The trip was QC Inspector II Yaili Martinez Velazquez’s idea. Or, more accurately, it was her late husband’s idea.
“Before my husband passed away, he always told me to travel,” Yaili said.
After caring for her husband through the course of his illness, Yaili decided she was going to honor his last wishes by planning a trip for herself. She considered a few different destinations, but ultimately decided on Dubai for the sake of seeing a new part of the world.
“I wanted to go somewhere far away and experience a completely different culture.”
Resigned to the idea of traveling to Dubai alone, Yaili purchased tickets for a 10-day Spanish-speaking guided tour, hoping she would meet some friendly people in her tour group.
When she mentioned her upcoming trip to her co-worker, Production Coordinator Jennifer Jerez, Jennifer very quickly decided she was going to go to Dubai with Yaili.
“I was just waiting for a good reason to use my five-year Trip of a Lifetime, so I booked the same tour Yaili had booked. The total for the whole tour package—hotel, flights, everything—was only $34 more than the Trip of a Lifetime benefit,” Jennifer said. “It was like it was meant to be.”
Fast-forward a few days to when Jennifer and Yaili were talking with another co-worker, Senior Production Coordinator Gladys Sutil.
Gladys had also recently celebrated five years with Arthrex and was planning to use her Trip of a Lifetime to go to Thailand with her boyfriend, Clean Room Assembler Bill Devine. Gladys went home that night and told Bill she was changing their plans, and they were now going to Dubai with Yaili and Jennifer—on their Spanish-speaking guided tour, even though Bill doesn’t speak Spanish.
“He didn’t care!” Gladys said. “I just told him that’s what we were going to do.”
Gladys, Jennifer and Yaili then asked Finishing Crew Coordinator Karina Villarreal to join them, and of course, she accepted the invitation.
It’s worth noting, these four women didn’t know each other prior to working at Arthrex. Their friendship is a direct result of being part of the Arthrex family.
There was a total of 45 people in their tour group—44 Spanish-speakers and Bill.
“He just smiled a lot,” Gladys said.
Among the people in their tour group, Yaili, Jennifer, Gladys, Karina and Bill made friends with people from California and Colorado who wanted to join their “family.”
“So, we called them los primos,” Karina said. “The cousins.”
The tour took them to the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, and the Dubai Miracle Garden, which claims to be the world’s largest natural flower garden.
“Everything we saw,” Jennifer said, “the tour guide said was the tallest or the longest or the biggest or the best!”
They also visited the Burj Al Arab, often referred to as a 7-star hotel despite the fact there’s no such thing as “7-stars” when it comes to hotel ratings.
Another day, the group traveled south to the city of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, where they visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.
Jennifer and Karina both agreed the food was the best part of the trip, in particular the seafood dinner they ate on Palm Jumeirah, a manmade island shaped like a palm tree, built specifically to increase the coastline of Dubai for the sake of accommodating more tourists.
“Karina was the expert when it came to food,” Gladys said. “I just ordered whatever she ordered.”
Yaili’s favorite part of the trip was their tour in the desert, where they rode in Land Cruisers, racing through sand dunes.
“It was an amazing tour with amazing views,” Yaili said. “It was something I’d never seen before in my life.”
Their desert outing continued with camel rides and eating ice cream made from camel milk followed by a traditional barbeque and a fire-dancer show enjoyed under the stars.
Gladys agreed that the desert trip was a highlight, but she said she especially enjoyed the evening city boat tour from which they could take in the whole illuminated skyline.
In short, they loved the trip.
“I probably wouldn’t go back, though,” Gladys said. “I have so many other places I want to go.”
Karina will reach five years of service at Arthrex in 2024. She’s planning to take her Trip of a Lifetime to Greece, and Yaili, Jennifer, Gladys and Bill have every intention of going with her. There’s even talk about inviting “the cousins” to join them.
For every five years of employment with Arthrex, employees are eligible for a company-paid Trip of a Lifetime to recognize their dedication. Look for more Trip of a Lifetime highlights on the Arthrex Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn pages.