Vacation to Al Ain
This is going to be another long post. If I had written it when I took the trip in January I probably would have broken it up into at least two posts but here we are, almost a year later, and I’m just getting around to it now. I meant to write this post last week, and I would have, but when I went to my computer to choose which pictures I was going to put in this blog post I saw that none of the Al Ain pictures had been edited. Seriously. None. I was shocked. I knew I had let my photography fall to the wayside, but I didn’t know it had been this bad. I took this trip to the UAE in January, almost a year ago. How could I not have edited even one picture? The only reason I could come up with is that I went to Al Ain during a stressful time in my life, so I wasn’t really focused on editing pictures and then so much time had passed that I figured I had already edited them. 🤷🏻♀️
I stayed at the Al Ain Rotana and I loved it. This was the view from my room. I stayed in a king pool view room with a balcony in the “new wing”. The room was spacious and comfortable. My only issue was that housekeeping came into my room when I wasn’t there even though the do not disturb light was on. I am a huge germaphobe. I always take my own towels (and one of the towels here had a huge black dirt smudge on it, so it’s good I had my own) and I come well stocked with Clorox wipes because I wipe down the entire room (the remote, door handles, light switches, tables, countertops, dresser drawers, etc.). The fact that I now had to do it again even though the do not disturb light was on and seeing that they had even touched my towels!!! 🧘🏻♀️🧘🏻♀️ Let’s just say it took all my self control not to completely lose my shit when I went down to the front desk. If the do not disturb light is on (or sign if there is no light) is on the door, you don’t come in. Period!
The breakfast was buffet style and the food was absolutely amazing and there was a huge variety of foods, juices, pastries, etc. This is obviously not your typical breakfast but that’s what I liked about it. Everything was so good but I didn’t want to overload my plate in case I couldn’t finish it all. I’d always have a glass of orange juice and the breakfast staff would always be nearby and would ask if you wanted any coffee which I’d usually have when I finished eating. The food and the service was always excellent.
The view from the room was especially gorgeous in the early morning when the sun had just come up and there was that haze in front of the mountain. I know most people opt for Dubai, but I just cannot deal with a ton of activity and crowds of people around me. Let’s just say that my days in NYC can get very interesting. Abu Dhabi, and particularly Al Ain, are a much better fit for my personality/temperament.
The view at night was equally beautiful. I loved to sit on the balcony and just look at the lights from the mountain. I’ve been to Abu Dhabi before but the area where I stayed was about 2 hours from Al Ain. I had gone to Al Ain for the day because a friend of mine lived there and he drove me through the winding roads of Jebel Hafit and I knew that I had to come back again. I have a love/dislike (hate is way too strong of a word) relationship with the UAE. It seems like there are so many rules about photography, which I completely understand when it comes to government buildings or military areas, but I was in a park one time and there was a “No Photography sign”, that it makes taking pictures not enjoyable, and pictures are one of the best ways to remember a trip or anything really. I also find the people to be a bit unfriendly. Or as my friend (who has lived there since he was 2 years old) put it, “They can be very cold”. Yet, at other times I look at pictures from there and I actually miss being there. Obviously you’ll feel differently about a place when you’re there on vacation as opposed to living and working there, but I do hope that I can visit again in the future.
My first stop was Al Jahili Fort. I liked that it wasn’t too hot when I was in Al Ain. It was actually a bit chilly and I found myself wishing I brought a few pairs of pants instead of just maxi dresses. The nice weather meant I could spend more time outdoors without being drained of energy by the intense heat. I liked that I was able to take pictures here but even so I still felt a little self conscious. I wish that my friend could have been with me but he had to work. The architecture was just incredible. Getting around was a bit of an issue because there is no Uber in Al Ain. There was in the area where I stayed in previous visits to Abu Dhabi which was about 20-30 minutes from Zayed International Airport. In Al Ain there was just Careem, which took a really long time to get to you and was a bit more expensive than Uber. There also was the option of a taxi which I was initially hesitant to take because I didn’t know if it would be really expensive or if there would be an issue with payment or what, but that wound up being the most convenient option. They would be outside a lot of popular areas like malls and shops and they were very affordable.
