It’s Saturday night and I am meant to be at SNP Conference in Aviemore. However, I am sat in typing this in the Rotana Beach Resort in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.
How? It’s not as if you can take a wrong turn on the A9 and suddenly appear in the desert. No, it all started on Thursday lunchtime. Sarah, my boss took a call from Kevin, her boss. I remember looking across from desk to the Boardroom and could see it was quite a serious call. A moment later she came out of the room, and asked to speak to me. I must have looked nervous, because straight away Sarah told me not to worry, I wasn’t in trouble. It was then that she hit me with, “Can you go and work in Abu Dhabi for 2 weeks? And you need to be there on Sunday.”
It took a while to sink in. My gut instinct was to say yes straight away, but I had to check. Thankfully there was nothing that couldn’t be missed, skipped or postponed, so within 10 minutes of being called into the Boardroom I was no longer going to Aviemore but to Abu Dhabi – exciting was one of many feelings to rush through my mind, fear was another. The details of what I was going to be doing were sketchy at best, but that was to come later.
In the run up to leaving I began to have a number of concerns.
Firstly, leaving Gail (and Jack and Stephen of course) was really hard. I am not used to going away for long periods, just the odd day or two. I also had next to no time to get used to the idea too. So it was really difficult saying goodbye on Friday evening. They say absence is good for the heart, but I reckon it just makes it ache!
Secondly, I am a fanatical exerciser, as most of you know, especially running. I run every day. So of course I am worried about how that is going to work. To give you an idea of how obsessed I am at the hotel at Heathrow this morning I got up at 5am to go and do an hour’s running on the treadmill followed by a 30 minute weights routine!! The AD resort where I am staying apparently has a good gym and a pool. There is also a local running club called the Abu Dhabi Striders (Google is marvellous!) – I have emailed them, but as yet no reply. I have telephone numbers, so will try and ring them tomorrow. It would be great if I could meet up with a few people to go running, although the heat might be a major barrier.
Finally, the work! I am worried that I won’t be up to the job, I am worried about how I will settle in and adapt to a new culture and way of working, but I guess this is natural. The good thing is I am excited and enthusiastic, and I do have confidence in myself so I am sure I will be able to make it a success – we’ll see and you’ll hear about it here!
One of the most exciting parts of the trip today was travelling Club World on BA. I am sure for some travelling business class is old hat, but I never have. It lived up to my expectations and more and was a real experience.
I hate flying, simply can’t stand it. Don’t know why, I am sure it some kind of control thing combined with a fear of falling – or something like that. I normally sit on planes and count down the seconds from take-off to landing, shifting so nervously in my seat that those around me start to look a little worried. I can’t even get on a plane without performing certain rituals, which involve stroking the side of the plane as I get on and off! Yes, I am a little mad when it comes to flying.
However, today was so different. I felt relaxed from the start. I still did my little routine. The reclining chair, the orange juice on arrival, the blanket and pillow and a nice menu with a range of options for lunch it was all so civilised, how could I be worried? With nice food, a relaxing seat and a choice of films I settled back and really enjoyed the flight. The service was brilliant and it’s definitely something everyone should have the chance to experience. I am looking forward to my return flight and I never thought I would ever relish the chance of getting on a plane!
Arriving at night it was hard to take in much of the city. The only thing that I really noticed was the heat. Stepping off the plane I was hit by a heat wave so strong I thought at first it was somehow coming from the plane’s engines. It wasn’t, it was night time Abu Dhabi! Wow. One thing’s for sure it’s going to be even hotter when the sun is up!
My hotel is also amazing. It has 10 restaurants for a start! I have not had any time to explore yet, so more on that later. My room is huge, with a private ‘sea view’ balcony. Although from where I was standing the ‘sea view’ looked more like a building site! It is still lovely though. The large bed, wardrobes and sofas mean that I am going to be more than relaxed in there. The walk-in shower is amazing as well.
So here I am for the next two weeks in my temporary Abu Dhabi home. In terms of the work, I have had a bit more detail, but will know much more tomorrow. I am going to be providing some communications support for the International Renewable Energy Agency or IRENA to give it is acronym. I start tomorrow at 7.15am with a breakfast meeting with my AD based colleague Kerry. I am tired, but quite excited now! I’ll report back after.
