Travelogue - Dubai & Singapore

TALE OF THE "STALKER APP"

I posted this story to Facebook last night but thought my blog readers might enjoy it as well. Unless you live in the Far East, it isn't every day you know someone who's traveling to Dubai and Singapore, particularly not members of your very own family. The background to this tale:  my son-in-law is doing tech for a conference in Singapore, flying over with both crew and equipment, as he did two years ago (and last year, in London). But this time the whole family, including my three grandgirls, went with him. (Even their schools thought the experience worth a bit of catching up when they got back.)

App - Life360

About six months ago, my daughter put an app on my phone called Life360. She called it, and rightly so, a "stalker app." Seven families members are listed, and when I touch the app, it tells me where each of them is (including me). It's been particularly handy when meeting Cassidy's bus. Is it still on its way, or did it arrive early and Cassidy is already trudging the mile home from the bus stop to her house? I tried it out when Susie & Mike were in NYC in June, and to my surprise, it told me Mike was "moving" near such and such street, while Susie had been stationery for two hours near Times Square. (I figured she was at the theater.) Amazing, right? 

Well, tonight I tested the system to the max. With the family on the far side of the world, 12 time zones from home, I pressed Life360 and waited to see what would happen. It seemed to be hung up, sent me a "Not Responding, do you want to wait?" I said yes. And then . . . it informed me that all five Reales were at the Marina Bay Sands (Singapore). Wow! I tried again about 20 minutes later and was told, "Moving near Bayfront Ave., Singapore." Frankly, I find that totally amazing - that kind of tracking seems like something government agents have in spy movies, not an app anyone can download for family use. So if you want to keep track of where your loved ones are . . .

~ * ~

A few weeks ago, while Susie and I were sitting in the doctor's office, waiting on X-rays of my broken foot, she chortled and revealed she was texting Dubai, arranging for camel rides in the desert! Huh? And sure enough, the entire group ended up enjoying camel rides and a visit to the world's tallest building during a 9-hour layover in Dubai before going on to Singapore. So not surprisingly, this week's blog is a gallery of photos from both cities.

Mike, Cassidy, Hailey, Riley, Susie

Tech crew + (hamming it up in the desert)

 

More camel than Cassidy

 

 

View from hotel room

Food Court in mall adjacent to hotel

I absolutely LOVE this bench.

Grace note:  The family has another week in Singapore, so I suspect there will be more photos to come.

 ~ * ~

For a link to Blair's website, click here.

 

For a link to The Abominable Major on Amazon,  click here.

For a link to The Abominable Major on Smashwords,  click here.  

Background information on The Abominable Major can be found on my Facebook Author Page. To read it, click here.

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace