Does it really take 48 hours to get to Dubai?
Sadly, if you are Hank...it does! :( Read on...
Friday, March 23—Roby takes me to the Chattanooga Airport. I am supposed to fly Delta from Chattanooga to Atlanta to New York-JFK. Delta tells me that my plane is going to be 45 minutes late in Chattanooga so they tell me to take US Airways to Charlotte and then on to JFK. This was a very smooth one hour flight. Once in Charlotte I check to see if my next flight is scheduled on time. I see that it is not going to depart until 1 ½ hours late. I check with US Airways to see if there are any other flights that I can take because with this I am going to miss my flight from JFK to Dubai. I spent basically 2 full hours in Charlotte going from US Airways to Delta back to US Airways trying to get them to help me. I was so frustrated and my feet hurt from walking back and forth. It was about a ¾ mile walk from each one and (no joke) I walked it 7 times. So I have no choice but to take the 9:30 flight to JFK. My flight from JFK leaves at 11pm for Dubai. I have no chance of making this! I land at JFK at 11:15 and take off running to the train so I can get to my terminal. My flight to Dubai has already gone. So the only thing I can do now is to take the flight at 11:20 a.m. in the morning. So what do I decide to do? I decide to sleep at the airport on a concrete slab bench—man, how do the homeless do it (Amanda here…I insisted that he grab a cab and find a hotel but I think that took the rugged feel out of the trip for him – so he stayed at the airport)!! I literally got about an hour’s worth of sleep.
Saturday, March 24th—So now I will get to Dubai to see my wife---after a 13 hour flight. Emirates Air is very nice but they tell me I have an exit row seat when in fact I am sitting one row behind the exit row. Man, could I have used the extra space. It’s hard on a 13 hour flight when you are 6’6 to get comfortable when all scrunched up. There is a tv monitor on the back of every seat. I watched Casino Royale, Night at the Museum, The Departed, played video games, and slept (for about 1 ½ hours). Also, on the flight there is a channel that tells you how far you are from Dubai, how fast you’re going, estimated arrival time, and the countries over which you are flying. I thought it was very interesting when flying over Saudi Arabia (probably a couple of hundred miles from Iraq) that on the screen it says you are flying in neutral territory (good thing to know!). The first 6 ½ hours of the flight was very long but the last 6 ½ went by fast. I am now going to switch to Dubai time from here on out—which is 8 hours ahead of Eastern time.
Sunday, March 25th—I arrive in Dubai at 8 a.m. I make it through passport control where I head to get my luggage. I stand there and wait and wait and wait but no luggage for me. I have to go to the Emirates Air office where they tell me my luggage didn’t make it on this flight but will be on the 9 p.m. flight tonight. From there I take a cab to the Meadows which is about 45 minutes from the airport. What a ride!!! We almost got hit 3 times and we almost hit someone 2 times. I was so scared! On the way out to the Meadows it is so crazy. There are literally thousands of people doing construction work. It reminds me of back home but rather than everyone working in carpet, they work construction. There is literally a crane on every building and they are working on every road. I finally arrive at the Meadows but at the wrong villa so I have to walk a ½ mile. I am so exhausted that I take a 3 hour nap. I’m glad to finally be at my final destination!!!
Last night was very nice. We went to an Italian restaurant, Tuscana, at Madinat Jumeirah (a shopping area made to resemble the old souks. It’s much nicer – better quality and indoors. There are 2 four-star hotels attached to it) with the Newlands. The food was great and the scenery even better. We took an abra ride around the Jumeirah resort and got to see the Burj at night. We shopped around for a little bit and called it an early night. Gotta get plenty of rest - - tomorrow is golf!
Friday, March 23—Roby takes me to the Chattanooga Airport. I am supposed to fly Delta from Chattanooga to Atlanta to New York-JFK. Delta tells me that my plane is going to be 45 minutes late in Chattanooga so they tell me to take US Airways to Charlotte and then on to JFK. This was a very smooth one hour flight. Once in Charlotte I check to see if my next flight is scheduled on time. I see that it is not going to depart until 1 ½ hours late. I check with US Airways to see if there are any other flights that I can take because with this I am going to miss my flight from JFK to Dubai. I spent basically 2 full hours in Charlotte going from US Airways to Delta back to US Airways trying to get them to help me. I was so frustrated and my feet hurt from walking back and forth. It was about a ¾ mile walk from each one and (no joke) I walked it 7 times. So I have no choice but to take the 9:30 flight to JFK. My flight from JFK leaves at 11pm for Dubai. I have no chance of making this! I land at JFK at 11:15 and take off running to the train so I can get to my terminal. My flight to Dubai has already gone. So the only thing I can do now is to take the flight at 11:20 a.m. in the morning. So what do I decide to do? I decide to sleep at the airport on a concrete slab bench—man, how do the homeless do it (Amanda here…I insisted that he grab a cab and find a hotel but I think that took the rugged feel out of the trip for him – so he stayed at the airport)!! I literally got about an hour’s worth of sleep.
Saturday, March 24th—So now I will get to Dubai to see my wife---after a 13 hour flight. Emirates Air is very nice but they tell me I have an exit row seat when in fact I am sitting one row behind the exit row. Man, could I have used the extra space. It’s hard on a 13 hour flight when you are 6’6 to get comfortable when all scrunched up. There is a tv monitor on the back of every seat. I watched Casino Royale, Night at the Museum, The Departed, played video games, and slept (for about 1 ½ hours). Also, on the flight there is a channel that tells you how far you are from Dubai, how fast you’re going, estimated arrival time, and the countries over which you are flying. I thought it was very interesting when flying over Saudi Arabia (probably a couple of hundred miles from Iraq) that on the screen it says you are flying in neutral territory (good thing to know!). The first 6 ½ hours of the flight was very long but the last 6 ½ went by fast. I am now going to switch to Dubai time from here on out—which is 8 hours ahead of Eastern time.
Sunday, March 25th—I arrive in Dubai at 8 a.m. I make it through passport control where I head to get my luggage. I stand there and wait and wait and wait but no luggage for me. I have to go to the Emirates Air office where they tell me my luggage didn’t make it on this flight but will be on the 9 p.m. flight tonight. From there I take a cab to the Meadows which is about 45 minutes from the airport. What a ride!!! We almost got hit 3 times and we almost hit someone 2 times. I was so scared! On the way out to the Meadows it is so crazy. There are literally thousands of people doing construction work. It reminds me of back home but rather than everyone working in carpet, they work construction. There is literally a crane on every building and they are working on every road. I finally arrive at the Meadows but at the wrong villa so I have to walk a ½ mile. I am so exhausted that I take a 3 hour nap. I’m glad to finally be at my final destination!!!
Last night was very nice. We went to an Italian restaurant, Tuscana, at Madinat Jumeirah (a shopping area made to resemble the old souks. It’s much nicer – better quality and indoors. There are 2 four-star hotels attached to it) with the Newlands. The food was great and the scenery even better. We took an abra ride around the Jumeirah resort and got to see the Burj at night. We shopped around for a little bit and called it an early night. Gotta get plenty of rest - - tomorrow is golf!
Remember the broken camera? Well, here is proof. A slightly blurry Hank and Amanda in front of the Burj. This was taken at our table at dinner - nice view and SUPER yummy meal!
Burj at night. It changes colors every 30 minutes.
posted by Hank & Amanda @ 5:25 AM
1 Comments:
It's good to hear that Hank arrived...even if it was a little late and with a slight limp from the sardine seating. The camera takes great pics with the new lens! I'm not saying that because I'm bias to Nikon's...really. Amanda, you really look tan! I hope you both have a wonderful time together!!
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