I drove all night!

On Sunday I re-started my fitness regime, starting off gently with a half hour stint on my treadmill and eating health option meals (well not sure how healthy garlic butter is) but the chicken and veg were fine! It all helps, doesn't it?  One day at a time is my motto.  

Yesterday, however, I received an email out of the blue, from someone I do business with.  Twice a year he visits both the UAE and KSA and we meet on a professional basis.  However, during the time I have known him, both myself and my family have got to know him on personal level.  So, needless to say, we always say that if he is ever in town, he should call us and we'll take him out for a dinner.  Travelling around many parts of the world is a huge part of this guy's job and being a fellow Brit we like to offer out the hand of hospitality.

As he is always only in one place for two or three days, and he was travelling back to the UK today, last night was the only time we could meet up.  So hubby and I arranged to meet him straight after work at about 6:15 pm.
5:30 pm we are on the Sheikh Zayed Road (SZR) from the Jebel Ali Free Zone to the new Holiday Inn on Airport Road.  According to Google Maps approximately 25km away which should have taken 33 mins.   
Yeah right.  About 5 minutes into the drive we hit the traffic jam and 5 minutes later we were at a stand still.  As usual, drivers were changing lanes every few minutes.  One minute I'm plodding along slowly, the next I'm hitting the breaks hard to prevent going up the rear end of some oblivious driver in the front.  In the meantime my husband's head is rocking back and forth and I'm trying to prevent whiplash.  My hubby is a patient man, but as with 1000s of other couples, every time we get in the car together the air turns blue, each taking it in turns to criticise the others driving.
Realising there must have been an accident on this monster of a road, I managed to work my way to the right hand side and exit towards the next main highway.   Driving an additional 8 kms we reached the road on which the hotel is situated.  Unfortunately though it is a relatively new hotel and we had never been to it before.  My GPS was also aware of its existence.  Although we could see the hotel from the main road, we didn't actually know how to reach.

After a number of further arguments about which way to go we both decided that the only way to get to the hotel was to go through the airport car park.  It was a farce.  We had to pay 5 dirhams to enter the car park then leave immediately by the exit.  Still unsure of exactly how we got on the road we needed to be on, I asked the man in the car park kiosk. 
Sounding hopeful, he pointed us in a direction which seemed plausible and even gave us our 5 dirhams back.  Only a few minutes later we were back on exactly the same road as before.  Another 15 minutes later and we arrived at the hotel (approx. 1.5 hours later than planned).  I was tired and stressed and refused to drive anymore, as I felt like I'd been driving all night.  Letting my husband take the wheel, I went into the hotel reception to greet our friend.

Another 10 minutes later and we were sat in the Irish Village ordering our food and drinks.  I ordered Cottage Pie and a relaxing, well deserved glass of red wine. Needless to say, my hubby was then nominated designated driver.  Our friend was impressed that we'd taken him out for a traditional Arabic meal (not).

Needless to say, by the time we got home at 11 pm I was in no mood for 30 mins on the treadmill.  So that was it, my planned second day of exercise had already gone to pot, what a great start.