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Worktrip to Abu Dhabi [3of4]
This is a relatively short picspam to give an impression of my work week. It was a very succesful week; I had a lot of proposals to present, and I'm happy to say all of them were approved, yay! (Just a majority of votes is not enough, you need a consensus of all nations. We have a lot of technical meetings to streamline proposals all through the year, but decisions are made at these biannual in person meetings. One of my proposals required finetuning at three of these meetings to finally get full approval!).
In between work we were spoilt rotten with great food and facilities. At the end of each workday, a whole bunch of my international colleagues and I would meet up at the outdoors pool, where we'd hang until closing at 7 p.m. Then we would get dressed and spend the evening at the restaurant for scrumptious buffet dinners. Some chose to sit outside, which was too warm for me; I prefered the indoors section. Different colleagues would join me every night.
I must say this eating arrangement inside the hotel made for a very relaxing week, as we didn't have to have discussions every evening about where and when to eat and with whom and how to get to the restaurant. (There were three other restaurants in this fancy hotel, but most of us chose the included dinnerbuffet;-) There was an abundance of food from all over the world, including very fancy desserts; everyone could eat whatever and how much they liked. There will be a bonus foodpost for the finale of my trip to Abu Dhabi.
Photos below are a glimpse of food and work, an eveningwalk to the mosque and views from the plane home.
Abu Dhabi, Workweek April 2025
I got up extra early to have time to enjoy my breakfast; different types of melon, scrumptious breads, all sorts of cheese bites and of course a hash brown. I ate the fresh strawberries with my mango yoghurt, yum.
Then I went back to my room to freshen up and get my laptop before walking to the conference hall (I could walk indoors all the way from my room, so I could stay out of the burning sun all day, wahey!).
This first fancy hall was the breakroom, where snacks and drinks were available during our morning and afternoon breaks; the conference room was behind that tiny door in the back.
You could see the Grand Mosque from the breakroom! Lunch was served in another room nextdoor.
I had flatbrad, fried rice, mixed grill and -on this first day- camel lasagne (very delicious).
Yes, there was desert for lunch as well: I had all sorts of goodies, favorite of the day was Gulab Jamun, deep fried dough balls drenched in warm honey, mmmmmmmm.
After work we stayed at the pool until sunset, when I walked to the beach at Khor Al Maqta (the grand salt water canal) for the view.
The view at the pool is also lushious (not the poolbar).
For dinner I had mashed potatoes, some scrumptious bread, grilled cauliflower, carrot and parsnip with all sorts of tender meat bites.
My desserts and second desserts; too many delicious things to chose from, (this is not even everything that was available). My favorite is the bit that looks kind of gross on photo; warm date pudding, mmmmmmmm.
Conference day two: I hardly have time on my own during breaks, as a lot of people usually approach me with questions, but I managed to sneak in fruitbit snacks this time :-)
In the afternoon break I discovered the floor had glitters in it!
I took me a couple of days to finally discover a shortcut from my hotelroom to the pool. Can you see the dust in the air? The next morning the alarm went off for a sandstorm! No harm for us, but the midweek joined workdinner was moved from outside in the garden to indoors for safety.
For breakfast I tried guave milk, which I liked a lot! (Also Hasbrowns, potato croquets, meat- and cheese snacks, melon and a bow tie croissants <3
Another yummy lunch with an overload of desserts. I also had Mountain Dew (which made me nostalgic for the eighties when I first tried that during a visit to the USA). The bowl is filled with umali, a warm breadpudding.
Before the midweek joined workdinner there were ceremonies in this massive room with fancy chairs and a carpet that looked like sanddunes in a desert!
And for my final dinner dessert, there was actual gold leaf on the chocolate mousse!!!
On our last evening a group of us went on an evening walk; this is the hotel by night.
As you may remember from my unplanned walk on Saturday afternoon (see Abu Dhabi picspam part 1, DW / LJ), the Grand Mosque is across the highway from the hotel.
We were very carefull crossing in the dark. There was even more traffic than by day!
But this view of the lit up Mosque was well worth it. What a lovely farewell sight.
The next day my colleague T. and I took a taxi to the airport, where we did some final souvenirshopping; did not get the life-size camel ;-)
Flying back to the Netherlands; final views of Abu Dhabi
Bye Emerates! Hello clouds *chinhands*
Hello the Netherlands, hello Schiphol airport!
On my train home I once again had a first class compartment all to myself and I enjoyed the bread with filet americain and egg, and a Dutch chocolatemilk I had bought at the airport supermarket.
Home sweet home, check out all the souvenirs for myself, family, friends and the office. Yes, I also took some goodies from the hotel (their shampoo smells soooo good)
This was the final travelpost, but I will share some photos of the hotelbuffet later!
