Where were you a year ago?

I can tell you exactly where I was - my flight had just landed at Dubai International airport, and I was in the middle of a million emotions.

You see, a year ago, to the hour, I stepped foot in my new home for the first time. It had been an emotional 20-hour journey - leaving home, my family, my friends, the man I was in love with - but I wiped my tears and got off the plane.

To say this has been an enlightening year would be an understatement. Moving to a new city always is, but this wasn't just a new city, it was a new bloody continent, 12 time zones from home.

Most of highlights have come in the form of travel. This year I made it to Singapore, Vancouver, Tunis, Houston, Copenhagen and London. Four continents, one year - not bad.

The work has been challenging and mostly fulfilling. It's been quite the change going from a small agency to a behemoth of a company. I went from working with six of my favorite people in Vancouver to a department of more than 200. I'm still blown away by all of the nationalities the company represents and how much exposure I have to the world outside of Dubai.

The lows have been mostly personal. From the end of my relationship, to the knowledge that life goes on without you, sometimes being away from home and alone really sucks.

Despite everything, I can honestly say that my regrets are few and far between. I'm ok (today), and that's a pretty good feeling.

It blows my mind that it's already been a year, and at the same time, it feels like I've been here forever. Funny how time can play tricks on you, isn't it?

So there you have it, an EXACT 365th-day post from the Middle East. 

An Ah-Ha Moment

Today, my department participated in a co-branded digital conference with Google. Neat, right?

Google swag!

As I was listening to the first presentation, I looked around at the room, at the branding of the event, at the content we'd be covering and it hit me: I could never have done this in Vancouver.

I mean, I'm sure similar stuff happens in Vancouver, but here I sat, a part of one of the world's best airlines, listening to a president from one of the world's largest companies.

It's this kind of exposure that I gave up Vancouver for. It's this kind of experience that made me leave behind a life I was in love with. It's this kind of thing that makes all the emotional ups and downs worthwhile.

So while my life today looks nothing like my life a year ago, life is ok.

Singapore Vacation Highlight: Flying

I’m not going to lie, the past few months in Dubai have been hard. The job isn’t all I had hoped, the city is fine, but not amazing, and I’ve missed my friends and family a ridiculous amount. When I landed in Dubai, I knew the first six months would be the hardest—no flight benefits and no vacation time to use.

But thanks to a lieu day and a long weekend, I was able to utilize my flight discount on a firm ticket and dart off to Singapore!

Above the clouds ...

I hadn’t been on a plane since landing in January, and while that isn’t a long time, when you spend every day looking at the airport terminal and hearing planes land and take-off, it makes you want to fly away. I, along with millions of others, will never stop being amazed at our ability to fly. To be able to spend hours above the clouds, while firmly based in science, is all kinds of amazing.

Little old me in Business Class

So I booked myself in Business Class for the outbound trip. It has been years since I have flown Business Class and let me tell you, it won’t be years until I do it again. The screen was so big! When I stretched out my legs my feet didn’t touch the seat in front of me—if you’ve ever met me, you’ll know that I have fairly long legs and this (not touching the seat in front of me, not the long legs) is quite the accomplishment, and quite rare. 

Also, champagne when you get on board and a really nice wine selection made the extra cost for Business Class totally worth it.

So with a quick nine-hour flight, including a short layover in Colombo, Sri Lanka, I was in the city-state of Singapore.

YAY air travel!

New Year, New Everything

For the past five years, I have had a tumultuous relationship with Vancouver. Despite its intrinsic beauty, I haven't always been happy here. Then the past year happened and, well, happiness was all this city gave me.

Huge doses of happiness.

I have fallen in love with a boy and the city and it is with so many emotions that I announce my departure from Vancouver.

Come the new year I will be leaving Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada AND North America.

In January I become a resident of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

My new role is an exciting one: working for Emirates Airlines in the company's public relations department.

I'm actually moving to a city and country I've never been to before. I'm still in disbelief.

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you may remember a post from almost five years ago outlining my bucket list. Living in Dubai has been on my bucket list for long before that post was written. Last year, while floundering about, I was on the verge of giving up public relations and applying to be a flight attendant with Emirates, so it blows my mind that my dream of working in Dubai and my longtime goal of cheap flights might come hand-in-hand with some great resume-building opportunities.

As excited as I am, it breaks my heart to leave the person who has made me feel more love than I knew was possible.

The timing couldn't have been more unexpected. I've applied for this job several times before and the night I got the email for the first interview, I told Sarin: "For the first time since moving here, I'd be  sad if something made me leave Vancouver."

Just five short hours later the universe responded by saying "bitch, you ain't in charge".

But when presented with something like this, you say yes. You just say yes.

There will be many more posts between now and the day I leave outlining every emotion I am going through. I honestly had no idea I could feel this many emotions at one time.

SO. MANY. EMOTIONS.