Surprise Baku Trip
When we left Baku in summer 2018 we hoped there'd be a chance to visit again. Madi constantly talks about the friends she misses there and we still had lots of people there we miss. So when we saw an amazing sale on weekend holiday packages (including airfare) cheaper for less than half the price of a single airfare ticket we jumped on them! We decided just Madi and I would go for a Mother-Daughter trip and we kept it a surprise to Madi and to her friends in Baku (but we told my friends, their parents of course, haha).
It was such a sweet weekend. It was a very stressful time when we left Baku as Jason was already living in Doha and there were quite a few challenges happening simultaneously with travel logistics, health, etc. I hadn't realized it, but it sort of tainted my final impressions of Baku so going back and seeing everyone and focusing on the positives helped me tremendously to remember the good we had in the unique city we called home for two years. And of course Madi had the time of her life and you can see the joy in her face!
My friend Kathleen surprised me with airport pickup and after dropping our stuff at the hotel we grabbed a coffee and then headed to school pickup to surprise Madi's best buds Cooper and Jaxon with her arrival.
We headed back to the hotel for our amazing nanny Ms Meri to come over and play with Madi and take her to dinner while I headed out to meet some girlfriends!
The next morning I visited my beloved Bina shopping center with my good friend Emma followed by lunch with friends and then the rest of the afternoon hanging in our old compound letting the kids run around and play with one another for hours upon hours.
Saturday was our last day in Baku and we started with a traditional Azeri breakfast in Old City with friends before walking around Fountain Square with our friends Aubrey and Joy.
We headed back to the hotel to pack up and spend some time saying goodbye to my friend Mellissa and her daughter Amelia.
We headed to Hard Rock Cafe for the remainder of the evening until it was time to head to the airport. We had friends come and go throughout and it was amazing to see so many friends and enjoy the time together.
When we left it was a teary goodbye for sure as this girl misses her friends something fierce. We are so thankful for the chance to come back and see friends and can't wait until the next time we get to catch up in person!
Sweet flowers her friend Jaxy gave her and she hauled all the way back to Doha (despite airport security trying to confiscate them). We put them in the beautiful Baku vase we received as a going away gift from friends.
Here's a video of our entire trip with some additional pictures and video. :-)
