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Published: October 17th 2006
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This year has been full of many unexpected changes for Dominic and myself. We began 2006 in Vancouver, having recently started new jobs. I was working for Executive Search Dating as the Marketing & Promotions Manager, as well as doing some 'Extra' work for film & TV, and had the opportunity to be featured in a Commercial. Dominic was working for Blackfish Marine Yacht Brokers as the Customer Service Manager. He was involved in the sale of luxury motor yachts up to 85ft. We lived downtown Vancouver in Yaletown, drove a yellow Jeep Wrangler, spent weekends skiiing in Whistler, and had a fabulous group of close friends.
The story of how Andrea discovered Emirates... 1st March 2006
At the beginning of March, we were host to travelers from different countries. Rob and Kate from Australia had been taveling up the west coast of America and arrived in Vancouver at the same time as Graham and Liv from England, and their German Wire-haired Dog Logan. We had not met any of them previously, and they had been referred to us by our mates in the UK. We squeezed everyone in to our one bedroom apartment, dog included, and spent the
next few days getting to know our new traveling buddies.
One night we all went out dancing, where we met Staffan from Sweden who had just arrived in Vancouver, was staying in a hostel, and was planning to spend the rest of the week up in Whistler, skiing. Because we didn't already have enough people staying in our apartment, we offered for Staffan to stay with us, instead of in the hostel, as long as he didn't mind sleeping in the bath-tub or on the kitchen floor. He happily accepted the offer, and the next day we decided to drive him up to Whistler so that we could all enjoy a day of skiing. The Aussies had never seen snow before so it was quite a thrilling trip for them.
At the end of the day, we left Staffan in Whistler, returned to Vancouver, and the travelers then went their separate ways.
Back at work that week, I was doing a street event with my promotions team, and one of my team members, Kyla, mentioned that she was going to an interview that coming Saturday, for Emirates Airline. She said that the interviews were being held at
The Hilton hotel, and if she got the job, she would have to move to Dubai. I thought it sounded really interesting, so decided to go along with her to find out more about Emirates and Dubai.
That night we had a phone call from Swedish Staffan, saying that he was back in Vancouver for one last night, and asked if we would we mind him staying with us again. Of course we said yes, and that evening, to my great surprise, we discovered that Stephan was a Flight Attendant for BMI Airways. He raved about Emirates and claimed that they were an excellent airline and said I should definitely go to the interview. He then spent the evening preparing me by telling me what to expect, what to say, what not to say, what to wear, etc. etc. I became really excited about the opportunity, phoned in sick to work the next day, and spent the day researching Emirates and quickly learning all that I could.
On the morning of the interview, I had a phone call from Kyla, saying that she had decided not to attend the interview because she was happy in Vancouver and didn't
want to leave. She apologised and wished me luck. So, I went on my own, and within the first 20 minutes of the 8-hour long interviewing process, I new that I wanted the job and to move to Dubai. The opportunity seemed too good to be true, but there I was, having only just learned about Emirates two days earlier, with over 100 other candidates hoping for the job. By the end of the day, after many elimination rounds, I was one of four who were asked to return the following day for a final interview. You can imagine Dom's surprise when I returned home that evening and he asked "How did it go?", and I replied, "Pack your bags, we're moving to Dubai!" It was all so unexpected, but suddenly seemed to make sense. I knew I had the job.
It took nearly three months for Emirates to give me the official job offer, but in the meantime we decided to take the plunge, and whatever the case, job or no job, we decided we would definitely move to Dubai. We had a Jeep and an apartment to sell, along with all of our furniture and possessions. We
Granville Island
Where Dominic worked and I visited often! decided to get rid of everything and start over.
During this time, in April, Dominic's parents, his brother Oliver and girlfriend Annie, came to visit us from England for three weeks. We had not yet informed our families of our decision to move to Dubai, because we were waiting to have the job offer and tell them all at once what our plan was. They obviously new something was up though when they arrived the first day to a lovely apartment, and the following day, half of the apartments contents were missing.
Our visit with the Dohertys'... 24th April 2006
It was wonderful having the Dohertys' (& Annie) come to visit us. We spent the first weekend in Victoria seeing the sights, driving along the coast, and enjoying the perfect weather of my all-time favourite city (& Nialls' too). We then drove in-land BC to the Okanagan, which is the main wine region of Canada. We stayed in Kelowna and toured two different wineries, an apple orchard, and hiked up to a spectacular waterfall. After Kelowna we returned to Vancouver for one night before heading to Whistler for a week of skiing & snowboarding.
Although Niall
Filming '88 Minutes' on our street
One of the films I worked on - Starring Al Pocino. A few minutes after this photo was taken, the car was blown up! & Sue seemed pleased about my Emirates opportunity and our move to Dubai, they were a little disappointed that we wouldn't be in Vancouver for them to visit us again!
Au contraire mon frere! I understand that there may be a wedding in Victoria next year...
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ALM
Andrea
Wow!
Excellent start... now keep writing and let us all catch up on the next 6 months! X