The next place I visited was Al Ain Oasis which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was very beautiful and very peaceful, like everything else in Al Ain. I’m more of a nature gal. I despise big cities because I don’t like crowds and noise. I like peace and quiet and wide open spaces. My dream is to win the lottery (although I guess I’d have to play the lottery to have a chance at winning it, lol) and then I’d get a house in the mountains and I’d never have to be around people again. Just me and silence and a couple of dogs. A luxury I don’t have now as I have been trying to write this blog post for more than an hour but my trashbag upstairs neighbor and her demon twins have been running and stomping around like wild animals almost all day. But I digress. I loved walking around the Oasis. I have to confess though that it’s been so long since I’ve taken these pictures that some of them might not be from the place I think.
Let’s get to the food. Some of the best food I’ve ever had has been in Al Ain. From the Egyptian felafel sandwich and the chicken mandi with rice my friend brought me, to the Umm Ali at the hotel, to the sushi I had at a mall restaurant (of all places) the food was always delicious. I also have to give a shout out to the mocktails in the UAE. Those were absolutely delicious as well.
This was the best chicken Caesar salad I have ever had. I know what you’re thinking. It’s a salad. How good can it be? Let me tell you, it was amazing! The lettuce was nice and crisp, the dressing was perfection, and what did they do to that chicken? It was grilled but tender and full of flavor. I had this at the Love Restaurant at Al Ain Mall. Checking their website so I could link it here I see the website is down and the restaurant is temporarily closed, which is unfortunate because the food, ambiance, and service were amazing. Hopefully it is just temporary. Here is a link to an Instagram post I did when I went there. I love that they have booths in Al Ain because I was able to feel like I was hidden from the world while I enjoyed my food.
I feel like this place was designed with Instagram in mind, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The vibe is really cool. There was even a sofa right when you entered the restaurant with flowers over it and good lighting for pictures. I saw lots of people taking pictures there.
Jebel Hafit was one of the highlights of my trip but I wish I had done certain things differently. For one thing, I wish I had asked my friend to go with me. Because he had to work we usually just hung out for a few hours and had lunch before he had to go to work. This particular day he didn’t think we’d be able to hang out so I just went by myself figuring it would be okay. Yeah, no. First of all, it was really far away (about a 30 minute drive from the Al Ain Rotana) and unlike a lot of other places I went to, there wasn’t a line of cabs outside. It was definitely beautiful and peaceful there but I was practically the only one there, which normally I don’t mind, but considering how isolated it was and how I didn’t have a car, it made me a little anxious.
To top it off, my friend called and said he was on his way to the hotel and he had food (a lot of the foods I said I wanted to try and a few he thought I’d like). I had to tell him that sucked because I was at Jebel Hafit and the nearest Careem was almost an hour from there. He said he would come get me and we would just eat in the car. I had to do a location share because there was really no way to tell him exactly where I was even if I knew the area. I guess I was a little, shall we say upset (lol) when I was talking to him because this nice family that was nearby had their son give me a candy bar and some water. LOL! It was really sweet though because the little boy (about 8 or 9) came up behind me and at first I wasn’t sure he was talking to me because he was speaking in Arabic. Then I realized he was calling to me and when I turned around he was holding out a candy bar and a bottle of water.
Since Al Ain is about an hour an a half from Zayed International Airport I decided to stay at the hotel I stayed in on previous trips to Abu Dhabi, the Sofitel Abu Dhabi Corniche. I love staying there and they even gave me the same room I stayed in the last time (and I didn’t even ask), a gorgeous room where the windows formed an L shape so you had city and sea views. I was a little sad to be there though because it meant my trip had come to an end and I had to get back to real life. It was still a little early for dinner but I was craving something sweet, so I went to the lobby cafe and had this beauty, what they called a Paris Abu Dhabi. It was just what I needed to perk me up and it was a nice size so that despite my best efforts, I couldn’t finish all of it.
On top of being sad about leaving, the whole airport process going back always gives me massive stress and this time more than the others. I got to the airport at 6am. My flight was at 10am. Even with four hours, it was still barely enough time to get through everything. And this past year you had to go to one part of the airport to drop off your bags, then multiple security screenings, then you had to take a shuttle bus about 10 minutes away to another area of the airport, then more security screenings. Like, come on!!!!!! Simplify this, please! Or have at least one flight back that leaves in the afternoon or evening! It was taking so damn long I even started looking up airport hotels in case I missed my flight and had to stay an extra day.
In spite of the minor inconveniences on this trip, I really did enjoy my time in Al Ain. I hope to get back in the future but it probably won’t be next year. I’m definitely glad I had a friend there because it was nice to spend time with him and also because he always brought me food (a lot of food) even though I never asked him, and it was all stuff I had wanted to try or had really enjoyed on previous visits.
