DtoA: Final Preparations...

Early morning shot of the Dubai shores before sunrise

The day to set sail has been creeping ever so slowly forward... The longer we stay, the more we seem to find to fix or buy. Some of the things that were left to do, was the shopping. We broke this down into items that lasted a long time (long-life) and items that didn't. We have now stocked up on all the items like toilet paper (yup essential!), water (only a trolley load), batteries, medicine and other food items like crackers, which do not have a short lifespan.

One thing about shopping is actually surviving it. I really do not enjoy the painless task of winding up and down aisles asking "Shall we get this?" "OK, how many?" for each item on the list. Of course, however, we survive the process. Not sooner have we bought everything, there is the task of getting it to the boat and then packing it within the boat. That is a challenge as everyone thinks things should go where they think and then when you attempt to pack all 6 cans of beans into a cupboard, only 5 fit and you are tempted to serve beans for dinner or throw the whole lot overboard. But of course, this didn't only happen with beans. Not even the toilet rolls fitted in the cupboards and no-one likes a squashed toilet roll.

Once the packing was finally done and everything had a home (and sometimes a second home), we settled into the evening. The evenings in the Middle East are lovely. The air cools, there is a slight breeze and the sunsets are spectacular. Even more so when the sun sets behind the boats.

Sunset at DOSC

Walking back from the restaurant which is around a 200m walk, my slops (flip-flops) decided they were going to break. Beyond fixing. Anyone who knows me, knows that I have very small feet and I like to use one pair of slops at a time. With this pair breaking on me, this meant the rest of the walk was barefoot (not a problem) and of course the realization that I would need to shop for new ones. So off I go. I can't be without slops and we were leaving soon, so no time to waste. 

We decided to make an evening of it and have dinner at the Mall of Emirates. Once there, we made our way directly to the sport shops so I could look for a particular brand I liked. I am not a fan of plastic slops, as they never last. So I wanted a nice leather pair or something similar. After failing at a local shoe shop, we found Adidas. I walked straight in, found the shoes, tried a pair on and that was it. Before buying them however, I did do a quick check at Go Sports and they didn't have any slops to begin with. So back to Adidas, found my size, put them on there and then and I was very happy with my new slops. I can highly recommend the brand - Adidas Parley. They are very comfortable (and blue!) and I wear them every day.

We decided on curry for dinner and found this lovely Indian restaurant. A little expensive and so we made the most of it. The restaurant had a lovely atmosphere and the people were very friendly. The curries themselves were incredible. Truly worth the extra pennies and certainly made us feel nice and full once we had eaten. On their menu, there was a saying which I loved. I will share it with you:

I found this saying a great way to begin a life-changing trip. All we ever really need in life are the simple things. And yet so many of us chase the big things. I hope that this is what this trip teaches me. To embrace the simple, the easy and the good. I look forward to where this journey will take me.