Click here to watch video recap.
I overslept! I had set my alarm to 3:00 a.m. I guess I hit the snooze/ignore button. I have an hour to get ready and meet the group in the lobby. The bus departs the hotel at 5:00 a.m. I made it to the lobby in time! And I was NOT the last person. Definitely happy about that. It is bittersweet leaving Dubai. Just as I am getting acclimated it is time to depart. Remy, our guide for the entire time we were in Dubai walked the group to check-in and made sure there were no issues. As we proceeded through customs Remy waved goodbye to us all. Let me tell you, he was a wonderful tour guide. Remy is from Egypt and has resided in Dubai for 20+ years I think. His knowledge of the country and its history is impeccable. He may know more about the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) than a native. I’m at the back back of the plane this time around. Just a few rows from the true back. My seat was adjacent to one of the flight attendant stations. I highly suggest NOT sitting next to that area because it can become very noisy with a lot of moment in that area. People were constantly coming to the station requesting drinks, etc. Plus the flight attendants could be very chatty with one another. Across from my seat was a family with a baby in tow. The flight had a bassinet that could be attached to the wall/panel in front of the seat. The baby slept and resided in the bassinet for the duration of the trip. There was also a crying baby in the same area we sat. Ugh! From time-to-time I could hear the fuzzy baby. A thirteen hour flight was long for me so I know it was long for the babies and toddlers on the flight. We landed at JFK and went through customs. The custom’s line was long but it moved pretty fast. I ended up in a short line and thought I would breeze right through but the family ahead of me held up the line. The longer lines were getting individuals through faster as I stood in my assigned line stuck. Finally, the other lanes were empty so I proceeded to step into the lane next to me. As I was getting out of my lane to approach customs a couple moved swiftly in front of me. I was ticked but I didn’t raise a fuss. The customs officer saw that they had jumped in front of me and asked them to go back and advised I was next in line. How sweet! She told me it really ticked her off and that was not happening in her line. She looked at my passport and did not ask any questions and I proceeded to baggage claim. So now the tricky part. We flew in on Emirates and now needed to check-in with Delta for the flight to Atlanta. Just outside of baggage claim was a Delta check-in counter. Thank goodness and how convenient! This means we did not have to figure out how to find Delta in this big airport in order to check-in. JFK airport Terminal 4 has no good food options that I want to eat. I’m not vegan but I’m also not a big meat eater. My plane does not depart until 9:30 p.m. and I can feel my body get weak. Not sure if it’s because I’m tired or my body is getting re-acclimated to EST after being on GMT for eight days. I don’t want a salad. I don’t want pizza. I don’t want hamburgers. Nothing even peaks my interest. I go to this taco/burrito restaurant and ate one taco and threw the rest of it in the trash. It was setup similar to Chipotle but nasty. What a waste of money. I buy some chips and a drink and this will be my source of food for the rest of the day. We arrive at Hartsfield Jackson International late in the 11:00 hour. The busyness of the airport has slowed down as the the final planes arrive and leave. We pick up our luggage and attempt to figure out where to meet the shuttle. That was an agonizing process. Once at the car and ready to exit, the ticket reader could not read the ticket and we had to call for help. It’s close to 1:00 a.m. in the morning and we sit patiently waiting for someone to come and assist us. Finally a man drives up and directs us over to another book where he manually enters the tickets, we pay and proceed home!
0 Comments
Click here to watch video recap.
