2022 World Tour – Abu Dhabi #2
This post will take me from mid-Abu Dhabi up to my journey to Dubai.
You may remember the problem I had getting the authorization code from my Thai bank via SMS to my registered worldwide virtual phone number. Well it aint getting any better when I tried to book my upcoming hotel in Dubai. So plan B is my US Citi Visa card. I needed to set the “Travel Notice” for overseas charge approval on their web site but it’s broken, forcing me to speak to a human who labelled me a “High Risk Screening” candidate. Yay. I finally got that in place, but I need to do it every 3 months. Ugh. I booked the Dubai hotel using the Citi card but of course in the world of pan-country high finance, I need to manage which accounts I’m spending from. My US tax bill is coming due soon… :^( Luckily I haven’t been sanctioned yet, the CIA hasn’t discovered my ties to Putin as his nerdiest Oligarch.
The next days are Yas Mall, walking in the sunshine and beaches. To add to the excitement, I’ve picked up a wicked headcold that the best meds known to modern chemistry can’t break through. Makes it mildly unpleasant walking around with a mask on.
General Internet while I’m out and about remains good due to the AD-wide Wifi system, supplemented by Wifi from restaurants and malls. I have that 1-year eSIM but don’t want to burn through the data in the plan if I don’t have to.
I had a disappointing session looking for tickets for upcoming Formula 1 races, everything is already sold out, I should have known. On the rare occasion that a ticket was available, they would force me to accept shipping to my home address in Thailand by DHL, and that’s not going to work for me at all. No easy thing like “Pick up at the track?” Online ticket sales is a known racket as they’re all instantly bought by an army of bots and then resold for a profit on the black market. I’m still trying to get to a few of the races but we’ll see if I can get inside.
I decided to roll the dice and book my AirBnB in Barcelona. I found a great place, sharing a two bedroom apartment with the Superhost, in the original AirBnB tradition. It has an elevator and washing machine and kitchen and everything! He agreed to my dates of April 28 – May 30 and I tried to book it with my Thai card, and it went through! They didn’t attempt to send me the SMS code for this one!?! So much for security! I need an SMS code to pay for $3 worth of circuit boards, but an AirBnB for a month – sure just let it go through. Thai logic.
My friend Neville has returned from the UK and settled into my condo. He wanted no part of my home automation so we set it up so everything works from wall switches again.
I met up with my Bangkok F1 friend Pete’s friend Andy and his brother at a nearby bar. After a few Stellas we went bowling (yes!) in the back of the bar. I’m very proud I cracked 80 with that much sweet Belgian beer inside me.
Tomorrow – Dubai. Another Emirate within the United Arab Emirates. As the Thais say “Same same but different.”
