Another Missed "Connection"

So, I arrived in Dubai a day late to catch my flight to Yemen, right?

Well, I arrived in Abu Dhabi a day early to meet up with my cousin Rachel. So far, I'm not doing so well on proving my scheduling abilities!

Turns out she was driving to the DC airport in the US as I was landing in the Abu Dhabi Airport in the UAE (where she's been living for the last year). I thought she was arriving a day before me (but, as should be pretty obvious, she actually arrived a day after me).

Man oh man, those taxi drivers at the airport were all over me. They soooooo wanted to take me somewhere... I just didn't know where to have them take me (and frankly, I didn't want to pay them when I knew there was a bus that would do just as well at 1/10 the price). If only I knew where to go.

After an hour fighting the pay phone and various international call restrictions I finally figured out where Rachel was (not in UAE) and that (unexpectedly) I needed o fend for myself for a good night's rest (at was already 11pm).

I started calling local hotels and finally found myself a bed. Ahh - sweet sleep. A guady hotel in the downtown Abu Dhabi area - "near" the fish market, but really in the middle of nowhere. But really - by the time I go there (1:30 am) I didn't really care where it was, I was just happy to have a bed, and laughing at the absurdity of flying around the world to meet up with my cousin (planning it a month in advance) and still messing it up. Ha ha ha.

More on UEA (and Nepal, and Dubai, and more) later.

Now, it's time for some sleep and hopefully another wonderous day as the adventure continues. Computer time is something I'm finding hard to "fit in" to the schedule, but I'll do what I can. And yowsers, have I taken a "few" photos. I'll deal with them later.