Today is mostly a free day except we have a farewell dinner cruise. I probably could have stayed in the hotel all day until the dinner cruise, however, after getting our COVID-19 test, we (Sharifa, Wayne and myself) decided to go to the beach. I was not too pressed about going to the beach. The heat outside was a deterrent for me. Being all sweaty and sticky was a deterrent for me. The burning hot sand was a deterrent for me. Here I am . . . at the beach! Without a beach towel to lay on the sound or dry off with. With my bathing suit, I wore a cover-up and a skirt. My skirt became my beach towel. I took the skirt off and laid it nicely on the sand. From there I placed my book bag and camera bag on top of the skirt. I was hopeful that I could somehow rinse the sand off me when it was time to go. The waves were not gentle. They came in pounding the shoreline. The water . . . inviting, warm and clear. As I walked into the water, the shells sprinkled in the sand felt as if I was walking on rocks. I do have feet smooth as a baby’s behind. 😜 After taking about 10 - 15 steps, I was out of the rocky part of the shoreline and now free to enjoy the water. I was very cautious. I didn’t need my hair to get wet . . . remember I have a dinner cruise tonight. We stayed at the beach for about an hour before going back to the hotel. It’s cruise time! I will tell you that I was excited about the dinner cruise. The only thing I was not too happy about was that it was so late and we were departing early the next morning. It’s noticeably warm on the boat. We push off and are cruising the mariner and it’s still has not cooled off. Dressed in all white. Heels on for the first time in I don’t know how long. Praying that my ankles will not let me down. (I sprained my ankle a few months ago and high heels were not my friend). Sweating. My dress begins to stick to me. I take out my electronic fan to cool me down. It works for like 2 minutes and then shuts off. Dang it! I have not recharged the battery. Don’t worry, I have a battery pack in my backpack. I connect the fan and BAM the fan is turning again. Finally a man approaches the table and apologizes for the heat. The generator is out and there is a mechanic down below trying to fix it. Since the generator is out there is no AC at all. We are on the main level of the boat and there are no windows. The level is enclosed by glass with openings on each end. One opening will take you upstairs to the open deck and the other opening will take you to the bathroom area. Goodness gracious alive this is not the dinner cruise farewell I imagined. A few of us make light of the situation and go to the upper deck. It is crowded up there and filled to capacity. At least we are getting a little air. We take a few photos and my friend Paula has Snapchat. The different filters have me looking like a movie star! The farewell dinner cruise has come to an end. The clock is ticking . . . my time in Dubai is also coming to an end. Today is a FREE day. There are no planned activities. We have today to discover Dubai on our own or just lounge around the hotel. Whatever we decide . . . It’s our prerogative.
I’m tired as I am typing this entry. I’m outside sitting at the pool. My Fitbit is telling me I only had 5 hours and 38 minutes of sleep. Maybe that is the reason why I am feeling tired. But I’m on vacation so why did I get up before 8:00 a.m.? My body simply told me it was time to get up! Plus I wanted to get breakfast before it ended. I have a draft presentation today for my Delta PEARL Capstone Project. I needed to do a little tweaking on content and opted not to sit in my cold room and make the updates. I wanted to be outside . . . I guess in the heat of Dubai! My weather app says it is 103 degrees . . . it’s only 11:51 a.m. Can you say OMG! There are people at the pool who are smokers. I don’t smoke so the cigarette smoke is bothering me. I wish they had a smokers section and a non-smokers section. Not that it would make a difference once the wind or smoke begins to float in the air. Ugh! I really cannot remember what else I did today. Just lounged around. Click here to watch video recap.
I had a Delta PEARL Zoom call at 7:30 EST which was 3:30 a.m. my time. I really do not mind, it’s just that I have to be in the lobby at 7:45 a.m. We are traveling to Abu Dhabi to visit Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. I’m definitely going to be tired!!!!!! The drive from Dubai to Abu Dhabi was about an hour and 15 minutes. It gave me a chance to nod on the bus and catch a few more zzzzzz. We visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Heritage Village, and Qasr Al Hosn. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. I believe our tour guide stated it was the 14th largest mosque in the world and the largest mosque in the U.A.E. One thing I have learned on this trip is that the U.A.E. is all about setting records! Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is a colossal place of worship; big enough to accommodate over 40,000 visitors. To enter the mosque females have to have their arms covered all the way to their wrist. No skin should be showing on the lower body and the hair must be covered. Before I left the states, I actually bought two coverings to wear to the mosque; one being the traditional all-black abaya and niqāb (a face veil covering all but the eyes). During the visit to the Spice and Gold Markets, I saw a beautiful covering for a female and bought it. It is black and adorned with pearls. It has a hood, which means all I need to do is place a covering over my hair. I can definitely wear this again! Once we stepped off the bus the heat met us with a fierceness. No warning. Just HOT! Thank goodness the entrance into the mosque is through an air-conditioned mall. The entire group looked spectacular in our attire. As we passed through the first checkpoint a few ladies were pulled to the side because skin was showing on their legs or their arms. I don’t understand because it was explained to us days prior that we had to be fully covered. Oh well. They are very strict on females being covered appropriately. I wish I would have taken a picture of the rules. If a man and woman want to take a picture together, they cannot touch. No PDA. The should stand next to each with a little