USA Goodbye, Hello Dubai!

Jamie: After a month and a half of preparations, we were ready to leave the U.S. for Dubai! We almost thought it would not be possible to get everything done in time, but with a little planning and perseverance, we did it! We sold our car and furniture, put tons of stuff in storage (thanks Mom and Dad!), shipped another ton of stuff via cargo ship, and pushed Delta's suitcase weight and quantity limit (as you can see from the picture) before jumping on a 14-hour flight to the Middle East. How did we do it? We just didn't over analyze what we were doing - there was no time for that. This was an opportunity that we could not pass up!

We left the US on Sunday night and arrived in Dubai on Monday night (Dubai is 9 hours ahead of Atlanta). Upon our arrival, we took a taxi to our temporary studio apartment in an area called Wafi City. Wafi City is owned by Andrew's new company and consists of a shopping mall, luxury hotel, residence complex (where we are staying), and many restaurants and bars. Despite being tired from our flight, we decided to walk around a bit and grab some food. We almost ate at the Planet Hollywood, but decided that would be against our morals, and so chose a small cafe inside of Wafi Mall. Andrew ordered crepes with BACON...he was very excited to see a "pork" product on the menu. However, he found out later that he was eating BEEF bacon! After eating, it was time to crash. I had to start my interview with Emirates Airlines the very next day!

This time of year the temperature in Dubai is fantastic! Are we in the same place where we were in July? Skyscrapers, roads, bridges, and shiny new malls stand in place where patches of desert and construction cranes were just months ago. There is visible progress on the new metro system – it is going to be excellent when completed! All we can think about is “yeah, we can live here!”

Since our arrival, we’ve probably heard close to 30 different languages between the two of us. I also learned that there are about 300 nationalities in Dubai- almost one “representative” from each world country!