Since our last post a week ago, two major events came on our way kept us from posting…

The first one was the kind invitation of the Westin hotel to host us for two nights and the second one will be commented on in our next post…

It took us one day to Dubai again and one day from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. It’s not very funny to bike in the Emirates… nerve wrecking it is. The roads are huge with 6, 8 or even 12 lanes and as long as you are in the crowded city areas (and believe us; Dubai and Abu Dhabi are huge and crowded), it takes a lot of time to pass through and to survive on the emergency lane of the high ways. There are simply no “small” roads.

When we reached Abu Dhabi and the entrance of the 5-star Westin hotel, the tables had turned. In a warm, friendly and quite atmosphere we were welcomed by Oliver and Nicolas in person and they made sure that the check-in went smooth and that we could enter into our beautiful room immediately. With a terrace overlooking the driving range of the Abu Dhabi Golf Club and an ice-cold Dutch brew in a green bottle with a red star (we’re not allowed to mention the brand here ?) our second surprise was there. But it became even better! The management of the hotel invited us for a drink in the “Lemon & Lime Bar” and we were quite overwhelmed with the variety of gin-tonics. For instance the one with Safran was a true surprise, as was the one with Basil. The Earl Grey flavored one and the gin with Blackberrys were great too…

This first night was completed with a delicious dinner at the Italian restaurant and we thank Oli and Nicolas once again not only for their company and nice discussions! Then it was time to go to bed. And even this was a great experience as we have never slept in a bed with this ‘heavenly’ quality. The only problem is that at a certain point of time you have to wake up and get out of bed…. This time it appeared to be not that big of a problem. We had an extended breakfast and a reservation for the 9-holes competition course at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

The clubhouse is designed in the form of a huge Falcon and you have a breathtaking view over the different holes when you pick up your electric cart and clubs (everybody gets a golf cart which is equipped with a touchscreen showing your exact position and distance to the next hole ?). We played a flight together with two Canadian helicopter pilots and decided to have our lunch together as the conversations were still going on once we finished the game.

After we waved the Canadians good bye we went for a complimentary treatment in the heavenly Spa and Massage Centre of the hotel. After so many kilometers on the bike it couldn’t have come better!! In the afternoon Ronald had a very nice meeting with the marketing manager who made our stay possible. The reason for inviting us was the excitement about our trip and the combination of sporting (biking) and relaxing (sabbatical), which are also the pillars under the concept of the Westin hotels.

Maurice insisted on a last gin-tonic with Monkey-47 from the Black Forest before we dived in our tremendous pillows again.

Thank you Fred, Shweta, Oli and Nicolas for this unforgettable experience, we truly enjoyed it!