Christmas in Dubai, part deux

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Happy New Year from Qatar. I haven't written in a while because there is seriously nothing to write about.

Let's start with Christmas. Christmas Day, my coworker, Annene, invited me to spend the day with her family - her sister, husband and kids and actually their families. There were many nationalities there - Aussies, South African, English, and me - so it was an interesting mix. I had only ever heard Afrikaan's spoken by our tour guide on our "Safari" at Disney World's Animal Kingdom (Look, there's some wildebeasts. In Afrikaans, we say "vilderbersts"), but I heard it throughout the day and it was pretty cool. Everyone was very friendly and the food was good. We had turkey and ham (YUM!!!) with peas (an english thing), carrots, roasted potatoes and yorkshire pudding (my favorite!) - we had a discussion about whether the traditional turkey is an American thing or not (yes). It was also nice because one of her sisters and her family lives in Qatar - they gave me a few tips. They'd lived in Dubai for years and are not too impressed by Doha after having been spoiled in the UAE. It is fortunate that I was only exposed to Dubai for a few wonderful months; if I'd lived there longer I would be unimpressed as well. Fortunately for me, the geology in Qatar is beautiful and it makes my work fun.

Unfortunately, I was feeling quite ill. I'd had a sore throat and was worried I was getting sick, but I was feeling very nauseous. My flight was supposed to leave at 6, so I left their lovely home and went back to my apartment, intending to catch a cab at 3:30 to go to the airport. I was just knocked on my and knew I would never make it - maybe TO the airport, but waiting and flying...? Nope. So, I rebooked for 2 am and allowed myself to get some drugs and pass out. I felt somewhat better at around 9pm, so finished packing. I had a great cab driver who bowed to my every whim on the way to the airport (needed to stop to refill the Salik, or toll, card for Jamie, left Jamie's car key on my key chain so needed to go back...) and got to the airport with plenty of time.

Oh yeah! I flew on Emirates for the first time and let me just say - that is an awesome airline! First of all, you are delivered to their own seperate terminal (3), which is beautiful and bright and big (typical Dubai). The check-in process was relatively easy, though it was midnight on Christmas and not as many people as usual. The woman who checked me in said I had a 25 minute walk to my gate. Yikes! I just checked my stuffed carryon so I wouldn't have to deal with it. The walk was pretty nice though. The place was just huge and glassy. I'm sure it must look ok in the daytime, but at night it was beautiful. The pictures really do not do it justice.

I had about two hours to kill so I just sauntered along and enjoyed it. I was also starving (since I didn't eat much and threw up what I did eat earlier) so stopped at a coffee shop near my gate and munched on a croissant. I read my kindle until it was getting time to board when I realized that my becoming more and more obvious dyslexia was kicking in - I thought it was going to be gate 41 but it was gate 14. I'd passed it!!! And this place was huge! Where I was, the big planes were boarding at the gate, but it sounded like I'd be boarding a smaller plane where we were bussed out because they were announcing "Last Call" as I took off towards the gate. The ticket agent - grrrr - told me they would start boarding at 1:30 and my flight was at 2:25. At 1:30 was when they were saying "Last Call". I thought there was no way I could make it. None. Fortunately me and another guy made it just as they were closing the door (in an offshoot area that reminded me of the many dinky, dirty US terminals for regional carriers) and I was one of 6 people on the last bus to the plane. It is so strange - it was not a small plane, but a fairly large one. I don't know why bussing to the planes is so common here, but it is pretty annoying. My first strike against Emirates.

I don't remember much else about my flight, except I read my kindle (I was finishing A Canticle for Leibowitz - excellent book!). I arrived in Doha, made it through customs pretty quickly and walked to may car. At first I freaked because the gate was closed and abandoned - how would I leave??? But a security guard who was in his car pointed me to another gate, which was actually more convenient. I got "home" and passed out.

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Photos

Giant elevators
Moving too fast for my camera!

Escalators to security
I was the only one who took the three flights of escalators

Comments

[Steve]

I know you say those pictures don't do the terminal justice, but to my eye, that is one gorgeous terminal! Those elevators are amazing!