Alan & Dianne's Travels: Stage 9 - 21st February to 9th March

So back to Dubai! I am supposed to be doing some consultancy for the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank on Six Sigma but they decide they have too many initiatives underway so they decide to postpone mine until Q4 leaving me with the cost of hotels for 11 days in Dubai. I do have one day's work for Dragon Oil on the 12th March then I have to be in Abu Dhabi for the 18th March to deliver 3 training programmes for ADCB on service excellence so we decide to cancel the hotel booking in Dubai - it's a business hotel - and move to the Crowne Plaza hotel on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi for the rest of our stay.

The last couple of weeks has been interesting both professionally and personally. From the professional point of view it's been a source of satisfaction to deliver an operations management course for 17 delegates from so many different sectors and countries - one delegate was head of the Royal Saudi Arabian Airforce - and a Service Excellence Course for 21 delegates, 8 of whom were from Saudi Airline.

Dianne's birthday was on the 24th February but that was a working day so we postponed celebrations until the 27th when we had a table at the Amal restaurant at the Amani Hotel in the Burj Khalifa overlooking the fountain. Not the best food in my opinion but Dianne loved it and I agree it was a special experience but at over £500 for the night a bit expensive.

On the 6th March we went to an Eric Clapton concert at Media City, Dubai. An open air concert, standing only, but a great experience. I've seen him several times before in the UK and he never disappoints.

Last night, the 8th March, we met a friend of mine - Anne McDougal - who is an international trainer working in the Middle East. We met at the Grosvenor House hotel at the Dubai mariner, where the Bhuda Bar is. Another great night in a fabulous location. So today was a quiet day, pool, reading...oh, and one conference call for an hour with ADCB!