Team Building in Longbeach Campground (Bin Majid)

At the end of January, our team headed to Ras Al Khaimah for our first ever overnight and legitimate team-building exercise. I say legitimate because usually our team building gigs were comprised of house parties, dinners or bowling tournaments but now we actually have a facilitator, a schedule and everything! Talk about serious LEVELING UP ^^ 

Since for most of us it will be the first time going to Ras Al Khaimah which was 2 hours away from Abu Dhabi, we had to carefully plan the logistics to and fro. And as it's not officially company funded - we had to take account everybody's current budget and meticulously canvas the various rent a car shops throughout Abu Dhabi just to get the best deals. So meticulous that I have to dedicate another post for this HEHEHE

Anyway, what sold us on the location was that it will not just be a team building activity, but a glamping one as well :) Glamping sooo fancyyy CHECKKKK!

Check-in time is the same as other hotels, 2PM, so our call time in AUH was at 9AM. We'll have enough time for breakfast, lunch and any other stops in between.

Entrance

The list of activities are endless!

Love the view from here

Messy view from inside

Our tents were conveniently stationed right in front of the dining area, near the washrooms and just in front of the BEACH. Wooo!

Adult swimming pool area/bar

The A Team

We stayed in the authentic deluxe tent which was good for 3 people. There's 1 king-sized and 1 single mattress and free toiletries included. Upon check-in we verified with reception the number of people who will be staying per tent so we can get towel cards per person. Half-board is included automatically as well, so you won't have to worry about breakfast and dinner :)

Movie night at Wakanda

However, since we were mature and ultimate professionals, we settled in to completing our Day 1 exercises while sneaking in glances towards the inviting beach and to everyone who were having fun around us HEHEHE :)

Kidding aside, we had a fantastic facilitator, Dr. Judith Bacarro, who is truly the most positive and encouraging person I have ever met. She's actually our manager's mother in law, and we were so lucky that she was currently on vacation so we were able to invite her.  Please click on the link above to know more about, as it's truly a blessing and an honor to be able to meet and learn from her.

Sharing

Team exercises

Interpretative dancing

Sunrise yoga was cancelled so we had our own yoga session courtesy of Tita Mel

Sunrise slash kiddie yoga

Proud to say we won!

I didn't really do anything, just stood around to shout YOURS everytime ^^

Hi Tita Judith!

The A Team with the manager and organizer

Group photo 2

Bonfire until midnight!

FUN FUN FUN!

Over-all it was such a positive and educational experience. As our numbers started to grow, (we began only with 3 people) the exercise helped us not just to appreciate each other's strengths and flaws but on how to use these qualities to bond our group closer for a better, more effective and self-reliant team.

Moreover, being in such a distant place also gave nobody a choice to go home or to get distracted with clingy significant others ^^ We were able to focus further on the tasks at hand, on each other, and the wonderful place we were in.

Sunset at Ras Al Khaimah

I'll leave you with this video, which sums up just how fun the experience was for us:

Ta!