We were in the beautiful coastal town of Ras Al Khaimah yesterday to provide the Say Cheese UAE photo booth service to the Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone's Annual party. We left Dubai at around 12:00 noon and entered the T-junction at the end of Emirates road an hour later. Our final destination was the Hilton RAK Resort and Spa.
Ye programmed her GPS - set with a male voice - to direct us to the hotel and soon after entering RAK, it told us to make a left turn. That move brought us to a small street in a residential area that looked a bit run down. Deciding to trust in technology we followed the road till we reached the corniche area and joined a street snaking by the side of the beach. After a few meters Mr. GPS announced: "Your destination is on the left side".
On our left were sand, pebbles and the wide, open beach with absolutely no buildings near it. We burst out laughing! Now, I really regret not stopping to take a picture - or a video.
So I brought out my map, found a main road, found the few landmarks I had marked on it and drove while Ye figured out what happened to Mr. GPS. Turns out it tracked the wrong Hilton - which is quite curious, since there were no structures in the area it identified. She put a new one in and that led us again, to the wrong Hilton. Luckily, the Creek Plaza's sign - one of the few landmarks on my map - was visible so I knew it was the wrong destination. After a few more turns we finally found the hotel. My low tech map won over GPS!
The afternoon light was just fantastic and I have to say, very flattering indeed. The photos all looked fabulous. The Say Cheese UAE Photo Booth was open from 3:00 - 7:00pm and there was that short window when, as the sun was going down, the sky was going dark creating a very dramatic background for the pictures. Ahh... too bad I cannot post any of those photos.
We barely had any time for a breather. There was only a few minutes after the program officially started when the photo booth was emptied of clients, but even that was quickly replaced by a queu. It was great fun - the party was a blast, all the guests were smiling and happy, and we are simply glad that Say Cheese UAE Photo Booth was part of it.
Ye programmed her GPS - set with a male voice - to direct us to the hotel and soon after entering RAK, it told us to make a left turn. That move brought us to a small street in a residential area that looked a bit run down. Deciding to trust in technology we followed the road till we reached the corniche area and joined a street snaking by the side of the beach. After a few meters Mr. GPS announced: "Your destination is on the left side".
On our left were sand, pebbles and the wide, open beach with absolutely no buildings near it. We burst out laughing! Now, I really regret not stopping to take a picture - or a video.
So I brought out my map, found a main road, found the few landmarks I had marked on it and drove while Ye figured out what happened to Mr. GPS. Turns out it tracked the wrong Hilton - which is quite curious, since there were no structures in the area it identified. She put a new one in and that led us again, to the wrong Hilton. Luckily, the Creek Plaza's sign - one of the few landmarks on my map - was visible so I knew it was the wrong destination. After a few more turns we finally found the hotel. My low tech map won over GPS!
The venue was gorgeous! The whole party was set on a terrace overlooking the sea. Everybody there was busy setting up and practicing so we joined the fray. After we found our allocated space, we hauled our stuff in and prepped for the party. The management required privacy for the photos so there will be no online uploads from us but here is a sample, one of the test shots we did:
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| Test shot |
The afternoon light was just fantastic and I have to say, very flattering indeed. The photos all looked fabulous. The Say Cheese UAE Photo Booth was open from 3:00 - 7:00pm and there was that short window when, as the sun was going down, the sky was going dark creating a very dramatic background for the pictures. Ahh... too bad I cannot post any of those photos.
We barely had any time for a breather. There was only a few minutes after the program officially started when the photo booth was emptied of clients, but even that was quickly replaced by a queu. It was great fun - the party was a blast, all the guests were smiling and happy, and we are simply glad that Say Cheese UAE Photo Booth was part of it.
