Reverse Bucket List
Abu Dhabi was incredible. As the capital of United Arab Emirates & an hour away from Dubai it has a lot of similarities, but definitely some noticeable differences. They both have that breathtaking architecture from the skyscrapers & the interesting contrast of old vs. new but our taxi driver explained it pretty well - Dubai is like the fun teenager and Abu Dhabi is the cultured adult. For instance, the OG Sheik’s face is everywhere & has a casual MASSIVE palace that is just for show.. he doesn’t even live in it! Like okay Sheik, I see you! Unlike Dubai it was a lot more necessary to keep shoulders covered, etc. or else would probably get shoulder shamed (which may or may not have happened to me.) I loved both cities so much — definitely now in my top 5 favorite places in the world.
Quick recap for ya..
First, we went to our resort called Emirates Palace… and oh my goodness this place is hard to put into words. We walked in and were instantly greeted and treated like we were Sheiks ourselves! Big ballas ova hereeeee. When we got escorted to our rooms I swear they had 4 different butlers telling us every single aspect of our room, they kept coming that we genuinely ran out of coins to give to them because like.. how many butlers does one floor need? 4 apparently. I think the room was trying to seduce us with the free roses, slippers, and the ‘gold coin room key’ ..like buy us a drink first, Emirates.
It was one of those hotels where you don’t feel like you are wasting time just exploring throughout it because there is so much culture / things to do. The palace was one of the first structures even built in Abu Dhabi so there’s tons of history.. even just people watching was mesmerizing! Important note: there were two pools & one of which had hammocks in the pool — I can die happy now.
After exploring the grounds of the palace, we went to the Louvre Abu Dhabi. The museum was just recently completed so we were super into the architecture (by we I mean my mom but I joined the bandwagon I will say!) It shares art with the Louvre Paris, so it was interesting to compare the two. Next, we went to the Grand Mosque which was just w o w. Even though it was super touristy, it was an amazing experience. Here, due to Muslim religion, we had to cover both shoulders and head out of respect and such. Of course, we were so rushed to get there before sunset that we picked maroon hjabs and looked like we were straight out of Hogwarts - Graduation Edition - WHO LOOKS GOOD IN MAROON LMK.. in the pictures it looked like we were joining Clay and graduating from USC.. definitely could have put in more thought for that one. Go Trojans!? Regardless of the time crunch and questionable #fit, the Mosque was massive and so so stunning.
Then we went back to our happy place (ze palace) and enjoyed dinner & talked about our lives - reminded me of how much I missed my mom!
The next day we woke up to try a #gold cappuccino… Alexa play 24K Magic by Bruno Mars?! I mean I don’t want to brag but I digested 24k of gold the other day so even my bowels are luxurious now.. Too far? Probably. After our intestines became lined with gold (obviously) we spent the day relaxing at the pool where I got the gentle reminder that my St. Tropez self- tanner did not mean I could actually withstand a uv of 9 & the sun absolutely destroyed me.. the ego that tells me I can tan really well definitely just deflated. My abroad body loved the one piece bathing suit rule though, and personal nachos by the pool were a clear must.
After we finished our relaxation at Emirates Palace, we were are off to ride camels in the desert. At this moment in time that is all we assumed to be doing.. because like what else would it be? They just drop you off the side of the road into the desert and then you ride camels for a little, right? WRONG. We were driven an hour away to the start of the Abu Dhabi desert when suddenly the driver gets out of the car to deflate the tires.. scuse me sir is that the correct method? Apparently it was because just like that he precautioned us to fasten our seat belts and “maintain our stomachs” — we were about to take this car (that I previously thought was keeping me safe) into the dunes.
Keep in mind people… likeeee this wasn’t driving cute little dune buggies throughout the sand. This was racing straight up Toyotas over dune like cliffs. Just because sand is “soft” does not mean that if your Toyota does the turn wrong its not going to flip over off the cliff… or stall on top of it.. because yes, there is in fact a very high chance of both happening! Thank you to the English man in the car who kindly told us that minutes before we took off… my anxiety greatly appreciated it! ha.
