Advertisement
Published: January 25th 2014
Yorkshire Pudding
with lamb stew. YUM!I'd been looking forward to brunch all week long. In fact, it is the only thing that got me through the week at all. I had a very rough Thursday, with trying to get the one report I really wanted out the door and being unsuccessful. At least I got another done, but it was frustrating. Then I had a mid-afternoon site visit on the complete opposite side of town; this site visit usually takes me about 15 minutes - simply checking the rock/soil conditions beneath the pad excavations to verify they are correct. They always are, but they need a geotechnical engineer to sign off on it. I was planning to head home and finish the report so I could have my assistant compile and send out. Of course, this one time, I was kept waiting before we even headed to the site at the office. When we finally managed to head down, the pads were not ready. So I had to wait while they cleaned the sites. What usually takes 15 minutes, took over an hour and I was exhausted, driving through rush hour traffic by then, so when I got home, I passed out.
My flight left
at nine, so I threw some clothes into my suitcase and headed to the airport at 7. No problem - I take this flight on United all the time and it is never booked and always quick and relaxing. As soon as I walked into the terminal, I knew something was wrong. There were tons of people everywhere, but I was shocked, just shocked, to see the line for United, which never has more than one or two people in front of me, snaking around the inside of the building. There must have been about 70 people waiting in line! And it was not moving. The guy who got behind me freaked out, certain he would miss his flight, until I assured him that this was the only United flight of the day so everyone in line was in the same boat. I waited in line for about 90 minutes. Apparently the system (never clear as to whether it was just united or everyone as other flights had long lines too but they often do...) had crashed so they had to manually issue tickets. Fortunately, when I got to the front, the system had come back on so I got
Dessert
carrot cake, berry pudding thingy, mango mousse cake, and chocolate brownie a regular ticket with my requested seat and was able to move through the gate that much easier. The only positive note was that I was able to talk to many people while we were all waiting. An American woman who was in the process of moving to Qatar where her husband just got a job. A Lebanese guy who was in town on business. A South African who just moved to Qatar from Dubai. An english guy who blamed americans for the long wait (somewhat jokingly). So, while it was frustrating after my week from hell, the time went well. I don't understand people who mock americans for making small talk. Isn't that the point of traveling?
Anyway, our flight left about two hours late, and I got nervous repeatedly in the plane as I many times saw other planes cross right near us - definitely too close for comfort - two in particular. But we landed safely and thank god for e-gate!! I went straight to duty free and got two twist off bottles of wine, hopped in a taxi, and got to Jamie's by 2am. I promptly fell asleep, even though I was starving since the
rushed, full flight had nothing to offer but a kit-kat and orange juice.
And so began the day of the Brunch. My friend, Sam, had recently taken an exam for her project management certification and was celebrating. I got to meet up with Samar and Angel and some fellow Dubai fugroians and finally got my drink on. Plus, brunch at Pergolas is the best I've had yet. For 235 AED it is all you can eat with all you can drink, and the food is delicious with LOTS of options. I drank vodka soda and got to know my coworkers. My favorite is the yorkshire pudding with lamb stew - yummy!!! My first course was a bunch of types of salads, followed by some lebanese / arabic appetizers, then the yorkshire pudding, followed by the dessert course. Usually dessert is not for me, but I always try something here. I'm not a big chocolate fan, but I tried the brownie, which was good. The carrot cake was fantastic.
Then we went next door to a british pub called Double Deckers. This place is interesting. I had introduced the concept of "people watching" to Jose, who finally appreciated it
at DD's - "ok, now I see what you mean!" I love people watching! It was a good time, but one of the guys continued hitting on me, which was fun, but I'm not 25 anymore, so i took a cab (alone!!!) and went home. All in all - good night!!! Of course, I paid for it today...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.076s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 10; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0556s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Dubai
When we meet remind us to tell you about our experience at TGIThursday in Dubai. It is a great story.