How? It’s not as if you can take a wrong turn on the A9 and suddenly appear in the desert. No, it all started on Thursday lunchtime. Sarah, my boss took a call from Kevin, her boss. I remember looking across from desk to the Boardroom and could see it was quite a serious call. A moment later she came out of the room, and asked to speak to me. I must have looked nervous, because straight away Sarah told me not to worry, I wasn’t in trouble. It was then that she hit me with, “Can you go and work in Abu Dhabi for 2 weeks? And you need to be there on Sunday.”
It took a while to sink in. My gut instinct was to say yes straight away, but I had to check. Thankfully there was nothing that couldn’t be missed, skipped or postponed, so within 10 minutes of being called into the Boardroom I was no longer going to Aviemore but to Abu Dhabi – exciting was one of many feelings to rush through my mind, fear was another. The details of what I was going to be doing were sketchy at best, but that was to come later.
In the run up to leaving I began to have a number of concerns.
Firstly, leaving Gail (and Jack and Stephen of course) was really hard. I am not used to going away for long periods, just the odd day or two. I also had next to no time to get used to the idea too. So it was really difficult saying goodbye on Friday evening. They say absence is good for the heart, but I reckon it just makes it ache!
Secondly, I am a fanatical exerciser, as most of you know, especially running. I run every day. So of course I am worried about how that is going to work. To give you an idea of how obsessed I am at the hotel at Heathrow this morning I got up at 5am to go and do an hour’s running on the treadmill followed by a 30 minute weights routine!! The AD resort where I am staying apparently has a good gym and a pool. There is also a local running club called the Abu Dhabi Striders (Google is marvellous!) – I have emailed them, but as yet no reply. I have telephone numbers, so will try and ring them tomorrow. It would be great if I could meet up with a few people to go running, although the heat might be a major barrier.
Finally, the work! I am worried that I won’t be up to the job, I am worried about how I will settle in and adapt to a new culture and way of working, but I guess this is natural. The good thing is I am excited and enthusiastic, and I do have confidence in myself so I am sure I will be able to make it a success – we’ll see and you’ll hear about it here!
One of the most exciting parts of the trip today was travelling Club World on BA. I am sure for some travelling business class is old hat, but I never have. It lived up to my expectations and more and was a real experience.
I hate flying, simply can’t stand it. Don’t know why, I am sure it some kind of control thing combined with a fear of falling – or something like that. I normally sit on planes and count down the seconds from take-off to landing, shifting so nervously in my seat that those around me start to look a little worried. I can’t even get on a plane without performing certain rituals, which involve stroking the side of the plane as I get on and off! Yes, I am a little mad when it comes to flying.
However, today was so different. I felt relaxed from the start. I still did my little routine. The reclining chair, the orange juice on arrival, the blanket and pillow and a nice menu with a range of options for lunch it was all so civilised, how could I be worried? With nice food, a relaxing seat and a choice of films I settled back and really enjoyed the flight. The service was brilliant and it’s definitely something everyone should have the chance to experience. I am looking forward to my return flight and I never thought I would ever relish the chance of getting on a plane!
Arriving at night it was hard to take in much of the city. The only thing that I really noticed was the heat. Stepping off the plane I was hit by a heat wave so strong I thought at first it was somehow coming from the plane’s engines. It wasn’t, it was night time Abu Dhabi! Wow. One thing’s for sure it’s going to be even hotter when the sun is up!
My hotel is also amazing. It has 10 restaurants for a start! I have not had any time to explore yet, so more on that later. My room is huge, with a private ‘sea view’ balcony. Although from where I was standing the ‘sea view’ looked more like a building site! It is still lovely though. The large bed, wardrobes and sofas mean that I am going to be more than relaxed in there. The walk-in shower is amazing as well.
So here I am for the next two weeks in my temporary Abu Dhabi home. In terms of the work, I have had a bit more detail, but will know much more tomorrow. I am going to be providing some communications support for the International Renewable Energy Agency or IRENA to give it is acronym. I start tomorrow at 7.15am with a breakfast meeting with my AD based colleague Kerry. I am tired, but quite excited now! I’ll report back after.
Dude, there is no finer snorkelling water in the world than the Red Sea. Go to your balcony, look across the water, NO, STOP LOOKING AT THE YOUNG LADIES SUNBATHING ON THE YACHTS, look further and see the land, see a thousand Scottish expats looking back saying, "ha ha ha ha! We live here, we're here all year and it is pure dead brullyant by the way!". Yeeeah, that was me when I was 8. Enjoy it, sample the food, learn the secret of mint tea (buckets of sugar), remember the smell of sand in the air, and make damned sure you eat from a shwarma stall for tuppence. Alex will understand, cos that boy likes his food!
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