With a convenient motorway connecting the UAE and the resort city of Salalah in Oman, driving there can be a great experience. For large families, it is also the most affordable and practical option. But, as The National reported yesterday, a spate of accidents – including one that claimed the lives of a family of five last week – have prompted calls for travellers to fly rather than drive.
Driving is so much a part of our daily life that we can forget that it is a serious activity that can have tragic consequences. And the challenges of long-distance driving are significantly different to those of regular, short-distance trips. The monotony of the road and long hours spent behind the wheel can make us tired and lose concentration.
The best way to combat this on a long trip is to drive within the speed limits, take a break every few hours, and try to organise a stopover along the route so you can complete the journey fresh and alert.
Company Profile
Company name: Cargoz
Date started: January 2022
Founders: Premlal Pullisserry and Lijo Antony
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 30
Investment stage: Seed
The Laughing Apple
Yusuf/Cat Stevens
(Verve Decca Crossover)
Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022
First match: November 20
Final 16 round: December 3 to 6
Quarter-finals: December 9 and 10
Semi-finals: December 13 and 14
Final: December 18
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Almouneer
Started: 2017
Founders: Dr Noha Khater and Rania Kadry
Based: Egypt
Number of staff: 120
Investment: Bootstrapped, with support from Insead and Egyptian government, seed round of
$3.6 million led by Global Ventures
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Mamo
Year it started: 2019 Founders: Imad Gharazeddine, Asim Janjua
Based: Dubai, UAE
Number of employees: 28
Sector: Financial services
Investment: $9.5m
Funding stage: Pre-Series A Investors: Global Ventures, GFC, 4DX Ventures, AlRajhi Partners, Olive Tree Capital, and prominent Silicon Valley investors.
Stormy seas
Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.
We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.
