New Name, New Place

Departing the Eitihad plane at Abu Dhabi international I am once again struck by the luxury and service that they provided. Despite the fact that the flight from Heathrow was 14 hours and I am ready to sleep for a week I have a smile on my face. As I pass through customs the state of the art digital cameras find my face and continiously take detailed photographs as the customs agent glances at my face and compares it with my paspport photo. The agent isn't rude but he has to look at me three times before he stamps my passport. I can't blame him really as I look nothing like that picture anymore. I expected to see the small man with the peice of paper with my name on it where he would take me to the hotel, but this time not so.

To my utter surprise, standing there alone and confident without body guards or entourge, was The Sheik himself. Which sheik you ask? That is always an important question when in the UAE as there are more sheiks than you can shake a stick at. The truth of the matter though is that I will have to leave you wondering as I have been told, in no uncertian terms, that I am not allowed to say. So have fun speculating. He welcomed me with a warm smile and a hand shake. Despite being royalty he was warm, respectful and pleasent in his demeanor. Having been brought up in a democracy who seperated from a monarchy there has always been preconcieved ideas about royalty and The Sheik shattered them all in a moment.

The drive into the heart of Abu Dhabi was... exciting as it always is for those of us from America. They didn't drive as badly as europeans but I did still fear for my life on one or two occasions. The road construction was just as bad as I remembered it. The Sheik let me know that while all the arrangments had been made for me to take over his newly purchased team, my office and whatnot was not ready and that I would be working out of The Beach Rotana for a while. No skin off my back!

They dropped me off out front of the hotel and told me to be ready to go at 8 sharp, when they would pick me up and we would go visit the team. As always the bellhops were there to open the car door and and I went up to the executive lounge on the 18th floor. Despite the fact that I hadn't been back here in over a year, the people there called me by name without even looking. The servers brought me my black tea without even asking, and asked me how my trip had been. Did I mention that I really like this hotel? Looking out over the city scape I can seen that the place is still under heavy construction and that the crane is still the national bird. Even in poor economic times (and the UAE has been hit just like the rest of the world) they are still buidling like mad. Shaking my head I sign all the paperwork needed to agree that at least someone will pay the bill. I am told that all the files The Sheik left for me are waiting for me in my room and I head off to settle in and get some sleep.

Despite my exhaustion my heart is light and I can't help but feeling that this might be one of the better jobs I've picked up in my life.