October 2018 Recap

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October was interesting for me, I quit my job last month and 9th Oct. was my last day at work. I’ve been working at the same company for 5 years and had a full time job for 10 years and was working since I was 14 years old so being unemployed feels weird and I will blog about it later. Tim and I managed to spend most of October in Abu Dhabi and trying to get to know the city.

Destinations we’ve visited

We spent the month of October in UAE, between Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Highlights of the month

  • I’m currently unemployed (my last day was 9th Oct. 2018)
  • Had a mini farewell gathering.
  • Christina and Mimi celebrated my freedom by inviting me for a delicious breakfast at The Coffee Club.
  • Tim and I went to Warner Bros. Theme Park with Christina, Reuven, Noah and Mimi.
  • Backyard has now a proper seating area. Can’t wait for winter  😀
  • Attended Sharjah Children International Film Festival.
  • I started a new course called Digital Marketing.
  • Attended The Big Bad Wolf Event which is the biggest book sale event in the world.
  • Attended the first public event in Abu Dhabi with Priyanka, Clint, Mimi, Salah and Mustafa. We went for movie under the stars. The weather in the UAE is getting better so its the best time for outdoor activities.

What I watched?

Series:

  • Queer Eye
  • Sabrina
  • Dear White People
  • A Chef’s Table
  • Dare Devil
  • Fauda

Movies:

None. I focused on TV series.

What I read this month?

I’m currently reading Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

What have I blogged about in October?

And as we are approaching end of the year, we hope for more good things come 🙂

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Nos Encanta Barcelona

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Barcelona is one of my favourite cities in the world. I love the food, the people, the art, culture, attractions and the history. Although it was our second time in Barcelona, we both wanted to explore thecity together. There are so many things to do in the beautiful the Catalonia city of Barcelona but we visited some of the main attractions together.

MERCAT DE LA BOQAUERIA

Our favourite place to eat is of course Mercat de la Boqueria. A food market by La Rambla, where you can taste the flavours of Barcelona. We spent hours there just trying almost everything.

GOTHIC QUARTER

One of the best places to explore is the Gothic Quarter. The vibe of the area is just mystical. We booked our accommodation in that area because there are so many quirky stores around and is walking distances to most of the attractions in Barcelona and is very close to the beach.

PICASSO MUSEUM

For the LOVE OF ART, we visited the Picasso Museum. One of the best art museums we have visited around the world. The museum is designed to display Picasso artwork according to his creative timeline.

GUADI GUADI GUADI!!!!!!!

We visited 3 important sites that are linked to Antoni Guadi.

Casa Batllo

Park Guell

Sagrada Familia

BARCELONA MAGIC FOUNTAIN

I told Tim that the Barcelona Magic Fountain isn’t as glamorous as the one in Vegas or Dubai but it’s different and has a magical feel to it. The way the water dances out and in the fountain and the colours of the light that synchronises with the classical music was just a unique experience.

BEACH

Best place to walk and enjoy the sound of the sea. Also that was where Shakira’s song LOCA was filmed.

LA RAMBLA

I call it the catwalk of Barcelona. A place where you can explore, get souvenirs and enjoy eating delicious Spanish tapas.

For our short time together in Barcelona, we has a blast and if ever we visit Spain again, I bet the first landing destination would always be Barcelona. NOS ENCANTA BARCELONA

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How We Spent 24 Hours in Rainy Madrid

We were really unlucky. It wasn’t my first time in Madrid but since it is the capital and I knew where to go, I told Tim how about we create memories together in Madrid. I kinda regret it now because I did not expect it to rain that much. This whole thing about the rain in Spain; yeah I get them now. I love rain because we barely get it in UAE but Madrid’s rain was just effin’ COLD and dammit, the rain wouldn’t take a break. Oh c’mon clouds STOP CRYING, I want to enjoy my holiday.

So like I said we were so unlucky but managed to do few things here and there. Since it was raining like crazzzyyyy, I suggested to get on a hop on hop off bus and explore the city that way since everything I wanted to do was outdoor, we decided to visit Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. We looked at a lot of paintings and art work and as soon as heavy rain turned into drizzles, we decided to continue our journey to explore the city.

I really liked the Plaza Mayor when I first visited Madrid, I wasn’t paying attention and I ended up taking Tim to the wrong plaza and we were walking in the cold freezing rain to get on the bus to head to the actual Plaza Mayor. Luckily, the rain stopped so we managed to take a few pictures. As soon as it started raining like crazy, I decided to take Tim to San Miguel Market for dinner. It is one of my favourite things to do in Madrid and THANK GOD it’s an indoor market. We spent hours there trying new drinks and food. Tim and I were really sick of the rain in Madrid so we headed back to our accommodation to rest.

