Overheard at the Belgian Beer Cafe, Intercontinental Abu Dhabi

Has anyone ever given a stewardess a tip? 

Breaking news: Are cigarettes being pulled off (or flying off) Baqala shelves in Abu Dhabi ahead of the big tax hike?

This guy posting on Abu Dhabi Q&A, the endlessly entertaining Facebook page, seems to think so. 

"So no more selling cigarettes in baqala near to my place as municipality told them to remove all cigarettes from the shelves," he writes. "Is this happening all over Abu Dhabi?"

Nice one: UAE domestic workers get legal protection and rights

This week the Federal National Council passed a bill that gives the UAE's maids, nannies and other domestic workers a day off, holiday pay and limits the work day to 12 hours (at least 8 consecutive).

In the absence of a law governing this stuff, and having heard so many horror stories of employers of all nationalities rampantly abusing the labour and human rights of their domestic staff, this is a very good first step in protecting the rights of the most vulnerable of workers.

Overheard in the newsroom: Cat bite edition

I've had 5 rabies shots and I still don't have rabies. It's not working. 

Overheard in the newsroom: Relationship edition

Men do have a self-sabotage button.

Welcome to the world's largest book, now on display at Al Wadha Mall

I don't think anywhere in the world is more obsessed with Guinness World Records (there is no 'book', it's a common mistake) than the UAE. For example, 2017 kicked off with this largest tin of caviar in Dubai. 

When travelling: Make a list, and then check it twice. And then check it again. And then grab your passport. Because you forgot it, you idiot

I've been to more than 30 countries in nine years in Abu Dhabi - just add the Maldives, where I am now. And sometimes I think that between all those airplanes and airports, and hotels and guesthouses, I've actually gotten worse at travelling.

I hate packing and always bring too much, except for one or two things I don't have that drive me nuts the entire time. I always forget the most obvious things (which is how I found myself paying US$35 for a bottle of sunscreen at Baros Maldives this week and borrowing nail polish remover from the spa at One&Only Reethi Rah) and beat myself up about them later.

But this trip I made the motherload of travel errors: I forgot to take my passport to the airport. How, you ask? Don't ask me. It's been a rough couple of weeks and my mind has been scattered. But still.