space between them. While taking pictures one should not through up hand signs/gestures, for example the peace sign. That is not allowed. - No smoking - No food / No drinks - No overt display of affection - Kindly no display and raising and embalms or symbols of any significance The walking self-guided tour of the mosque has ended. I’m outside in the heat (wearing a black wardrobe) trying to get some good photos of myself. Soooooooo as I was walking to a taxi to take me back to the other side of the mosque, I tripped and fell. God don’t like ugly! I say this because some people have no concept of space (in my opinion). I’m trying to take a picture and this couple gets all up in my picture. Generally when taking a photo the rule of thumb is that you wait until the person taking their photo has finished. You just don’t walk into their shot! This is the second time the couple has jumped “the imaginary line” and inserted themselves into my background while I was trying to take a picture. I’m looking at them like WTH? Can you not wait your turn to take a picture or a selfie? It’s hot and I got tired of waiting so I inched closer and closer into their picture hoping they would get the hint to MOVE! My picture zone is finally clear . . . snap, snap . . . the pictures are taken. I ask the security personnel standing outside guiding the visitors if I can take a certain taxi that is idling close by. He acknowledges that I can get into the taxi and as I turn to walk to the taxi I trip on something on the ground. (Side note, point of clarification: This was not a taxi in the sense of a car. It was an oversized golf cart but they called it a taxi at the mosque.) There are these three plastic covers that slightly protrude from the ground. I guess it is a drainage cover or something. Well I didn’t see it. Plus I’m wearing flip flops with this long covering, which may be the reason why I didn’t see it. My flip flop nudges the top of one of the coverings and it was all over from there. I lost my balance and fell. My beautiful red camera went flying out of my hand and smashing to the ground while my phone flew out of my other hand and there I was on the ground. How embarrassing, right? The security personnel immediately got on his walkie talkie and radio that there had been an accident. He asked if I was okay, which I was just a little sore but nothing major (I think). He asked for my age and nationality. (Why he needed that info I don’t understand because he didn’t get my name). If I was injured I wonder what would have happened next? I was out a holy and sacred place. A place of worship. Surely as a visitor, aid would have been rendered? There was no need to make a fuss. I was assisted up to my feet and I hobbled to the taxi and scooched onto a seat for the quick ride back to the air-conditioned part of of the mosque. Next stop: Heritage Village. Located in the Shindagha near the creek’s mouth, the Dubai Heritage Village (Hatta Village) provides a glimpse into Dubai’s traditional culture and lifestyle, including Emirate’s maritime history, pearl diving traditions and architecture. Most of the group went behind Heritage Village to the creek. It was similar to a small sandy beach and a great photo op. The only thing . . . I was not prepared for sand today. I did not have the correct foot wear. I was wearing tennis shoes. I decided to test the sand to see if it was soft like the sand in the desert. I stepped gingerly onto the sand and did not sink. This sand was not as soft as the desert sand. I proceeded towards the water. I removed my shoes and socks and walked into the beautiful blue water. The water was warm and welcoming. Here’s another side note: I had on long flowing pants and held my pants up so that they would not get wet but it was worth spending that time in the water. After taking a few photos, I got out of the water and proceeded to walk back up to Heritage Village. The sand as I got closer and closer to the village was HOT. It was like I was walking on flaming hot charcoal. Shit, I could not stop in my track . . . I had to continue moving. Why didn’t anybody warn me that the sand was EXTREMELY hot the closer you moved back to the village????? The soles of my feet were on fire. Remember, I didn’t have my shoes and socks on. I was trying to get back to the platform and out of the sand. What I call the platform was really stone and it was HOT! As I hopped through the burning sand, the other ladies warned me that the stone “platform” was hot. Either I stop and try to quickly slip on my shoes in the burning sand or keep going and burn my feet on the stone platform. I kept going! Lawd, my feet! Once on the shady part of the stone platform, I sat down and grabbed some baby wipes out of my backpack to clean my feet before putting on my shoes and socks. The return time to the bus was 1:00 p.m. It was 12:45 p.m. and I wanted to see the replica of the village. Everybody else was back on the bus but I needed to see as much as I could. There was a donkey, camel, and other animals in pens. I went over to talk to the animals and remained cognizant of the time. I made it quick and returned to the bus. Yep, they were waiting on me. I was standing between them and lunch . . . the next stop was the mall across the street to have lunch on our own. (My phone overheated while visiting Heritage Village. I guess it was so HOT outside. While trying to take some video the screen went black. It looks like the recording was still happening . . . the screen on the phone just turned off. I stopped using my phone for the interim and pulled out my camera.) After lunch we went to Qasr Al Hosn, which is a historical landmark and the oldest stone building in the city of Abu Dhabi. This was an interesting tour. We learned a lot about Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan the founding father of Dubai. Dubai has come so far in 25, 50 years. From a fisherman community in the middle of desert to where it is today! At this historical landmark you can visit the fortress which is the oldest structure in Abu Dhabi. The fortress is were the men kept watch to protect the city. The Emirates absolutely adore the founding father and the great strides of the ruling family. This ended our day in Abu Dhabi. Back to Dubai and our hotel. Click here to watch video recap.
