On surrealism, and travelling (relatively) light

So...we made it. Sitting here in our hotel room at the foot of the Abu Dhabi World Trade Center while watching what I'm guessing are contemporary Arabian music videos is eroding some of the nuance from my recollection of our travel day yesterday, but I'll try to recount some anyway. 

The longer time line of this move deserves its own post, and a better author, so I'll leave that story to Jenn. For this post it is enough to say that, in the year that has passed since we first discussed the possibility of moving here, the concept of life in Abu Dhabi has transitioned from hypothetically surreal to actually surreal. Perhaps this log will serve as an indicator of when the surreality fades, leaving only the regular day-to-day. Perhaps not.

It has been just over four years since I last pared my possessions down to the checked baggage allowance and flew one-way towards a new adventure. At some point in the purging process, the keep-or-leave-behind decision starts to seem arbitrary, governed by equal parts practicality and sentimentality. And then at a later point, when you realize that practicality and space/weight constraints require you to get rid of that first thing you'd really rather not get rid of, letting go of almost everything else gets easier. Other things are never easy to leave behind. To those who helped us out by agreeing to keep what we could neither take nor abandon, thank you.

Two checked bags (max. 70 lbs. each) plus two carry-ons (max 26 lbs combined) for each of us totals out to just under 500 lbs of luggage. We did end up paying for an extra bag, which put the final weight up to 570, and we did have to do a little at-the-counter reorganization to keep the heavier bags under the 70 lb. limit, and no fewer than four individuals received tips for handling the bags between end-points and airports, but all of the bags (and as far as we can tell, their contents) made it to our hotel room. We hope to find an apartment before our luggage fully expands in our hotel room, blocking our path to the door.

Jenn's new employer booked our travel, which turned out to be business class on one of the worlds best airlines. So it was a little odd to feel so nomadic, traveling one-way with all our belongings to a foreign land, while doing so in the lap of luxury. I wondered how many other passengers enjoying complimentary cocktails and a la carte dining in the departure lounge currently had no fixed address. As a person who has spent quite a bit of time sleeping in what I now think of as "collapsible housing" and toileting outside, having a team of two serving pitted dates and tiny cups of arabic coffee is somewhat of an adjustment. But it will probably be easier to get used to than taking cold showers in the dark.

So much easier, in fact, that I happily ordered a cappuccino via the giant touch screen in my personal suite on board the plane to wash down the roast duck appetizer and stuffed chicken entree - the perfect way to wrap up a long day of travel before pushing the button that turned my seat into a bed so long that neither my feet nor my head touched the ends. I will fly coach again, but next time the pain of folding into a middle seat will be made that much worse by the knowledge of how it is on the other side of the curtain.

A more detailed retrospective on the packing and purging process (and pictures, we promise) will soon follow. Until then, we will be thankful that the weather has cooled significantly since our preliminary visit in August, with highs now only reaching into the upper 90s.