Happy Belated Women's Day

Obviously I have procrastinated enough to miss both International Women's Day and the entirety of Women's History Month- whoops! Although these days are reserved to talk about a variety of topics- from the contributions of women in a multitude of fields to the suffering of women across the globe. HUGELY important topics.
But let's talk for a minute about something else I feel very strongly about- Female Friendship.
Best Friends.

Squad Goals.

Girl Crush.

You name it, it's important to me. 

It's not a new phenomenon but I think we can agree that it's being talked about now a lot more than before. Female friendships as empowering and uplifting instead of being used to bring each other down. 

As funny as Mean Girls was, no one actually wants to be in the Plastics. You want to surround yourself with friends that support you and listen to you when you are down.

And I feel I am lucky enough to have those. Read More...

At this point in my life, I would say I have a slew of best friends in various groups. Sometimes they interact with each other but sometimes they don't. But they are each incredibly important and serve some purpose in my life.

I have been very reflective on my time in Qatar as I pack up to leave in two months. I will always be grateful for my time here, both professionally and personally. But mostly- I am grateful for all the people I have met here. There is something special about this group of people that have travelled cumulatively all over the world and live in this tiny bubble we call Doha.
As my ultimate idol, JK Rowling, stated- “There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.” Just substitute "living and working together full time in a foreign country" instead of the mountain troll bit and you can understand my drift. 

One of those such people is Christina. We co-taught my first year here and so we spent more than a healthy amount of time together. Even though we don't teach in the same room anymore, we're still next door to each other and spend more than a healthy amount of time together.
Including romantic vacations.

As we are both lovers of the Royal Family, when we searched for beach vacations, the Seychelles was an obvious choice. Although we would most likely not be able to afford the private island that Kate and William honeymooned on, we decided to give it a shot. So during a prep period about a year before the proposed vacation, we booked a room at the only hotel that offered two beds in one room.

Honeymoon, (very quickly dubbed the Palmoon by friends) here we come!

After our flight, we were greeted by the sweet nectar that was the best iced tea known to man. Then we were taken to our room- that had one bed. The hotel was nice enough to move us to two beds, although I think they were still confused by our relationship, but we did get a nice story about the epic time the Miss Seychelles contest was held at our hotel.

Friendship goals!

Our new view was much better, so we were pretty happy about it.

Cheers to the Palmoon!

We spent the first day lounging by the pool and on the second day, we headed out on the road.

We were staying on the main island of Mahe, on the beach in Beau Vallon. We decided to venture out, so we rented a car from the hotel and attempted to circumnavigate the island.

Just like my trip to South Africa, I had the pleasure of driving on the opposite side of the road in the lovely Hyundai i10.

We also stopped by the Seychelles National Botanical Garden.

Pictured here is another Seychelles gem- the Coco de Mer, also known as the sea coconut. It is a special double coconut that grows only in the Seychelles. There are pictures of it everywhere, including drawn over the stamp in my passport.
But let's be real, it looks like a butt. Truely. So there is now a permanent butt stamped in my passport, so that is a thing.

The Seychelles is home to a special species of tortoise called the Aldabra Giant Tortoise, the largest tortoise in the world.

We got to see nature at its best (get it??) before heading back on to the road.

We successfully drove around almost the whole island!

Most of the time was spent by the pool and scuba diving! I got to practice my newly awakened skills in some beautiful water.
I also learned that the reason we couldn't drive completely around the island was because the section that seemed to have no roads were actually huge granite cliffs jutting out of the water.
Unfortunately, my camera is not water proof so I didn't get any pictures. But, imagine coves of clear water and huge jungle cliffs above you. The best part was when I was swimming under the water and saw shadows pass by, and when I looked up, I saw a fever (I definitely just googled that) of rays swimming above me.

We made some friends (at least I did) while spending our days by the pool.

After almost missing our flight back to Doha (Was it on purpose? We'll never know...) we headed back.

Doha even came out to say hello!

Girl friends are good for many things- advice, inspiring you, keeping you grounded, listening, and most of all- traveling. There is nothing like being in a new place with people that you care about. And when you find those people, make sure to hold on to them.
Romantic destinations aren't just for honeymooners.
Palmoons are for everyone!