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After 23 hours of flying I eventually got into Dubai airport. What I failed to realise was that the flight from Sydney to Dubai was not a direct flight; the flight after it was, but the flight I was on went via Bangkok.
When you add a 55 minute delay in leaving Adelaide at the start of the trip, then add in a 2-hour delay due to Emirates’ plane’s late arrival in Sydney before even heading off to Bangkok, you end up with a mighty-long flight!
But at least Dubai duty free is HUGE!
So, as befits one who has too little sleep and too much time on his hands, I found a way of diminishing the balance on my credit card. Bought a Sony DSC-S90 digital camera. A nice economy model which I won’t cry too hard over if the kids accidentally drop off the balcony. Plus a new cabin locker-sized case (with wheels to ease my laptop-carrying shoulders which currently keep my chiropractor in Porsches).
It took a while to sort out my flight to Doha - had to go in and out of customs as I went and changed money, picked up pre-ordered and paid tickets (I had to pay a US$20 fee for something or other), but all was well in the end. I sat for a couple of hours in the First Class lounge of Qatar Airways, which was nice if uneventful. Not exactly the five star lounge I was expecting, except for the toilet:
It was a fully-automated toilet and I needed no toilet paper. I was pressure-sprayed and blow-dryed automatically, the seat was warm and the lid automatically raised itself when I entered the cubicle.
Oh yes, I have to get one of these for home!
I would walk over hot children to see the grin on my teenage son’s face as he exits the toilet after using one! And it would be a delight to watch our friends’ faces!
As your humble correspondent types this into his UltraEdit text editor, he is at 22,000ft in First Class — which is a far nicer way to travel, especially since someone else is paying for it. I note from the inflight magazine that Qatar Airways , the carrier for the leg from Dubai to Doha, has just recently won a swag of international awards for their inflight services. Nice.
Despite the pain of 23 hours of cramped Cattle Class, the inflight entertainment on Emirates Airlines was cool — a personal tv screen (mind you, for most of the trip I couldn’t see the screen properly as the person in front reclined their seat and even if I reclined mine the screen still didn’t get at the right angle). I re-watched ‘Mr & Mrs Smith’ (Mrs BetterComms and I just love this movie — how just like married life is it?), ‘Sky High’, ‘The Fantastic Four’, a bit of ‘Madagascar’ (”I like to move it, move it”) and an episode of ‘House’ (one from the first series which I had already seen — chizz; I was hoping for something from the 2nd series).
I am extremely tired, smelly, and feeling washed out.
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[Two hours later...]
Well, I’m in the Marriott Hotel now; slumming it in 5-star luxury. I was to have a ‘normal’ room, but the kindly check-in lady took pity on my having flown for the best part of the last 29 hours and gave me a courtesy upgrade to an ‘Executive Room’. To cope with the stress of endless flying, and in a selfless bid to ensure the hotel stays financially boyant, I have booked into the hotel’s spa to have a 90 minute full body massage and reflexology session.
As one does — noblesse oblige.
I expect I will float back to my room, under the blankets and sleep the sleep of the righteous.
Tomorrow morning the very kind client has a car picking me up at 8.30am and whisking me off to their offices — and I’m looking forward to meeting them after so many email discussions and plans.
And further to the discussion raised on the most recent FIR, I am trying out Qumana as a blogging tool. So far I’m impressed to a point (I like the easy upload and formatting options), but it doesn’t offer me a strike-through format option on my text (I find it handy) and for some bizarre reason no one can figure out I cannot connect to my ‘talking to geeks’ blog. Which is a real pain as I want to post more there but keep forgetting to.
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Be sure to check out the Mall of Emirates if you get the chance. It has a ski slope in it and is said to be an amazing piece of retail.
I’m actually popping over to the Mall either Tuesday or Wednesday — I won’t be going sking myself, but I definately will take a photo if I get a chance.
This whole city is amazing — permanent rebuilding, more buildings going up than you can shake a chequebook at. Incredible place!