J.
Part 1: DW / LJ
Part 2: DW / LJ
Summary in 10 photo's on my Instagram
X-posted to https://beelikej.livejournal.com/586943.html
Lurk or comment wherever you like:)
In between work we were spoilt rotten with great food and facilities. At the end of each workday, a whole bunch of my international colleagues and I would meet up at the outdoors pool, where we'd hang until closing at 7 p.m. Then we would get dressed and spend the evening at the restaurant for scrumptious buffet dinners. Some chose to sit outside, which was too warm for me; I prefered the indoors section. Different colleagues would join me every night.
I must say this eating arrangement inside the hotel made for a very relaxing week, as we didn't have to have discussions every evening about where and when to eat and with whom and how to get to the restaurant. (There were three other restaurants in this fancy hotel, but most of us chose the included dinnerbuffet;-) There was an abundance of food from all over the world, including very fancy desserts; everyone could eat whatever and how much they liked. There will be a bonus foodpost for the finale of my trip to Abu Dhabi.
Photos below are a glimpse of food and work, an eveningwalk to the mosque and views from the plane home.
Abu Dhabi, Workweek April 2025
I got up extra early to have time to enjoy my breakfast; different types of melon, scrumptious breads, all sorts of cheese bites and of course a hash brown. I ate the fresh strawberries with my mango yoghurt, yum.
Then I went back to my room to freshen up and get my laptop before walking to the conference hall (I could walk indoors all the way from my room, so I could stay out of the burning sun all day, wahey!).
This first fancy hall was the breakroom, where snacks and drinks were available during our morning and afternoon breaks; the conference room was behind that tiny door in the back.
You could see the Grand Mosque from the breakroom! Lunch was served in another room nextdoor.
I had flatbrad, fried rice, mixed grill and -on this first day- camel lasagne (very delicious).
Yes, there was desert for lunch as well: I had all sorts of goodies, favorite of the day was Gulab Jamun, deep fried dough balls drenched in warm honey, mmmmmmmm.
After work we stayed at the pool until sunset, when I walked to the beach at Khor Al Maqta (the grand salt water canal) for the view.
The view at the pool is also lushious (not the poolbar).
For dinner I had mashed potatoes, some scrumptious bread, grilled cauliflower, carrot and parsnip with all sorts of tender meat bites.
My desserts and second desserts; too many delicious things to chose from, (this is not even everything that was available). My favorite is the bit that looks kind of gross on photo; warm date pudding, mmmmmmmm.
Conference day two: I hardly have time on my own during breaks, as a lot of people usually approach me with questions, but I managed to sneak in fruitbit snacks this time :-)
In the afternoon break I discovered the floor had glitters in it!
I took me a couple of days to finally discover a shortcut from my hotelroom to the pool. Can you see the dust in the air? The next morning the alarm went off for a sandstorm! No harm for us, but the midweek joined workdinner was moved from outside in the garden to indoors for safety.
For breakfast I tried guave milk, which I liked a lot! (Also Hasbrowns, potato croquets, meat- and cheese snacks, melon and a bow tie croissants <3
Another yummy lunch with an overload of desserts. I also had Mountain Dew (which made me nostalgic for the eighties when I first tried that during a visit to the USA). The bowl is filled with umali, a warm breadpudding.
Before the midweek joined workdinner there were ceremonies in this massive room with fancy chairs and a carpet that looked like sanddunes in a desert!
And for my final dinner dessert, there was actual gold leaf on the chocolate mousse!!!
On our last evening a group of us went on an evening walk; this is the hotel by night.
As you may remember from my unplanned walk on Saturday afternoon (see Abu Dhabi picspam part 1, DW / LJ), the Grand Mosque is across the highway from the hotel.
We were very carefull crossing in the dark. There was even more traffic than by day!
But this view of the lit up Mosque was well worth it. What a lovely farewell sight.
The next day my colleague T. and I took a taxi to the airport, where we did some final souvenirshopping; did not get the life-size camel ;-)
Flying back to the Netherlands; final views of Abu Dhabi
Bye Emerates! Hello clouds *chinhands*
Hello the Netherlands, hello Schiphol airport!
On my train home I once again had a first class compartment all to myself and I enjoyed the bread with filet americain and egg, and a Dutch chocolatemilk I had bought at the airport supermarket.
Home sweet home, check out all the souvenirs for myself, family, friends and the office. Yes, I also took some goodies from the hotel (their shampoo smells soooo good)
This was the final travelpost, but I will share some photos of the hotelbuffet later!
J.
Part 1: DW / LJ
Part 2: DW / LJ
Summary in 10 photo's on my Instagram
X-posted to https://beelikej.livejournal.com/586943.html
Lurk or comment wherever you like:)