It has officially been 14 days

today I am stepping outside those hotel doors
and into my new life.

5 December 2020

Traveling to Abu Dhabi seemed to happen so fast, that once I got into quarantine I had a chance to reflect and take everything in from the week leading up to my departure. It was an extremely busy week; in which I took a Red City Bus tour of Cape Town, going for the Covid test, went to go buy new suitcases, packed them full, packed the crates that I needed to go an put into storage, and met up with family and friends in between my morning walks and afternoon gym sessions.

Leaving home always ends up becoming such a rush, never once did I leave and the few days before did not contain a never ending list of things I would like to get done. I do think, however, that I plan this intentionally so that the time would go by faster and the waiting wouldn’t feel like an eternity.

But leaving home this time was hard, I feel like I did not have nearly enough time. Yes, I was in South Africa since March, but I only made my way to Cape Town (my home-home) at the end of October; which means I did not even have a full month with my family from there.
But, a new job opportunity came and I had to take it!

There was an issues with the watch/tracker that I had received, but the issue was resolved easily and a nurse came to me in the hotel to replace it. From there I received a phone call from the Health authorities to confirm with me on what date I needed to go and retake the test, as well as received a text on the 1st to remind me as well as provide me with the approved facilities.

It is extremely strange to know that I have been here for two weeks already and I have not even seen my new accommodation or met my new roommate. Usually by now I would have been trained and ready, even working double shifts, and now I am only beginning.

List of my quarantine activities:

Thought i would share a few of the things I did to pass the time in the hotel room.

• Worked on Route & Reviews Instagram
  I realized than since I am already in a new country to try and post my travels of the past two and a half years in America on the blog would be a very time consuming task, that if I was to do it I would fall behind on trying to update you on my current travels/experiences. So I opted for making my last years in the USA into Instagram stories. Head over to my Instagram now to see what’s new!
• NaNoWriMo
  As you all know I attempted, and failed, National Novel Writing Month again. I did, however, managed to write a new poem or two.
• Wrote an exam
  I had to submit my last examination portfolio and damn does it feel good to know I am done with my studies for the year. This exam was for my Greek Mythology module, and I am hoping that I managed to write a few decent essays.
• Exercise
  I did a 40 minute workout once a day in order to stay active and not just lounge away all day. This was an extremely important part of my routine while quarantined because I had spent the past 2 months working really hard towards getting myself back to the pre-lockdown version, and I couldn’t let all of that effort go to waste.
• Netflix
  Finished The Good Place
  Watched the new season of Virgin River
  Re watched my favorites from New Girl
• Read
  Currently reading Tell No One by Barbara Taylor Sissel
• Took Bubble Baths
  Yes, it’s a strange thing to add to my itinerary but as someone who never has a bath (nevermind one as luxurious as this one) and knows that I will be sharing a room/bathroom with housemates again (which automatically revokes quiet bathtub privileges) I had to cease every bath opportunity that I could.