Two people tested positive today for COVID-19 . . . Let’s start from the beginning of my day and work our way up to the announcement. I slept late this morning and it felt so good to lie in bed and REST. The first half of the day was free time with no scheduled activities. I needed to be in the hotel lobby at 3:45 p.m. for the afternoon desert safari and BBQ dinner. My Fitbit shows I had seven hours and 5 minutes of sleep. That’s really good for me! (3:25 am - 11:13 am) Due to sleeping in, I missed breakfast this morning. Experience from the last few days has shown me that we eat very late during our different excursions. I walked down a block to the cafe and bought some curly fries, a Greek salad and a mocktail pomegranate mojito. I have no idea why they call it a mojito knowing there is no alcohol within it. Fifteen of us are in the lobby and waiting! We meet our desert safari representative and proceed to the parking gauge to get into Jeeps. We are told that each Jeep will hold 5 - 6 people. Sharifa and I are already standing with three other ladies so it was unanimous . . . we were a group. For the rest of the day, we would ride together in the same Jeep. Our driver’s name is Nedeer (spelling of the name may be incorrect). As we drive to the desert he points out different things and gives us a little history. FAST FORWARD: We have made it to the desert! Riding in the Jeep on the sand dunes was fun! My Jeep passengers were screaming like babies at times. Prior to beginning our ride on the sand dunes we stopped at this local spot where our driver deflated his tires a little. My understanding is that this is needed for riding/driving in the sand. Sure at times it felt like the Jeep would tumble but I had faith in my driver. He has been driving these sand dunes for 20+ years. (I have video from the backseat . . . it doesn’t do a good job to show the experience of riding in the desert). After gliding all over the desert we stopped for a photo opportunity. The reddish brown sand is HOT. I intentionally wore flip flops today knowing I would be in sand all day. Before departing the Jeep, I remove my shoes and place my bare feet in the heated desert sand. I can’t explain the feeling of walking and sitting on the sand in the desert. I have visited Africa before and walked on the sand and it was a similar but different feeling. I’m not going to lie . . . it is hot out here. There are other vehicles and ATVs in the sand dunes. I pay attention to them since depending on how they come over a dune they may not see me. After everyone finishes taking pictures we made our way to a camp were we would have dinner in the desert and have the opportunity to ride a camel. Our safari dinner was a VIP experience which meant that we would be served our food and drinks. Also included in the VIP experience was a henna tattoo and a picture with a falcon. The henna tattoo line was long at times because other groups were also dining for the dinner experience. I finally made my way over to the tent and when I arrived the lady only had brown henna. I already knew that was not going to work. I am brown skin so putting chocolate on top of chocolate . . . you will not see the “beautiful” art of the henna. And just like I expected you can’t really see the artwork of the brown henna on my skin. So disappointed. Plus when I finally decided to get the tattoo she told me that the free tattoo was only for the finger if I wanted the tattoo to go up the arm it would be extra. Why? Others in my group had the henna tattoo up the arm. I later found out that the full henna tattoo was available to me as part of the VIP experience and the little small art she drew for me was for the other groups. How would she know who was VIP and who was regular? That is probably my one complaint for the night. While dining in the desert, I bought a necklace with my name in Arabic. I was kinda hesitant as I do not read Arabic. How do I know if the necklace spells my name? Once I got back to the hotel, I Google the spelling of my name in Arabic and it is spelled the way that it is on my necklace. Hold up! How about if the guy did the same thing? How about if he looked up how to spell Kanika in Arabic. Man have I been hoodwinked? We get back to the hotel and the entire group meets on the mezzanine level. We are told that two members of the group tested positive this morning for COVID-19. Here is the back story: Tomorrow we are going to Abu Dhabi and visiting the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and they have a requirement that a person shows proof of COVID-19 vaccination PLUS have a PCR test within the last 20 days that shows a result of negative. We were told to get a PCR test on Thursday before we departed the states. So I thought it was a requirement to get the PCR test before arriving to Dubai. Obviously some people did not get the PCR test and opted to get the test 24 hours before going to the mosque. Thus those in the group that were tested this morning . . . two of them were notified that they tested positive. Click here to watch video recap.
