By Hanane Fathallah
Hanane Fathallah
NEWSFLASH: Denise Bidot in Dubai!
Just five days ago, I came across one of Denise Bidot‘s photos by the beach, stating that she was in Dubai. I had an OMG moment and I didn’t know what to make out of it. I honestly couldn’t believe it that she was in the region. I live in Jeddah (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) which is still a 3-hour flight away from Dubai. As a first reaction, this is what I posted on my FB page
You know those 5 minutes of utter craziness when you can’t wait to share something so juicy and important to you, ya, well I shared that moment with my hubby, who is completely aware of how much I love la gorgeoussima plus size model Denise Bidot and what an inspiration she is to me.
“Some of the most thrilling things in life are done on impulse.” (Syrie JAMES)
What would you have my husband do? This was a perfect situation to pull out that dose of spontaneity. We messaged Denise! And she replied… *woohoo*
Here is what went down.
On March 8th – International Women’s Day – we had a flight booked to Dubai.
We were planning a 2-day stay. Everything was falling into place. We even went shopping the days before just to get a couple of things for travel.
What I am about to tell you from now onwards is an epic episode of persistence and survival!
March 7th Pre-flight
The decision was made! Hubby checked flights, made the booking and took us out to run some errands.
The only ridiculously funny point was that my passport needed renewal soon, but usually if your passport was valid for at least 90 days, things could fly. My passport was exactly 90 days valid counting in travel date. Too good to be true! If I had waited one more day, I wouldn’t have been able to travel at all and Denise Bidot would have already been gone.
Saturdays: Hubby is usually busy at night because he has two consecutive radio shows and he wouldn’t finish till 12 AM. So it was just me and Kiddo at home. I had to take care of kiddo till bedtime then, I had to organize, clean dishes and kitchen, do laundry, pack, and finally by 12:30 AM I was able to take that well-awaited shower. I was officially K.O.! I think we slept by 2:00 AM and our flight was at 7:30 AM. You can guess what time we had to wake up to head to airport…
March 8th Persistence and Survival Mode
According to Saudi laws, an expatriate (I am Lebanese) needs a so-called ‘Exit / Re-entry visa’ to go out and return to the kingdom. In other words, even if you have your passport and a ticket in your hands, you would not be able to get out of the country without an exit / re-entry visa.
— 6:30-7:00 AM
Hubby had that taken care of, but once we reached the passport control counters,
PROBLEM #1 occurred!
As a foreigner, I have a residency permit. Apparently, fingerprints registration are mandatory so now even with the ticket, passport, I technically wasn’t allowed to travel. It was close to boarding time and we were still trying to negotiate a temporary solution so we could still catch our flight!
A big no-no… Started feeling down until superman hubby decided to book the next flight and go try and solve the problem by doing that fingerprints registration. Nothing to lose at this point. We headed to the nearest center and I waited in a long line of foreign frustrated and impatient women lol
PROBLEM #2 The woman that was right before me in line got arrested so the line was put on standby! Come on, on my turn? REALLY? Could this day get any worse!
I just want to meet DENISE BIDOT!
15 minutes later, I got my fingerprints registered *yey*
We head back home for a quick break. Our flight was scheduled to take off at 2:30 so we had time.
— 12:30 PM
We were at the airport. A couple more misadventures now with my hubby who, once we got in to the waiting area, realized he forgot his backpack in the car! LOL AAaah! He went back, got it, and we were finally in the waiting area. That’s enough action for one day…
Everything was finally falling into place perfectly.
Arrived to Dubai at 6:30 PM. Went for a quick break and to freshen up at the hotel then went directly to the mall to meet up with Denise! Hubby kept messing with my head the whole time while we were waiting lol
I was so nervous but then…
Denise Bidot shows up! What a beautiful soul she is. Humble, gorgeous, classy and super cool!
Hubby kept telling me that he has never seen me like this way. I was so completely out of it that I was rambling, babbling and mumbling! So embarrassed. But soon enough I was able to talk like a normal person and enjoy that great epic moment! This made my day. No. This made my year!
Thank you beautiful! And I hope our paths will cross again soon…
FOLLOW DENISE BIDOT – Instagram / Facebook / Twitter
Republished with permission from Hanane Fathallah
