This was the weekend Pippa and I had been looking forward too for months. We are meeting in Abu Dhabi for Pippa's stopover to London. We had a great weekend and did get out of the hotel occasionally to see the sights.

The hotel was fantastic; I forget that the earning potential here has some rewards. We found each other at the airport and though Pippa had to wait and hour and half for my plane, she was OK.

The hotel was the Le Meridian and though older than others in Abu Dhabi, it had character as the furnishing etc was not modern clique like so many other hotels in the Gulf. We had room 274 over looking the garden and restaurants. Though a little noisy at night, it was luxury.

We checked out the pool on the first morning and the mall. But between Pippa's jet lag and my shear exhaustion from life in Saudi, we slept for almost the entire first day.

Day 2 (10th Nov), our 8th wedding anniversary, we went shopping again and had lunch at the Thai restaurant. An afternoon by the pool and dinner at the Italian restaurant with wine, pasta and pudding.

Day 3 we hired a driver for a tour of the city with a desire to see the White Fort, Cultural Centre and date factory. The reason there are no photos is that is was not the best tour I have ever done. The driver first took us to the Heritage Village which was interesting and we spent an hour there looking through some of the Archeological miniatures and had a brief guide from a Syrian Guide. We saw a traditional house, farming and irrigation. Also a great view of Abu Dhabi city.

Then the driver took us to the Grand Mosque. He could not find the entrance among the road works so dropped us off at the back and told us to walk up through the building site. A security guard showed us the correct way to enter the mosque so we guided the tour guide. The mosque however was definitely worth the visit. It is hugely ornate, yet works. A massive courtyard with white marble floor and inlay-ed coloured marble floral patterns. It would be 50 metres across at least. Pippa had to put an Abaya on, and men in shorts had to put a Thobe on to enter. Similar to Thailand's Palace. But it is worth the inconvenience. The carved domes in the entrance and the chandeliers were impressive. Inside the main prayer hall, more glass, marble, carpets and chandeliers further enhanced the beauty of the place.

After the Mosque the tour turned a bit pear shaped. We were stuck in traffic, not really the drivers fault, but I thought he could have known a better way to avoid the busiest intersections of the city. We asked him to take us to a nice cafe or restaurant for lunch, he suggested 'Starbucks', not our 1st choice. Saved by lonely planet, the cultural centre had a cafe so I suggested he take us there. He missed the entrance, just to find the White Fort and Cultural Centres were closed. The only time he actually spoke to us as a tour guide was pointing out the Prime Minister's House. It was kind of like driving round Canberra for 3 hours and seeing only the Lodge.

At this point I suggested he take us back to the hotel. 3 1/2 hours and he still charged us 4 hours and over half the time was spent in traffic.

Back at the hotel we had Mexican for lunch and a chill out in the room. We attempted another look around the market district and picked up a few presents for England. We thought we would try the Pizza Hut for dinner as it would have a salad bar. This was a bit of a lost cause so dinner was at the hotels bistro. The dessert bar had a fountain of chocolate and the biggest table of choices. The bowl of chocolate mousse alone was good enough to swim in. But we resisted and just ate it.

Early wake up call for airport and this time our flights were only 30 mins apart. Pippa boarded first and I watched her plane leave from the steps of my plane. I know where I really wanted to be.

Back in Dammam and Adele was quietly surprised to see me. She thought I would do a runner from Abu Dhabi. Not quite yet, but working on it.