Can you believe that I set my alarm and woke up at 3:30 a.m. GMT / 7:30 EST to attend a Zoom conference call with my Delta PEARL sisters? My group has a project that is due soon and I wanted to make sure that I was present for the meeting and able to contribute in any way that I could from almost 8,000 miles away. Today was a good day! I enjoyed every activity that was planned. Nice pictures were taken even though I have very few pictures of myself. The one disappointment that I have is that throughout the trip I do not have many good pictures of ME! I need to travel with my own camera crew to take good photos of me. I would hand someone my camera and the photo would be crooked or the background was not centered. I took a photo of them and showed them I wanted to be positioned as I had positioned them. They have all of these beautiful photos and I have mediocre photos of myself. First stop: Palm Jumeriah. The Palm Islands are three man made artificial islands, Palm Jumeirah, Deira Island and Palm Jebel Ali, on the coast of Dubai. We briefly visited The Pointe in Palm Jumeriah. The Pointe is one of Dubai’s iconic waterfront destinations. It is located at the tip of the world-famous Palm Jumeirah, across the bay from Atlantis The Palm. We were told the same person who owns the Atlantis Bahamas also owns the Atlantis The Palm. The building structure looks exactly the same. The Palm Islands are in the shape of the palm tree. It’s hard to see the palm tree shape from the ground. It is best to see it as an aerial view. As we entered Palm Jumeriah, I listened to the story on how the vision of the island was brought to life. Imagine that the area we were in was once undersea!!!! Next stop the Dubai Frame. The location of the Dubai Frame is Zabeel Park and was carefully chosen to give visitors the best view of both old and new Dubai. The Dubai Frame has three areas: Old Dubai Gallery, Present Dubai and Future Dubai Gallery. The elevator to the Sky deck carries visitors 48 floors in 75 seconds. The elevator that takes you to the Sky deck is glass, therefore, you are viewing beautiful Dubai as the elevator goes up to the 48th floor. (Heights is not my friend) I dislike elevators that allow you to see outside them especially if you are going to some high floors. At the top of the Frame in the observation (Sky) deck are panels on the floor that allow you to look down to the ground outside. Can you say I was so scared to walk on those clear panels. How about if they cracked and I plummeted to my death? The fear of heights kicked it. In the back of my mind I know that I’m safe (or am I) but it’s a paralyzing fear that gets me stuck. The view from the Dubai Frame is amazing. I literally had a 360 degree view of Dubai as far as the eye could see. Eventually I became comfortable enough to walk on the clear panels that allow you to see 48 floors down. I was still concerned that the panels would crack and I would drop. On the way back down, I was able to be calm and look out the glass elevator as the elevator took us to the ground floor. Once you exit the frame area you move to an area that shows the history of Dubai: Dubai as a desert community, present day and future. There is a video that I captured that I will share in the post. Next stop: Spice Market and Gold Market. The markets are located on Dubai Creek’s south bank in the Deira. I don’t think those who reside in Dubai call these the Spice Market and Gold Market. Sharifa and I took a taxi back to the markets and the driver had no idea what we meant by Spice Market or Gold Market. I wasn’t really interested in either market. I’m not a cooker so there is no need for me to look at any spices even though some of my Indian colleagues told me about saffron before I left. I don’t wear much jewelry, therefore, I was not looking for anything in the Gold Market. I think we had about an hour or so in the markets. It was so HOT. I had my hand held electric fan trying to stay cool. A sista was indeed hot and sweating. I could have sat on the bus in the cool AC. As Sharifa and Wayne shopped, I sat on the benches throughout the market. This is were the hassling happens. Multiple people would come up to you asking what you were looking for and tried to usher you into various stores. I think that once you were inside a store and purchased they would ask the shop owner for a commission from the sale. I think most people got the hint I was not interested and let me be. We eventually ended up in this small shop. I do not recall how we got there but in the end we did business with the shop owner and his cousin and would be back in the following days to pick up some items from them. We were to meet back at 2:00 p.m. I looked at my watch and noticed the time. We needed to leave and meet the group at the designated time/area. We were a little late. As we walked back to the meet-up area, I noticed a few of the group members