I wasn’t exactly thrilled when my alarm went off at 4:30 am during my vacation. Like, seriously?? But my friend Jess had been going on about this “life-changing experience” or whatever. Easy for her to say – she’s one of those annoying morning people! I dragged myself into the hotel lobby where this guy Hassan picked us up for the morning desert safari Abu Dhabi thing everyone kept insisting we HAD to do.
Hassan was pretty cool. Told us he’d been driving tourists around for about 8 years. The drive took 45 mins (I definitely dozed off, lol) before we reached this spot where a bunch of SUVs were gathered. Still dark out. Still wondering why I agreed to this. Then we drove off-road into the desert and parked on this big dune. Hassan handed me this scratchy blanket cuz it was way colder than I expected. Nobody tells you the desert gets freezing at night!! We climbed up to watch the sunrise desert safari Abu Dhabi experience, or whatever they call it, officially. There were about 7-8 other people there, but everyone was super quiet.
And then…wow. Just wow. I’m not normally the emotional type, but when the sun started coming up? First, this faint glow, then this insane orange-pink light hitting all the ripples in the sand? I literally gasped. My pics don’t even do it justice, even though I posted about 15 of them (sorry, not sorry, Instagram followers!). The whole landscape looked completely different than during the day trips—way more mysterious and dramatic.
After the sun was properly up, we got to do all the fun stuff. Dune bashing was INSANE!! Our driver was doing these ridiculous turns and drops that made my stomach do flips. I screamed so much I was hoarse after. I 100% thought we would roll over at least twice, but Hassan knew exactly what he was doing. Side note: Don’t drink too much the night before doing this. The girl in our car looked like she was going to be sick the whole time. It was awkward!!
I tried sandboarding next which is like snowboarding but way harder. Fell on my backside so many times it was still sore 3 days later lol. Dave got the hang of it faster, which was annoying, but whatever. The camels were next – they smell weird but are actually super cool up close. They make these funny groaning noises when they stand up, and it feels like you’re gonna fall off. The guide told me to relax and follow the swaying motion.
The best part was breakfast, though. I’m not going to lie; I was STARVING by then. They had this sweet tea and coffee with cardamom that was actually delicious, even though I’m usually a Starbucks girl. The bread was freshly made right in front of us by this lady who was super fast with her hands. It tasted way different than the fancy brunches we had at the hotel. So, stop waiting around and enjoy the desert beauty as soon as possible.
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