The next day, we took an early train to Barcelona and that’s how we spent our 24 hours in rainy Madrid. It was quite upsetting because my last visit, I got to do a lot more. Hopefully, next time 🙂

 

 

 

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A Week in the beautiful Gran Canarias

We spent a total of 5 nights and 6 days in the Gran Canarias.

Day 1:

We arrived in the afternoon at around 2PM. Susan, Tim’s stepmom and Frank, Tim’s Dad picked us up from the airport and we headed to their home located in Mogan. When we arrived, we were welcomed by Frank’s cousins and Tim’s sister and her husband. It was a week of family get together to celebrate Frank’s 70th Birthday. Our first night, we all had dinner at a restaurant by the beach called Amadores. Tim and I shared a Paella Negra and just had a wonderful time chit chatting with everyone.

 

Day 2:

Susan booked an activity for everyone. Tim drove the buggy and we all adventured to the volcanic mountains of the Gran Canaria and tried a cactus fruit. The guide warned us all to be careful from the spikes on the fruit and not to get our hands dirty when eating the fruit,. Tim did a terrible job, he got spikes all over his mouth and his hands were pink and I the clumsy person managed to eat it perfectly. Later that night, Susan ordered 2 types of Paellas. She ordered a mixed paella and a seafood paella from a restaurant down the road to their home. It was extremely delicious.

 

Day 3: Easter Day

Tim and I went to the beach with Lucy and Steve. The water was quite cold so I avoided swimming the whole holiday. It was April and I consider it to be a cold weather LOL.

Later that day, Susan arranged a lovely lunch BBQ for everyone. Tim and I made lazy cake for dessert. At night, we all watched a movie in the entertainment room.

 

Day 4: Frank’s Birthday

Susan arranged a cruise to celebrate his birthday. It was located at Pasito Blanco Harbour. I, the half Middle Eastern girl who lived her whole life in the desert suffered a heatstroke for the first time EVER. I kept throwing up constantly and felt dizzy the whole cruise. I wasn’t sea sick because I got on a lot of cruises in UAE but the heat in Gran Canarias was a lot to bare and not just that I did not wear a hat. I felt horrible. Ever since I’ve learned my lesson to always wear a hat on a sunny day.

Susan, an amazing organiser, planned a tapas night. Everything you could imagine was served that night. We had shrimps, cheese and many other delicious food.

Day 5:

Frank’s cousin travelled in the afternoon, Lucy, Steve, Tim and I went to Puerto Rico Beach to buy some souvenirs. We later went for a walk and checked out a few stores in the town and headed back to Frank and Susan’s place.

 

Day 6:

Steve and Lucy travelled back to the UK. Susan and Frank dropped us to Mogan Beach for more shopping and to check out the beaches and local areas. Susan later picked us up and we went grocery shopping and purchased the cactus sauce and canary sauces. Later that night, we had dinner at a seafood restaurant overlooking the sea.

 

Day 7:

We left the house at 3AM to catch our flight to Tenerife.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bellion Travels – Alicante

We flew from Tenerife back to mainland Spain. Our first stop was Alicante; we drove from the airport to a place called Campoamor. Tim wanted to check on his dad’s boat and thought he would give me a tour around that area. We booked a ride from the airport which was not that expensive and was a fixed rate; our driver was Algerian so we only conversed in Spanish and Arabic.

Campoamor

As soon as we arrived, we checked in Hotel Montepiedra, the hotel was nice but the rooms had a really weird smell. Anyway we changed our outfits and walked to a Mediterranean restaurant called ‘La Barraca’ by the sea and had dinner. We went back to the hotel room and couldn’t sleep and we decided to watch a Spanish TV reality show which kinda helped us practice our Spanish, LOL.

The next day, we woke up early in the morning, had breakfast and decided to go to the Marina and check on Tim’s dad abandoned boat. Tim examined the condition and we decided to continue walking along Costa Blanca. The views were amazing and the place looked wonderful but honestly, we got bored. SOOOOOO we went back to our hotel, checked out and drove to Alicante city.

Apparently Campoamor is recommended during summer time.

