Cela roams around: You could travel the world

Preparation to go to Dubai were so chaotic and everything was so spontaneous that I even barely recall what was happening and when and why.

Everything started on Wednesday night, when after a walk that I made in Warsaw I received message that my visa is ready and when can I arrive to Dubai. As the only logical option was Saturday night flight to get there Sunday morning and go directly to office (as in Arabic countries they work Sunday-Thursday to be more adjusted to world standards, cause originally they’ve been working Saturday-Wednesday). I booked it so and started to prepare myself for the trip and project work itself. I wanted to do it earlier during the week because I was expecting that I’ll be flying as soon as possible, but I was getting some ad hoc tasks all the time so that I was not able to go through all the materials that I had.
Thursday I started to do my packing but I was getting nervous only as I did not know what to take with me, what I'm allowed to wear, what I'm not allowed to wear, how conservative Dubai is, how very business I have to dress, how hot/cold it is there. And of course I did not pack good enough, so now I might have to go and do some shopping. My previous clients were more relaxed I guess and I was never told that what I'm wearing is too casual, however wearing it here I've already been given this notice.
Last day in the office was Friday, when I had to arrange couple of more things, deliver results of research that I was doing, get some prescriptions (apparently there are some drugs that are illegal in UAE without a notice from the doctor so I wanted to make sure that I’ll not get caught on the border), do some last shopping. Head ache. And of course I would not be myself if I did not go for a goodbye party. So with Kinga we went to have some pierogi, which I missed so much in Asia. Pierogi are kind of dumplings, but Asian dumplings and Polish pierogi are in fact completely different. So we went to my favorite place where you can get really good pierogi (recently named by us MDM instead of it’s real name for the sake of the name of the district – Marszałkowska Dzielnica Mieszkaniowa where it is placed), next we went back to visit friends and in the end we went to Powiększenie, where AM Radio were playing. They are set of DJs who I was introduced to, by friends, shortly after I’ve came to live in Warsaw. Now when I have opportunity I like to go for parties where they are playing. And this one was really good, a lot of dance tunes in shabby and underground atmosphere. This was the kind of gigs that I like, not posh at all, alternative, relaxed people dressed in what they feel comfortable in and not wearing what bounce man would like them to see wearing to let them in.
Traditionally we’ve finished the night in Klubo. And as the party theme was “All I wanna do is to mess around”, so we did. To make it clear it was not Klubo party theme, it was our party theme. We did our job perfectly. And it does not mean at all that we had hangovers in the morning or spent whole Saturday in bed. It was completely other way round. I’ve slept maybe 2 hours although I’m not even sure if that was sleep at all or only struggling to sleep. Whatever it was I got up and did shopping (cytrynowka, which I wanted to take to Dubai as there it is kinda problem to buy alcohol, you have to have some special license) and went home and found out about the whole hell. Regardless of hell we went for a breakfast to Szpilka, where things happened fast and before I’ve realized I took a cab and I was sitting and waiting for my plane to Munich. I’ve planned to take sleeping pills to be in quite a good shape when I’ll arrive in Dubai on Sunday morning, so I took it just before boarding time. I wanted to board and go to sleep. Get up for transfer only and go to sleep again.
But fate played with me and plane to Munich was delayed. Was so much delayed that I was even given an option to go home and take the same connection but one day later. What I decided to do was to fly to Munich regardless of delay and hope that plane from Munich to Dubai will also be later, so that I manage to catch it. As there was one more guy flying to Dubai we were hoping that they might even wait for us a little while and pick us from the plane and transfer us directly, but when we arrived plane to Dubai was long gone.
At the airport they gave us overnight kit (tooth paste and tooth brush, shampoo, soap, XL T-shirt and so one) hotel and booked for the same flight but one day later. And we were incredibly lucky, cause we took last seats. I wonder what would happen if they did not have any seats left on that flight. Would I have two days of delay?
I have some friends in Munich and in Ingolstadt, which is 70km north from Munich. To be honest I’ve even tried to organize it in a way that I’ll have some more time in Munich and we’ll meet, but in the end I did not get any answer from Pedro, so I gave up (on the other hand if I did not give up and took early flight to MUC I would easily catch that flight…). Bearing it in mind I had to use this opportunity and I gave him a call. He was rather surprised but I guess glad too. So he picked me up and we drove to Ingolstadt, where with his brother we went to a bar. It was kinda complicated as I did not have any really warm clothes on me. Maybe I'd find something in my suitcase, but that one was at the airport, so Pedro had do give me his jeans (I was rather surprised that they fit), pullover, socks, hat and gloves.
In the bar there was one more friend that I got to know in Ingolstadt, so it felt so good. The only problem was that I took that sleeping pills, so I was rather unconscious, especially that bar tender started to like me a lot and wanted to do shots with me (why doesn’t things like that happen when you stay somewhere for year and a half and they do when you go there once only?) and I also had some russens (weizen + lemonade) as that was always my favorite drink in Germany and I did not have it for a long time already. So in the end it was perfect, that we were there my car ;-)
I love this when you can visit old friends and old places, especially if it is so spontaneous and not planned at all. Or even better, it was planned, but we thought it'll not work and in the end it did. So I walked through Ingolstadt, took some photos that I did not take during the year and a half when I was staying there, went to my favorite cafe in the city center - Aran. And as I did not have anything to occupy me there I took a newspaper and decided to give it a try over my cappuccino. And as surprised as I was, I haven't been for a long time. I was reading it easily. I understood 95% of the content. How is that possible? When did I have time to improve my German that much? It was really strange, but that made me so dedicated, that I've even decided to buy a book when I Pedro dropped me at the airport, to dig my German knowledge in Dubai (btw, when was the last time that i read book in Polish? Recently I read only in English).
I slept almost whole trip, I just had a small talk with a buy sitting with me, and I've found out in that he's a profi table tennis player and plays for Spanish representation. There is some tournament in Dubai and their whole team was flying. Funny, recently I tend to meet kinda celebrities. We'll see how it develops, cause if it develops this direction I might meet princess Diana one day (just after I wrote it I've started to think if it's a good example...).
After I've arrived I went to my hotel, took shower, had breakfast and went to work. In the office I was barely conscious so in the end I gave up at 5 p.m. and called a cab to go to sleep. After I woke up the next day I did not know where I am. It usually does not happen to me, but this time I was completely turned off. So turned off, that I even forgot to take a shower. I did not take it either in the evening nor in the morning. And the best thing is that I've realised it only in the afternoon. Myself I don't know what to thing about it. I was laughing but on the other hand it was weird.