** This post was written before our trip to Dubai. We have since returned home and are currently battling jet lag.**
What a week it has been!
This Friday we leave for Dubai and so much has jumped out at me this week. Fortunately, though, each mini crisis has been pretty easily resolved, or else I might have taken each thing as a sign to abort our mission!
On Monday I learned that our daughter needs a new passport. Her current one does not expire until the end of May, but in visiting most countries you must have six months validity on your passport to be allowed to enter.
Fortunately I live in a city with a passport office, so I was able to set an appointment, fill out a few papers, pay a hefty expedite fee and breeze into the passport office one day and back out of it the next day with a new passport.
Lesson learned: Renew your passport when there are nine months remaining on it if you plan to travel. The last six months of validity don’t really count for entering another country.
Also on Monday my daughter came down with the most painful ear infection I have ever seen her experience. (I was on hold with the passport agency when the school called me on the other line.) I felt terrible for my daughter, but I was also thankful it manifested itself before we left for our trip so we could see a doctor in our hometown. The office was quick to get us in, quick to get her on the road to recovery and quick to give us a note so we could travel with medication and carry it through security.
Lesson learned: Flying with prescription medication liquids is not really that difficult. Just be sure to keep the medicine in its original bottle and ask for a note from your doctor, just in case.
On Tuesday one of our sons also became sick. At first I was frustrated with yet another obstacle in the week, but again, I was thankful in manifested itself while we were home.
Fortunately our oldest has remained healthy! Hip-hip-hooray!
On Wednesday a friend’s mom asked me if I had been watching the news and if I really thought it was a good idea to travel to the Middle East. She asked me this several times within earshot of my daughter.
“Yes,” I replied. “We have friends there and we are really looking forward to the trip.”
The week has been packed with surprises and hiccups. But I wonder if all of those hiccups were put there to keep me from becoming anxious. I have been nervous about the idea of this trip for years. But now that it is just about here, I am becoming excited and less fearful.
I wonder what it will be like. Will it be as Vegas-like as I have heard? I hope not, because I am not a fan of Las Vegas.
Will it be as family-friendly as our friend Jimmy has been insisting it is? I sure hope so.
And what is all this about snow skiing indoors? And the desert safari with the sand dunes? I’ll soon find out.
Well, gotta go– I’ve got some packing to do!
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