My first thought as the car began to go 105834837 mph was about why in the name of G I was wearing hoops for this straight up extreme sport. Don’t get me wrong I love hoops, but for heavens sake.. I’m wearing hoops that match my sunglasses… (bigger the hoop bigger the… better person??!) Oh yeah and I have these self-proclaimed trendy pants that should have been most definitely swapped for a pair of cargos… but make it fashion, as they say. Regardless, if I was the man driving our death vehicle I would look at me and think wow I should probably warn this poor, clueless American and tell her to either a. Change b. Go home or c. (Even better) tell her about what was about to conspire because CLEARLY her and her trendy pattern pants had NO ACTUAL CLUE of what was coming.
I think before I mention how the ride went, a little context needs to be set up. My mom and I love to travel - we love to experience it and I get that appreciation from her. But our poor lil overthinking brains are terrified of turbulence ... we get scared when taxi drivers run a yellow light... I’d prefer my type of thrill to be running a little late to dinner or something (but I meannnn if you’re currently reading this and are a cute boy who loves the outdoors I’m down - love to hike and all that jazz... But, will I be jumping out of the plane every other week with you probsssss not) ..You get my point. Allow me to continue —
Suddenly it gets faster.. Minute 3 and we are already confused. Where the F*CK are the camels?!? By minute five it was clear there were to be no camels for a long while and we were in for a RIDE. The car would swoosh back and forth across each dune and each moment I was either thinking ‘wow this could be how my 21 years of life ends’ or, ‘this is the best moment of my life.’ That is why I call it a reverse bucket list — this was something I never knew I needed to have on my bucket list or wanted to have on my bucket list yet suddenly it was crossed off just like that!! At this point I should just go skydiving tomorrow now that I am an accidental adrenaline junkie and all, don’t @ me. Or also maybe my arms are now jacked from holding on so tight to the car for dear life, so hey only positives here people!!
Every couple minutes the driver would yell “seat belt!?!” which meant oh ya that turn where you’re about to fall off the side of the dune?! Ya it’s coming. I truly became 10x more religious in the matter of the first 15 minutes. Through it all my mom and I were just dying of laughter in the back of the car - our confusion & sarcasm made for a fantastic pair. Better yet, being in the back of a random car with 5 international people racing through the desert dunes was a situation you can’t even truly describe other than saying.. nothing can really beat it. They probably think I need 7 hours of therapy for how much sarcasm I was able to fit into a 1 hour time period in order to deal with this current life situation. Regardless, after all that & more 1 hour later we had reached the camels!
What a sight it was to see those humped bodied lil thangs… the camels could have spit on me, kicked on me, anything and I still would have loved every part of them. Within minutes of being there we saw a newborn camel… I am talking born within the last 10 minutes / wet and all (sorry tmi.) It was honestly beautiful - so so cute. We really liked seeing the camels in a relatively natural environment.. although I will say, camels have a heavier stream than a drunk girl at Sutton & the baby had the physical mobility of me after a morning’s worth of Saturday mimosas.
After we rode the camels we went to the ‘camp’ where we were given Arabian food, free henna, hookah, Arabian coffee, bellydancer shows, and ended the night watching the stars & talking to our new German friends.
All jokes aside, this was hands down one of the best experiences of my life. My mom and I had so much fun.. laughing when something went wrong and truly enjoying every moment. Actually what a way to end an incredible trip - I’m so blessed to have a family who embraces travel and to be able to travel with them. Miss you already mom! I am so proud of your successes & hope one day to be half the person you are so I can show my daughter what you’ve shown me! Have fun on your next journey in Asia!
PS: My Dubai post got deleted so just read through the - travel updates Dubai - section of this site for the highlights!! It was equally as amazing!!!!
