Gubbi of Arabia: Expat Life in Dubai

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Operation CASH: Convoluted August Summer Holiday

At long last - after various work / life uncertainties have prevented us from making decisions, booking tickets, or otherwise being committal in any way - Alex and I have bitten the proverbial travel bullet and booked tickets for our long-awaited Convoluted August Summer Holiday - otherwise known as Operation CASH, because that’s what we’re going to be forking over a lot of. (Seriously, when did it become appropriate that I have to spend four digits’ worth of the American dollars just to go home?!)

We’ll start our journey in Frankfurt, where I have a final-round interview for a potential new job. (Don’t worry, the job’s in Dubai - just meeting the regional HQ team in Germany.) Because nothing says “vacation” like “nail-biting conversations with senior leadership at a company I really really want to work for,” right? Thankfully, I plan to drown my interview stress in various sunny summery beer gardens across the city immediately upon completion.

From Frankfurt we’ll mozy on over to Freiburg, where we’ll spend some time frolicking in the German / Swiss countryside before attending the wedding of one of Alex’s best friends, the Geranian. Drinking, dancing, and deutsch-ishness shall ensue.

Then it’s back to Frankfurt and across the pond to California, where we’ll make whistle-stop visits to Alex’s various and sundry West Coast family members in San Francisco, Paso Robles, and Los Angeles before hopping back across the US to spend the week of my 30th birthday with my family in Kiawah Island, South Carolina.

(Unfortunately, scheduling constraints mean I will spend the actual day of my 30th on a pair of craptastic domestic flights from LA to Houston to Charleston… I am trying to console myself with the possibility that within the full 24-hour span of my birthday, I may actually get to dip my toes in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. That, and yummy Mexican food during our layover in Houston. Oh and also, I’m not above scrounging for birthday upgrades. Shame, what?)

Finally, from the East Coast we’ll head back to Dubai just in time for the end of Ramadan and the return to real life.

So there you have it - Operation CASH. Any recommendations for things we should see, do, drink, or eat along the way?

  1. amyisgone said: Good luck on the interview! Despite the cash, I’m jealous and constantly consider similar trips!
  2. allendsz said: If you’re ever headed to the Mission district in SF you have to try Del Fina, awesome Italian/ pizza place. Probably the best pizzas I’ve tasted. And also try Bi-rite creamery, has much better ice-creams than the overpriced ones you get in UAE>
  3. cupofchi said: YES! This sounds awesome, although slightly tragic about the cash. I know the feeling (thus why there is no holiday in the States for me this year).
  4. gubbiofarabia posted this
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