my short vacation a.k.a the escape from hell

i got back from my short vacation late late last night .. i was supposed to be back at work today but i didn't go .. too tired .. way too tired .. anyway it was great .. a much needed change of scenery from my routine life .. i visited my brother in abu dhabi for five days .. i got there wednesday night .. i took an economy airline so they landed in the crappy terminal .. and my brother was waiting in the terminal where normal airlines land .. so there was some confusion there .. and to make matters worse his phone didn't have reception for a while so i couldn't reach him .. but in the end he found me and we went to his house .. it was very late so we picked up some sandwiches for me to eat on the way and that was it .. we soon went to sleep and that was that .. the next day we went to dubai .. we went to the mall of dubai first .. which is basically the biggest fanciest mall in all of the uae .. or so my brother said .. it is definitely nice .. burj khalifa is right outside .. so we did the mall for a while .. ate at the foodcourts .. and left .. next we went to the jumeira beach "walk" .. which is basically like this beachfront strip of restaurants and cafes .. we had coffee there .. and went home .. we is me my brother his wife and his daughter by the way .. his daughter is growing up .. she calls me ammo now .. not 3ammo .. ammo .. i got her this baby doll that you can feed and tickle and such .. and it makes noises .. i got perfumes for him and his wife .. but i digress .. next day we went on a trip to al-ain .. my cousin joined us there with his wife and his daughter .. we went to this mountain area that has a spring .. we had a little barbecue picnic .. it was delicious .. next day was new year's eve .. we went to the abu dhabi marina .. there is a mall there where we had dinner .. then we saw the fireworks on the corniche .. nothing special they only lasted a couple of minutes .. interesting fact there was a coldplay concert not too far from where we were sitting .. so we got to see all these people who were heading there .. i think the most memorable one was this fat girl who was totally drunk and speaking very loudly .. also we could see the stage and kind of hear the music .. anyway so we went home after that .. the next day we went to see this mosque which is like a replica of the dome of the rock mosque in jerusalem .. then we had dinner at this mall nearby .. i paid for that dinner by the way .. then we went to meet up with my brother's in-laws who were also in town .. his wife's sister and her husband and their four children that is .. so we all went to a mall .. when we got there we split up .. i went to the cinema they went off on their own .. i saw mission impossible 4 .. good movie .. i mean the story is nonsense but the action is superb .. also paula patton in that dress .. mercy .. anyway .. the next day my brother had work .. i went off on my own to ferrari world .. it was cool but it's something you only do once .. like i don't think i'll ever go back .. the rides are decent .. they have the fastest roller coaster in the world which is pretty cool .. so anyway i was there by myself for most of the day but later on his wife and the in-laws joined me there .. by that time i had already been on all the rides and everything so i served as their guide .. and finally my brother came and picked me up and we went to the airport and that was all she wrote .. i got home at 2 am .. my plan was to go to work late but i ended up blowing it off completely .. i was too tired .. but i'm going tomorrow .. i have a lot of photos that i took .. mostly of my brother's daughter and also of ferrari world .. maybe i'll share a few later .. by the way speaking of photos .. i wanted to put a picture with this post so i went on google images and searched "vacation" and literally every single one of the results involved a beach .. why is it that vacation equals beach .. all in all it was a good trip .. nice change of scenery .. good to see my brother and his family .. and good to get out of saudi for a few days ..