Globe Trotting J's 2019 Trip Day 5: Butlers & Champagne
And just like that we’ve hit the end of our time in our first stop, Cairo. Luckily this morning we woke up at a more reasonable hour and were packed up and in the hotels Mercedes to take us back to the Cairo airport for the third time in 24 hrs. We dropped off our bags at the Egypt Air counter and made our way to our gate. Before that though we did grab a quick bite at Burger King where a Spanish family was having a full blown yelling match with the poor guy at the counter over their order. Luckily our two happy meals and double cheeseburger came out just fine and we were nice and fed before boarding the three hour flight from Cairo to Abu Dhabi.
We arrived at Abu Dhabi a little after 3 PM and made our way through a very efficient customs process, grabbed our bags, and met up with our driver from the St Regis who drove us the thirty minutes from the airport to the St Regis. I’ll never forget the moment that the staff at the St. Regis came up to our car door and we walked into what might be the most beautiful hotel lobby we’ve ever walked into. There was a piano player under a giant chandelier and it reminded me of the opening moments of Titanic. The double doors opened up to what was one of the most opulent and impressive scenes I’ve ever seen. We were escorted to the check-in area where we were given these cold towels and out of this world welcome drinks (7-Up, fresh orange juice, and grenadine) and were given an overview the hotel and its amenities.
A few minutes later we took the elevator up to the 44th floor and into our room where when we walked in all of our mouths hit the floor. We all danced around the room like we had just won the lottery. After the high of the view and the room wore off we recorded a video tour, took photos and unpacked. One of the nice features of the St. Regis Abu Dhabi is that they offer two free items to be pressed per person, per day.
We called down to get our items pressed and Jake answered the door and our rooms butler offered Jake (and Jenn and I) to go to a champagne event. Jake wasn’t comprehending what was happening so he just responded that we were busy. The butler then proceeded to ask him if the following night would work and Jake still in shock said we were still busy. So the butler insisted we come to something to do with champagne on the last night but we’re not at all sure what that was. More to come!
After all of that fun we decided to go downstairs and check out the pool and the beach which were near abandoned and simply stunning. We were all blown away with how perfect everything was. We took our shoes off, rolled up our pants, and felt the pristine warm water, and walked around and took in the beautiful sunset over the Arabian Gulf. When we got done we made our way back to our room to get ready for dinner. When we did Jake was fortunate enough to receive the official offer letter for his promotion to area manager. It was quite the moment, you could see how hard he had worked for it and how much he had wanted it, so the emotion of it all happening and being real hit him and we were lucky enough to be there with him when it happened.
We decided (after a last minute shuffle) to have dinner at the Italian restaurant in the hotel, Villa Toscana. To celebrate the official promotion we started off with three glasses of Prosseco. Just as we were lifting our glasses to congratulate Jake our waitress came back and offered us an opportunity to take our drinks to the bar to enjoy some free appetizers that the chef put out. We weren’t sure what to make of this but we gave it a shot and are glad we did. They had a massive spread of cheese, meats. bruschetta, and all sorts of Italian appetizers to choose from. I could have had my entire meal there.
After thirty minutes of snacking on these Italian delicacies we went back to our table to finish off our meal. I ordered a lobster and prawn ravioli, Jake ordered the pappardelle in lamb sauce with sage and roasted pine nuts, and Jenn had the penne pasta with four Tuscan Pecorino cheeses. All of the dishes were excellent with amazing flavors, and well composed. We finished off our meal with a chocolate lava cake and vanilla ice cream to split that was the absolute perfect way to finish the night.
We went back to our room a little after 9 PM and relaxed a bit, edited photos, finished unpacking, and basked in what was the perfect start to our time in Abu Dhabi. I can’t wait to see what the next two days hold!
