Crystal M Williams

Disability Advocate, Mental Health Advocate, Blogger, Kabuki Syndrome, Animal lover & Loves Travel

Hi Everyone,

It’s been three weeks since my Husband Matthew and I got back from our trip to Abu Dhabi. It was definitely a trip of a life time that we both will never forget. I’m sure a lot of you have questions Well, first off it was for the Special Olympics World Summer Games. Matthew and I were invited to attend the games as honored guests because he’s a former Sargent Shriver International Global Messenger and also is a former Special Olympics International Board Member. We were there for the whole time for the games. Matthew got to walk in with one of the countries for opening ceremonies and he also got to MC two different events while we were there as well. I was very proud of him. The opening ceremonies were absolutely amazing I was completely blown away. The entertainment was great but what I loved the most was getting to see some of the athletes getting to be a big part of the ceremonies. We got to see a little bit of team Canada compete. We watched a bit of team Canada’s soccer team, got to watch two of the Canadian’s bocce players and we also got to watch team Canada’s basketball team as well. It was really nice that we were able to spend a little bit of time with some of team Canada. We got to do a some sight seeing while we were there. Getting to see The Grand Mosque was incredible I was completely speechless. It was absolutely beautiful. The whole architecture was beautiful and all of the designs on the walls were spectacular. The whole time I was in the Mosque I had no words because I was in awe. We also did a tour in the desert where we got to ride camels with the Global Messengers and some of the Special Olympics staff. Getting to ride a camel was preety cool it’s a little bit different than riding a horse but I would defiantly do it again. We got to watch the sunset in the desert then had dinner and watched some performers. I was super excited to watch equestrian at the world games. We watched a new event for equestrian that i’ve never heard of before which was pretty cool, it was called walking trails. We got to go watch some of the global messengers take part in a unified beach volleyball game it was very exciting. Matthew and I got to also take part in a unified game of tennis which was harder than i thought it would be and also it was a lot of fun too. We went to Warner Brothers World to check it out it was so neat to see all the different characters walking around we got our pictures with a bunch of them while we were there. One day we went to Dubai with the global messengers and Special Olympics staff members for part of the day. We all got to go up in the tallest buliding in the world which was crazy but what an incredible experience. While we were in Dubai we also went to a local market that was an interesting experience on it’s own. We had a few receptions that we attended for dinner one was at the emirates palace and the other one was with the Shriver family. The closing ceremonies were amazing as well great entertainment and the speeches were great as well. Overall it was an incredible experience all around and definitely a trip of a lifetime for sure. The food was all amazing and everyone was very helpful and very friendly. Well that’s pretty much it. Here’s some of our pictures and i hope you enjoyed this blog post.

~Crystal~