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A year after the pandemic first shut down borders around the world, the question I’m most often asked these days, especially by those who know that I am now vaccinated, is, “Got any international travel plans?” After all, while travel may be nowhere next to pre-pandemic levels, an increasing number of people and plenty of travel influencers are now traveling, even for what, in my opinion, falls under the categories of non-essential leisure travel. every time I see photos or videos of influencers, often from richer, more privileged countries, where vaccines are readily available, posing in front of tourist sites in countries like Mexico and Egypt (which has just begun vaccinating its elderly and high-risk populations), with a high number of COVID-19 cases and case fatality rates, where hospitals are still lacking resources, and locals still don’t have access to vaccines, I feel a massive sense of disappointment. So if you really think about it (even when you’re so damn sick and tired of thinking about it), in the absence of evidence from trials and studies proving otherwise, a vaccinated traveler could still contract the virus at an airport or on a flight and bring yet another case of it to the country they’re visiting.

Of course, you might not know how to find a local laundry service if you’re a tourist in Dubai, and even if you do find one, you might not know whether you can actually trust them not to damage your clothes, or they might need more days to deliver your laundry than you actually have left in the city. You’ll find the prices for various services such as Wash (everyday laundry, washed and tumble-dried but not ironed), Wash & Iron (ironed after tumble-drying and put on hangers), Dry Cleaning (delicate items, cleaned, ironed and put on hangers), Ironing, and Duvets & Bulky Items, clearly mentioned on both the site and the app. Once you schedule a collection and place your order, Laundryheap sends regular email updates at every stage- when the order is placed, when the driver is out for collection, and when he is out for delivery. Unfortunately my delivery also didn’t show up within 24 hours, which was my selected time frame, but customer service was prompt to send me an email update and inform me of the new expected delivery time, which was later that evening.

Wadi Shees (sometimes also spelled as Shis) is home to an agricultural village with farmland and settlements, a lovely nature trail with ponds and freshwater irrigation channels under the canopy of date palms, a beautiful park with a waterfall and picnic and barbeque spots, and a gorgeous dam with swans to go kayaking and boating in. Begin your trip to Wadi Shees with a relaxed, leisurely walk on the 1.8km long Wadi Shees Nature Trail that consists of marked trail paths and a few flights of stone steps cut into the hilly terrain. Al Rafisah Dam Kayak Rental price: 30 AED for 30 minutes in a Double Kayak (2 adults or 2 adults and 1 child maximum) Al Rafisah Dam Boat Rental price: 45 AED for 30 minutes in a Pedal Boat (2 adults and 2 children maximum) Between October and April If you decide to park at Shees Park and walk, then it’s an 18-minute walk to Wadi Shees Nature Trail.

A Revelatory Year and a Peek Into My Mind 2020 was the year I realized how I messed up words and sentences, often not being able to name simple, everyday objects like placemats and washing machine, replacing them with ‘plastic for the table’ and ‘big bin the laundry room’. 2020 was the year when, for a while, my emotions felt more intense than I could imagine, or handle- anger became rage, disappointment became despair, and sorrow crept up in the empty spaces, leaving no room for other things like creativity or gratitude or contentment. But I am also overwhelmed by the uncertainty of what lies ahead, and knowing now that I have ADHD, I am learning to forgive myself for being more overwhelmed, more “scatterbrained” than other normal, or let’s say- neurotypical people. I will talk intentions- carrying forward from what I’ve learnt and begun to practice over these last few months: I will not judge myself by the same parameters as others, because my ADHD brain has some limitations versus neurotypical brains.