Why I don't trust addresses from Yemenis

I don't blog nearly as much as I'd like to. This is due to the fact that I'm rarely on an actual computer and I don't know how to blog from a smartphone. I know, I know, #firstworldproblems, right?

Well, here's today's post. This just happened literally minutes ago, so it's all still fresh in my memory.

My husband is visiting an old friend he knew from childhood. This friend, (I'll call him Abda) is a college-educated Yemeni who does a lot of traveling in his line of work.

An hour ago, my husband texted me "I need you to mail something to Abda. It's an important memento from our past + I need you to express-mail it to him."

Abda, you see, is in town but only for today. Tomorrow he leaves for another city and I'm to mail the gift to his hotel there.

I texted my husband back "OK, no problem, just text me the address. Tell him to type it because I don't want any mistakes" (I wasn't kidding)

He handed his friend his cell phone and had Abda type in the address. After I received it, my husband texted me again, "OK that's the correct address. Send it as soon as possible so it'll arrive at his hotel while he's still there. Insure it, track it. Thanks"

Well, being a wife of a Yemeni for many, many years, I knew better than to just trust this information. I entered the address in Google Maps and, what do you know? It didn't exist. The street address existed, but it was in an entirely different town. The Google Maps Street View looked more like a quiet, residential street than a commercial area for hotels.

I told my husband "I don't think this address is correct. Are you sure you want me to mail this there???"

He called me immediately and asked me to wait until he could (again) confirm it. In the meantime, his friend Abda contacted the hotel staff for information.

Five minutes later, I finally got the correct mailing address.

I texted him "You mean between two Yemeni guys, it took you this long to get an address right?"

I cannot make this stuff up.

Peace