part of the night. Ha. I wish I had a picture of her, one headphone on, one hand in the air, rocking the ATL symbol. Ha. She was also given a nice lesson in American culture over the weekend (again..lots of Americans here). She learned some new phrases like, "off the chain" and "thats wassup" and "tribe". Lol. Okay so the last one isn't a phrase and you really had to be there. This one sweet young kid was all in a tizzy after a discussion with us. It went something like this. Liana "You know Flo-rida". Him "You mean Florida". Liana "No, Flo-rida". Him "ummm, yeah, I'm from Florida". Lol. Then I ask, "oh your from S. Florida, do you know Pit Bull". Him "yeah the dogs". Me, "no, Pitbull the musician". Him "yeah Pitbulls are cool dogs". I think we may have stopped talking to him at this point. Ha.
We were smarter and laid off the shots so Saturday morning was easier than Friday. Went back to none other than Ric's for a repeat of day 1. Well I had the exact same thing (cuz thats my style), Liana got a death by omelette. Then we went to hotel, convinced them to let us check out at 4 so we could lounge around until our flight. Flight kinda sucked....we forgot to check in online so we ended up with middle seats apart on a completely full flight. Guy next to her was snoring, guy next to me was quite large and kept letting out the loudest sighs. I am very spoiled now with Business class so going coach sucked and we had to wait forever at Immigration and then of course we pick the one line with a million issues (I actually warned her on the way not to let me pick lines as I'm ALWAYS wrong). That may be the only time I admit to being wrong. Ha. The guy working was in no hurry, and then he had a guy go through with tons of issues which required working guy to get up and leave his post for a few minutes at a time (and was not moving with a purpose). By the time we got through and got home we were both pretty beat, but was nice to be home by 9:30 and have some time to settle in before heading back to work on Sunday am.
We meant to go shopping, get massages, and relax at the pool but well, none of that happened. Next time! Since Alice missed this trip, we're gonna plan another one. We were meant to go skiing in Lebanon in 2 weeks but with the crap going on right now, we've all decided (as well as our parents) that this is not a good idea for the time being and may hit Bahrain again. I still have BD that I need to spend as well. Lol.
There are not a lot of pics from this trip cuz I suck. My camera was full the first night and didn't have the energy to go through and delete stuff (as I realized it was full at the bar). The second night my flash was all messed up and by the time I figured it out, it was pretty much over. Liana's realized hers was dead when we got on plane. What a combo right?
It's Monday morning now..I never got around to finishing this last night..had some major laundry issues and a phone date with one of my girls back in the states. I ended up way too late but feel decent today. Liana also took me to Lulu's (grocery store) after work last night...I'd never been. It was HUGE and had sooo much American stuff. I found Apple Jax and Honeycomb, woohooo. I was so excited that I finally found something other than Golden Grahams that I ignored the fact that they were over $8 a box. I could prob have it shipped over here cheaper! Oh and I went to the gym..had a great workout...my gym creep wasn't there. Last week, he decided it would be fun to try and have a conversation with me while I swam laps in the pool, right, this does not work you moron. I can't hear you and am in no position to respond. Then he made a comment about how it was like a private pool since I was the only one up there...yeah...except for YOU who's bugging the sh*t out of me. The swim was nice though, my knees have been really messed up so running everyday is no longer an option. Earlier in my workout I was power walking and he comes over to the treadmill and goes..."where ya going". "What"? "You're walking like you have some place to be". Umm...its called power walking. I can't run cuz my knees are jacked so I'm trying to get the best workout in possible. Please go bother someone else. Please.
Okay I think thats it.....this week should be fairly quiet, have a client dinner tomorrow but thats it til Friday. We are going to Toast SANZA and then ideally back to the pool on Saturday! I feel like my tan is fading already.
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