Note to self:

Note to self: Never make small talk with a taxi driver that includes any information indicating that a) you have not lived in a certain city for a while and b) you don’t know where you’re going. Because when you do, said taxi driver will take you on a 15dirham taxi ride to the WRONG HOTEL!
Yes. This happened. All I wanted to do was go spinning. It was the music of ABBA today (and we all know how much I love ABBA) and I wanted to prove to the instructor that I’m not a weenie and could make it to spinning twice in one week.

Was I able to achieve this? No. After a ridiculous taxi ride through the city, in which I can only assume was this driver’s ploy to get the most mileage out of this passenger as possible, I was dropped off at the Sheraton Khalidiya rather than the Sheraton Corniche. Yes, the Sheraton Khalidiya overlooks the Corniche. Is this the same hotel? I think not. If I were more fastidious, I would have ran him down, banging on his trunk and demand that he give me a ride to the right hotel (or at least my apartment) at no charge … but wouldn’t that make me an Angry American? So in an effort to maintain decorum and a positive image of other expats, I let the little man drive away with my 15dirham (which luckily equals to under $4) and I sulked in the back of another man’s taxi.