Last Christmas

It's currently 4:04 am on Thursday morning.  You can't say that the boy and I don't live ruggedly.  We just got off the most harrowing bus ride that I've experienced in Korea thus far (and that's saying something).  It was about 105 degrees (maybe celsius) and I didn't check, but I'm pretty sure our driver was Sandra Bullock.  The man was driving like there was a bomb strapped to the bus and if he went under 200 miles per hour the bus would expode.  The extremely icy roads made it even more fun.  I was about to tap our driver on the shoulder and in perfect Korean explain, "ahem.  yes.  Um, well.  You see... I'm heading to my "homeland" in a few hours sir and I would um, you know, really like to survive this bus ride so that my frequent flier miles don't go to waste".   But alas,  I didn't.  Instead I stripped off all of my layers, used them as a pillow, and plopped my feet on the boy's lap. 

We're now sitting in the nearly deserted airport at Incheon, waiting for our 8am departure.  Every time that we find ourselves in this situtation, the boy and I just pretend that we're on The Amazing Race.  We've got a little section of benches all to ourselves and we've set up shop. 

It's funny, because as I was on the bus of death (or serious injury), I was reminiscing about last Christmas.  We practically had the exact same time off that we do this year.  December 23rd-27th.  Last Christmas Eve was spent craning our necks at the Burj Kalifa, riding camels, eating shwarmas, sand surfing, getting henna tattoos, and sleeping outside under the stars in the middle of the desert.

You can also check out the video that we made on our desert safari experience. 



We awoke early on Christmas day, said Merry Christmas to all of our sleepover companions, and then the mister and I hopped on a plane and set off for Bahrain where we met our good friend May.  We both fell in love with Bahrain almost instantly.  May took such great care of us and we had the priviledges of watching falcon training on royal property and experiencing Azza for the first time.  We also ate like kings!

May showing Ryan Sheldon and I the best Bahraini shwarmas

Lonely Planet even liked our Azza video so much that it was featured as one of their top picks! 




And after two glorious days spent in Bahrain, we headed back to Dubai for a little skiing and beach time before our departure home. 

Ryan, Sarah, Tawny, Chris

It was a trip of a lifetime and I'm so excited we got to experience it with good food and great friends.  We're even lucky enough to have Ryan Sheldon joining us for a few days of this year's trip!  I'll be sure to check in as soon as we land and are all situated!  Hope everyone has a very merry Christmas eve's eve.