When we decided we were moving to the Middle East, I very quickly told Mitch, “I don’t care what we do over there, but I am riding on a camel.”

While were in Dubai last month for our Eid vacation, I did exactly that!  We went on one of the famous ‘Desert Safaris,’ where all of the tourists gather, to enjoy a variety of desert adventures.  Some of the options are: going bashing through the sand dunes in a 4×4, sand boarding, four-wheeler rides, riding camels and a bunch of other stuff.  I was so excited for my first camel ride!

When it was our turn, we climbed up on the huge creature, (seriously, these dudes were twice the size of any horse I have ever ridden on) put on my brave face (see below . . . it doesn’t look very brave) and rode a camel with my hubby!

We smiled for the camera, laughed, and enjoyed our short 1 minute and 36 second camel ride.

At the end of our ride, we had to prepare for the awkward dismount.  To get off the camel, it would drop to it’s knees, and eventually sit on the ground.

The ride was extremely short, but here I am 5 weeks later still thinking about it, feeling guilty about it.

I made the decision to ride this camel in the name of a fun picture.  Would I ride an elephant at the circus in the name of a good picture? No, I would refuse to participate in the mistreatment of animals.    I was a part of the problem, I participated in the mistreatment of these camels.     Instead of dealing with the situation with my moral compass strongly in place, I twisted my thought process around into “I might never have a chance to do this again,”  “it will make great pictures” and “you are in the desert, you have to ride a camel.”

So as you travel the world and have the opportunity to experience new and interesting adventures, I encourage you to keep your moral compass strongly in place.  I regret that I allowed mine to slip up a bit, but have definitely learned from this and hope that others can too.

So there it is a major Debbie Downer of a post all about my regrets and the lessons I learn by making mistakes along the way.