Sunday, May 14, 2006

Bahrain (Bahrain)

Didn't get much sleep last night... I woke up at 0300 and never ended up settling down again.  I don't believe it was due to having a bad Gateway Inn room - more likely, it was yesterday's long day and the time-zone differences between home and Spain. Ended up eating breakfast at 0330 and staying awake, waiting for the sun to rise... Luckily, our departure time was at 0830.  Even better, our destination was Bahrain!  I have always heard about how beautiful and international it is and always wanted to see it for myself.  I picked up four turkey sandwich box lunches at the NEX Cafe (at the Naval Station) this morning - they also included fruit juices, chips, cookies and some granola bars.  After we took off from Rota, our flight over to Crete was good - until Julius had some trouble getting into Souda Bay (they held us up high until really late!). I flew the next leg with Jeff into Bahrain and got to see a lot of cool sights (Egypt, Nile, Red Sea, Bahrain by night). Also got a kick out of listening to the ex-pat Brits who control the airspace near Bahrain... After landing, we arrived at our hotel (Al Dana Resort, by Accor/Novotel) around 1730 - we got to stay in a very nice place on the water. We had a great dinner (with free-flowing beer). Walked around the complex after the sun went down - it was still hot. I'd like to come back to Bahrain and spend a little more time in the future...