My friends are still in town an still having me drag them all over. Yesterday we had to get up at 4:15 so I could drive them out to the desert for a sunrise balloon ride. The price was a little expensive at 950 dirhams but the ride itself was fantastic. The staff was friendly and they made the ride enjoyable. I would highly recommend that if you're in the area and don't mind spending the money, that you try Balloon Adventures Emirates.
I wanted to drop you a line to say your blog is awesome and informative! I was just offered a teaching job in Abu Dhabi and was googling around for information and came across your blog. I just spent an hour reading way back and learned so much! Also, your kids are just adorable :)
ReplyDeleteHey Karen,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words. It's always nice to get positive feedback. I'm glad that my blog could be a help to you. I found that it's hard to find information on the Net about Abu Dhabi and wanted to share what I've found. I hope everything works out for you. Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Just a quick note on getting to the balloon ride. If you're coming from Dubai, I think they will pick you up from your hotel or some easy to find landmark.
ReplyDeleteComing from Abu Dhabi, they will pick you up but you need to pay 500 dirhams per group. We decided to meet them at the pick-up point near the balloon ride. The company told us to meet them at the Nahel Grand Mosque (just slightly bigger than the neighboring mosques) and gave us GPS coordinates. Without my friend's hand held GPS device, I doubt that we would have found it. Unless you have GPS, you might want to pay the company to pick you up from Abu Dhabi.
Also, the map on the company's website says that the road you drive on is 33. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. The road is called 20 throughout. Even Google Maps has is labeled as 33 so it must be a fairly recent change. If you decide to drive there, follow the signs that take you to Sweihan and follow them to the coordinates where you'll find an extra wide shoulder on the road in sight of a mosque. The drive took us about 90 minutes from the Corniche.