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HI!!! Back from Honeymoon, and pretty tired *yawn* 24 hours of straight travelling will do that to you. Even after 12 hours of sleep.
TTO and I went to Dubai for 3 nights - was AWESOME! People there are quite friendly, and the food is nice. Checked out the Dubai Mall, which was so insanely busy, TTO and I got claustrophobic and left 3 hours earlier than we planned to. We don't handle crowds well...
The hotel was BEAUTIFUL. very chilled and relaxed, and everyone was so nice. Which reminds me, I must send a note off to the chain. The bed was huge and comfy, the food was wonderful and the service was very friendly.
We went on a desert safari the last night we were there. O.M.G. If you ever go there, you HAVE to do this! You go on a dune ride, then camel rides, and you can pose with a falcon! You get an authentic sit down Arabian meal with a belly dancer and henna tattoos and the water pipe (hookah pipe). Very very very awesome. Near catastrophe: I dropped my camera in the very fine desert sand!!!
I thought I'd killed it, but TTO is like a gadget whisperer - he saved it 
We then went to Switzerland for 7 nights. No offense to any Swiss people here on the board, but damn, most of them are rude and unfriendly. No smiles, and if you ask a question, the answer is barked or snapped back at you. TTO was referred to a specific hotel by the travel agent, and when we got there, it was more like a hostel. Cheap beds with old mattresses that resulted in TTO and I having serious back pain after 2 nights, which put a damper on the skiing.
The hotel was supposed to be non-smoking, but the first room we were in smelled so strongly of smoke, I felt like I was in a box of cigarettes. There's no way they put fresh linen on the bed as that reeked of smoke too - either that or the previous occupant smoked so much in that room that the smell oozed into the mattress and contaminated everything that was put on it. We complained (politely!!!!) and were moved to a nicer room that didn't smell as strongly of smoke.
The skiing was AWESOME. I cannot fault that at all, the instructor was very knowledgeable and patient with us newbies. TTO and I were both classified Level 1 (total and complete beginners) but he did so well in the first 10 minutes that the instructor was convinced he'd skiied before (he hadn't) and he was promoted to level 2. Go baby!!
The package included all you could eat and drink, which was awesome, and the food was buffet style. Very nice, until about Wednesday (we landed on Sunday) when TTO picked up a stomach bug that was going around the hostel. I poured loads of water down his throat during the day to keep him hydrated, and we didn't ski that day. Thursday he was feeling better, so we went sledding. I nearly wet my pants, but it was AWESOME. We went on those dinky looking little wooden ones, but they are sturdy!!!
The hostel had stage shows on each night, and I watched the one on Wednesday - very entertaining, considering that the performers weren't professional actors/dancers/singers. There were a few LOL moments, and the atmosphere was good
Friday we just hung around as TTO was a little ill again
Unfortunately, that night I got the bug AND food poisoning, as did TTO. We'd noticed that they reused some of the foods - e.g. pastries and cakes (with cream fillings) that were on display for dinner were on display for lunch. Out in the open, no refridgeration or anything. So we spent Friday night hurling our guts out like quite a few other guests did, and Saturday and Sunday basically living on coke and dry bread.
Sunday we left, and TTO was so sore and wracked with pain from the shitty cheap beds that he developed a massive muscle knot in his neck that was exacerbated by the plane flight from Switzerland to Dubai. We found a spa in the airport for him get a massage to try and work out the knot, and some painkillers. Thankfully the flight back home was half booked, so TTO (with permission from the inflight staff of course) got to stretch out over 4 economy seats to try and sleep.
So we're home and happy to be home, with good memories (and some not so good) and a few stories. Stomachs are still tender, but we'll get there!!! Will post a few piccies soon, but here's one in the meantime, of TTO and I in Switzerland.
TTO and I went to Dubai for 3 nights - was AWESOME! People there are quite friendly, and the food is nice. Checked out the Dubai Mall, which was so insanely busy, TTO and I got claustrophobic and left 3 hours earlier than we planned to. We don't handle crowds well...
The hotel was BEAUTIFUL. very chilled and relaxed, and everyone was so nice. Which reminds me, I must send a note off to the chain. The bed was huge and comfy, the food was wonderful and the service was very friendly.
We went on a desert safari the last night we were there. O.M.G. If you ever go there, you HAVE to do this! You go on a dune ride, then camel rides, and you can pose with a falcon! You get an authentic sit down Arabian meal with a belly dancer and henna tattoos and the water pipe (hookah pipe). Very very very awesome. Near catastrophe: I dropped my camera in the very fine desert sand!!!
I thought I'd killed it, but TTO is like a gadget whisperer - he saved it We then went to Switzerland for 7 nights. No offense to any Swiss people here on the board, but damn, most of them are rude and unfriendly. No smiles, and if you ask a question, the answer is barked or snapped back at you. TTO was referred to a specific hotel by the travel agent, and when we got there, it was more like a hostel. Cheap beds with old mattresses that resulted in TTO and I having serious back pain after 2 nights, which put a damper on the skiing.
The hotel was supposed to be non-smoking, but the first room we were in smelled so strongly of smoke, I felt like I was in a box of cigarettes. There's no way they put fresh linen on the bed as that reeked of smoke too - either that or the previous occupant smoked so much in that room that the smell oozed into the mattress and contaminated everything that was put on it. We complained (politely!!!!) and were moved to a nicer room that didn't smell as strongly of smoke.
The skiing was AWESOME. I cannot fault that at all, the instructor was very knowledgeable and patient with us newbies. TTO and I were both classified Level 1 (total and complete beginners) but he did so well in the first 10 minutes that the instructor was convinced he'd skiied before (he hadn't) and he was promoted to level 2. Go baby!!
The package included all you could eat and drink, which was awesome, and the food was buffet style. Very nice, until about Wednesday (we landed on Sunday) when TTO picked up a stomach bug that was going around the hostel. I poured loads of water down his throat during the day to keep him hydrated, and we didn't ski that day. Thursday he was feeling better, so we went sledding. I nearly wet my pants, but it was AWESOME. We went on those dinky looking little wooden ones, but they are sturdy!!!
The hostel had stage shows on each night, and I watched the one on Wednesday - very entertaining, considering that the performers weren't professional actors/dancers/singers. There were a few LOL moments, and the atmosphere was good
Friday we just hung around as TTO was a little ill again
Unfortunately, that night I got the bug AND food poisoning, as did TTO. We'd noticed that they reused some of the foods - e.g. pastries and cakes (with cream fillings) that were on display for dinner were on display for lunch. Out in the open, no refridgeration or anything. So we spent Friday night hurling our guts out like quite a few other guests did, and Saturday and Sunday basically living on coke and dry bread. Sunday we left, and TTO was so sore and wracked with pain from the shitty cheap beds that he developed a massive muscle knot in his neck that was exacerbated by the plane flight from Switzerland to Dubai. We found a spa in the airport for him get a massage to try and work out the knot, and some painkillers. Thankfully the flight back home was half booked, so TTO (with permission from the inflight staff of course) got to stretch out over 4 economy seats to try and sleep.
So we're home and happy to be home, with good memories (and some not so good) and a few stories. Stomachs are still tender, but we'll get there!!! Will post a few piccies soon, but here's one in the meantime, of TTO and I in Switzerland.
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