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Alicante City

As soon as we arrived, we checked in our hotel apartment and decided to grab lunch and I was so hungry that I fell in a tourist trap and ended up eating at a very touristic restaurant because it was the first restaurant I saw. MAN! I WAS HUNGRY. Tim lectured me about not falling into a tourist trap next time but I think my excuse was reasonable, I mean c’mon I NEEDED TO EAT.

Afterwards, we decided to explore the city by foot. We walked and walked and walked and walked and along the way, we saw;

  • Playa del Postiguet
  • Port Alicante
  • Mount Benacantil
  • San Juan Playa
  • Casa Carnbonell
  • Famous Explanada de Espana

There are a lot more to do in Alicante but we travelled the next day and took an early train to rainy Madrid.

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2 Nights and 3 Days in Tenerife

Tenerife is a well-known holiday destination and the most visited Canary Island. It is also famous to be a honeymoon destination. Since it’s a 15 min flight from Gran Canaria we thought well why not visit it.

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We made a huge mistake by booking a flight that lands in the North and the apartment we booked was located in the South. There are two airports in Tenerife and we kinda missed that information.

Our apartment was in Costa Adeje so we rented a tiny car and drove South. It was a 1 hour drive. Regretfully, I forgot my driving license in UAE so Tim had to drive the entire trip. We landed early in the morning and arrived at Costa Adeje at 10AM.

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The Landlord can only arrive at 4PM to handover the keys so we kept our luggage with a gentleman who was guarding the compound and we were picked up at 1PM to quad bike. The tour picked us up and introduced us to our group and we all drove to Mount Teide. We stopped at one of the villages for snacks and later that day, we went to the beach for a walk and to explore the area and had a proper Spanish dinner.

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The next day, we woke up quite early in the morning, bought few items from the supermarket and drove to Jungle Park. We saw a lot of animals and actually enjoyed the Exotic Bird Show and the Seal Show. Afterwards, we drove around the island and checked out other resorts and hotels. As it got darker, we decided to head back to Costa Adeje for dinner. We ate at an Indian Restaurant which was packed with people, we actually had to wait for an hour to get a table. The restaurant is called Delhi Darbar and the food was delicious. We later went for a walk around the area and did some shopping.

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We got back to the apartment quite late, so we packed our luggage and woke up early the next day to handover the keys to the landlord and drove back to the Northern Airport of Tenerife and flew to Alicante.

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It was quite a short trip and we kinda wanted to stay a little longer because there were other activities to do on the island but we wanted to explore mainland Spain together.

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September 2018 Recap

Gosh! A lot of things happened this month, I don’t know where to start. So, I finally handed my resignation and my last working day is Tuesday 9th Oct. 2018. After working 5 years with the same company it was time to say goodbye. I want to blog about it separately with many other pending blog posts. Now, I have time to do things for myself, I can have a ME TIME. I will have time to blog, edit photos, paint, sketch, read books, organise the mess, file important personal documents because everything around me is completely disorganised ever since we moved to Abu Dhabi.

September was a very good month, we celebrated my brother’s 24th birthday at Wokyo then had cake and coffee at Bystro Dubai. We also travelled to Nepal to celebrate Tim’s 30th birthday and my surprise gift was paragliding. So here is a quick recap of what happened in September 2018.

Destinations we’ve visited

UAE

  • Al Ain
  • Dubai
  • Abu Dhabi
  • Sharjah

Nepal

  • Pokhara
  • Kathmandu

Highlights of the month

  • My car battery died in Abu Dhabi so I stayed at Mimi’s place in Dubai for a week to be able to commute to work easily.
  • I officially RESIGNED from my job. As of 10th Oct. 2018, I will be unemployed YIKES!
  • Tim and I went to Dubai’s Park and Resort/ River Land/ Lego Land and Motion Gate.
  • Celebrated Mohammad’s 24th Birthday at Wokyo and Bystro.
  • Travelled to Nepal for Tim’s 30th Birthday and went paragliding.
  • Celebrated Tim’s birthday with my family at a seafood restaurant in Sharjah called Sammach.

What I watched?

Series:

  • Dark Tourist
  • Explained
  • Queer Eye

Movies:

  • Equalizer 2
  • Life of the Party
  • Game Night
  • Incendies
  • The Motorcycle Diaries

What I read this month?

  • The Travels of Ibn Battuta by Tim Mackintosh Smith
  • The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto “Che” Guevara

What have I blogged about in September?

 

I’ve got lots of plans in the month of October, we will be arranging the outdoor garden, having farewell meals, organising the house, attending few events and more blogging hehe.

 

 

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