Luci Guest Writer 
Did you guys have a great Eid vacation? I hope you did, because mine wasn't that enjoyable, well except for today (the last day of it). May I add the first three days were close to the word ****? I'm not exaggerating, I'm writing from my hotel lobby at 4.30 am in the morning just to blow off some steam, and of course to give you an idea of how it went, so you be the judge...
Seems like my mum and cousin were making plans to go to Dubai during Eid, and to my surprise I was also included in those plans, without knowing beforehand. They were going shopping for my cousin Nayla's big day, and I was supposed to be tagging along. At first I thought to myself, great, maybe I'll be able to attend a few shows at Fashion Forward and perhaps go to one of the after-parties. Why not? It sounded good! I even got in touch with some of my friends there and got a few invites. Yay!
Anyway, the moment we landed in Dubai, we were greeted with hot weather and Nayla and mum were already talking crazy shopping plans.
Me: Excuse me ladies, but is food included in your plans? Or are we shopping non-stop?
Nayla: You don't like to shop?
Me: Of course I do, but you guys are going too aggressive with your plans. I'm starving at the moment, how about we go rest a bit, then grab a bite and then start shopping?
Mum: Well, there's no time to rest and I'm already full. You should watch your weight habibty!
Nayla: Yes, for the future Mr. Right hehe
To that I only mumbled with a low voice: "Oh yeah, here we go again!"
Would you believe me if I told you they shopped continuously for 6 or even 7 hours? God have mercy on me, they didn't even let me have food until I claimed I was feeling really dizzy.
Finally! Some Cheesecake Factory, yummm! My delicious meal was accompanied by mum and Nayla who kept on giving me some more future husband talk. I gave them a straight face and conducted tons of interesting conversations in my own head, that was certainly more fun!
A couple of days passed by, which were exactly the same as our first one; full of shopping, little food, tons of complaining about my empty love life, and I didn't even get to make it to any of the Fashion Forward shows yet. Oh wait, did I mention I had to carry most of their shopping bags around, just so I could try and speed up their picking process at each store? I was planning on doing some shopping myself, but definitely as soon as I get some alone time.
To make my Eid even more exciting, I got a message from Habiba saying: "Hey gorgeous lady, hope you're having fun! Are you? Remember Rafik's friend Karim, the guy who was wearing a really cool outfit at my engagement, we commented about it? Well, he keeps on telling me that he's interested to know you better. He's now in Dubai, should I tell him to give you a call, perhaps you can hang out?"
Seriously, what's up with everyone trying to set me up? Why can't I be single and happy that way? People don't get that they can't rush these things. Plus if he's Rafik's friend, it also means he's twice my age. I'm not going down that road regardless of how desperate my mum thinks I am, which trust me, I'm not!
I replied telling her: "Babe, as much as I appreciate it, but I really don't have time at all. Mum and Nayla are dragging me around. Maybe I'll see him at your wedding lol."
Mum: Luci, what do you think of this dress?
Me: For whom?
Mum: You! I'm too old to wear something like this.
Me: Looks cool mum, I'm just hungry now. Can I try it on later?
Mum: No! Try it on now then we can go grab lunch.
It wasn't like I had a choice, so I went into the fitting room and gave it a try. The dress wasn't my style to be honest, but for some reason both mum and Nayla loved it on me.
Me: I don't like it that much guys. Tomorrow I'll do some shopping, don't worry about me.
Mum: Okay, then let's go to the evening-wear boutique right around the corner.
Me: Didn't you promise we'll eat and rest a bit?
Nayla: There's so much we need to get done Luci. Stop being a brat!
Me: Me? A brat? I think you mixed things up. You're the brat, I'm just the slave you guys drag around.
My mum sensed a big fight would start between Nayla and I, so she tried to crack a joke to calm things a bit down. I really couldn't take it anymore. What happened to a relaxing and fun vacation? And why oh why did they have to bring up the me being single topic every 10 minutes. I felt like slapping Nayla, mainly because she thinks she's a diva, which she's not, and also she keeps on rubbing her being in a steady relationship in my face, whenever she gets a chance. Enough!
Anyway, to keep my drama short and of course in order not to bore you guys out, let me skip to the fourth day of Eid. The day started off with their same exact pattern, they also wanted to drag me along and it was my last chance to shop properly for myself not to mention attend at least one of the shows at Fashion Forward. I had to put a plan to escape! I waited until we arrived at Mall of Emirates and then excused myself to the bathroom. I then gave my mum a call telling her that I really can't spend another day of my vacation like that, especially since it was the last day.
Mum: What? Are we really that bad?
Me: I'm not talking about you. The way the vacation has been going isn't really my style. So let me at least enjoy the last day...
Mum: Should we come keep you company?
Me: Nope, I'll be just fine on my own, don't worry!
And with that, I made my way to The Dubai Mall, ate a really delicious meal along with some ice-cream as dessert, and then spent a few hours shopping. Once I got the things I was longing to buy, I returned to the hotel, got all glammed up and then called a friend of mine so we can head to Fashion Forward.
The show I had an invitation to was "Zayan the Label" which I have to say was awesome. Very cute designs and they kind of go with my style! I didn't really feel like going back to the hotel once the show was over, and decided to go to the after-party instead. My friend introduced me to tons of her friends there, who were all pretty drunk, but it was actually fun to prove I could have just as much fun as they're having while I'm sober.
One thing led to the other and we decided it was time to ditch the party and make our way to JBR for some late night dinner. My mum and Nayla kept on texting me, but I decided I'm having too much fun to answer them, but I just texted my mum back that I was okay.
Once dinner was over, we decided to take a long fun walk. Two guys who are good friends of my friend were just hilarious, they made me laugh whenever they opened up their mouth. For some reason, they decided to use some of the chairs in street as drums or "tabla" and suddenly everyone, literally everyone started clapping to their tabla beats. A happy feeling I can't describe! Anyway, it didn't last for long as the police passed by and asked them to stop, but at least I had some fun unlike the boring time I have been having during my "vacation." We decided it was time for some ice-cream, or I convinced them it was, so we kept on looking for it everywhere, but most of the shops were already closed. Luckily after searching for half an hour we finally found a place that's still serving some ice-cream, and that's when the fun kicked off again. We all kept on singing happily and might I add loudly (some even had terrible voices) while walking, others felt it was the appropriate place for some handstands, and the rest were having laughing attacks, honestly I was one of them. We had to call off the night when one of the guys was suddenly all excited about going to a karokee and fell into a small fountain while trying to convince us all to go.
So to keep things short for you, this is just a proof of how fun life with only friends or even strangers can be. I don't have to start enjoying life just because there's a Billy or a Amr or whoever guy is in it.
Of course my mum gave me a pretty hard time when I came back to the hotel at 4 am on how irresponsible I was and that's mainly why no guy would ever want me.
Me: What happened to the independent woman inside of you? ENOUGH with all the guy talk. You're right I'm late, but what does that have to do with men? Really, I can't take this anymore! You guys turned my vacation into hell...
I stormed out of the room with my laptop, and that's how my Eid vacation came to an end. In a few hours we're flying back to Cairo, but at least I managed to enjoy the last day of Eid.
