Hello zbaby - just hold on a little bit long for your SA, you are not far away. In regards to your TRV , by all means go for it - get your documents in line and make sure you can prove your strong ties. The members who did apply for the visa in person mentioned that they went in person. Now it is unclear if you can go the main embassy in Abu Dhabi as Abu Dhabi Embassy does not like seeing people unless requested. So your best bet would be to go in person to a Visa Application Center (VAC) in Dubai or Abudhabi
#Dubai
Canada Visa Application Centre
Wafi Mall, 3rd Floor, Falcon, Phase 2
Umm Hurair 2 – Dubai – UAE
GPS Coordinates : Latitude 25.229167 and Longitude 55.318611
Please Note: The Visa Application Centre in Dubai will be Operational from 19 March 2015.
#Abu Dhabi
Canada Visa Application Centre
VFS (GCC) LLC,
Office MO2, Mezzanine Floor, Silver Wave Building,(Union National bank) Mina Road, Abu Dhabi
GPS Coordinates: Latitude 24030'21"N, and Longitude 54022'32"E
You can find more information in
http://www.vfsglobal.ca/canada/UAE/contactus.html
LOL I am not any senior member - just an ordinary guy trying to help others out as much as I can , but with the time difference and being busy at work it is a little bit difficult to reply to threads right away.