crossing the street. It looked like they were catching an abra. An abra is a traditional boat made of wood. Abras are used to ferry people across the Dubai Creek. Before going into the markets we were told by our guide NOT to cross the street until we had the signal to walk. It felt like it took FOREVER for the signal to turn. I hurriedly walked in the direction where I saw the group and our tour guide was there waiting for us. We were the last three he was waiting on. We got on the abra as it took us to the other side of the creek to catch the bus. Next stop: Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa. The Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in Dubai and the world. The tower has stood as both the tallest building in the world and the tallest man-made structure of any kind in the world since its completion in January 2010. OMG I had to ride the elevator to the 124th floor. Plus someone stated you would not be able to tell that the elevator is moving. I knew the elevator was moving. Just like the Dubai Frame, the views from the Burj Khalifa are amazing if you can find a spot that is not filled by a tourist. One constant in the back of my mind is how far off the ground I am. After taking in the views from the Burj Khalifa it was now time to find something to eat inside the Dubai Mall. If you think the Mall of the Emirates is big with 600+ stores, the Dubai Mall is even bigger with over 1,200+ stores. I think Sharifa was looking for the Cheesecake Factory, however, we ended up eating at PF Chang. We were told about the Dubai Fountain and the water show. I really wanted to see the show even though it was around 2-minutes long. I ate and left PF Chang and asked Sharifa to take care of the bill and I would pay her back. I didn’t want to miss the show. It was a very brief show. I’m glad I had the opportunity to view it. Okay, the meeting point was Tiffany and Co. on the Ground Level I believe. I had to figure out how to get back to Tiffany and Co. The mall is so big and I was so turned around. I walked in the direction I thought we came from . . . WRONG! We passed by the aquarium. I saw blue and walked in that direction. WRONG! Shit! I was on the right level of the mall but could not get centered as to where I was. I started walking and eventually saw a directional sign that had Tiffany and Co listed. Okay, I’m walking in the right direction. I continue to walk and eventually saw Sharifa. A sense of relief because I was going to have to call or text somebody that I was lost in this huge mall. Wayne needed to use the restroom and she was waiting for him. Sharifa mentioned that she wanted Garret’s Popcorn. She saw the store when we entered the mall. I told her I would wait for Wayne and she could go find the popcorn store. Once Wayne returned from the men’s facilities we proceeded to the meeting point. I was following the signs and eventually saw our tour guide waving the white flag. Thank goodness for that white flag!!!! He asked how did I get on that side of the mall? He said he never has been on that side of the mall! Now we were waiting on Sharifa. Wayne went to get Sharifa and I proceeded to the bus. We get back to the hotel and some of us still have energy. We are still on our respective time zones. Sharifa was bored and I had just finished making some small tweaks to my Delta PEARL project. We decided to go for a walk and ran into the travel agent (Latrise) and her husband getting some food. We joined them outside of the cafe and enjoyed the warm Dubai air. It felt so good outside. I really wish the hotel had some seating outside or a rooftop patio that we could go sit out on and just enjoy this warm Dubai weather. (There is an outdoor pool at the hotel with seating and a bar area. I was longing just for outside seating where I could lounge outside and take a nap in the warm air of Dubai). I ordered some curly fries and a kiwi mojito mocktail. In Dubai you cannot get liquor outside of hotels and some restaurants. The menus would have cocktail drink names but they were all virgin. It didn’t matter to me. I drunk that mojito so fast. I guess I was thirsty. After everyone finished eating we went back to the hotel and decided to go to Club Bubbles for some alcoholic drinks. Club Bubbles is located inside the hotel. I’m not much of alcohol drinker . . . I ordered a mojito and it did not meet my standards at all! It could be the type of liquor that they are using. Who knows? We are in Club Bubbles until the lights come in. The bartender turns on the lights at around 2:34 a.m. (GMT). Why am I still up? I should be in my bed sleep. Yes, sleep. I decide to proceed to my room while a group of them decide to visit the cafe that we ate at earlier. They are going back for the chicken. I hear it is good. I’m not a chicken eater so this is really not appealing to me at all. Click here to watch video recap.
The plane landed around 7:45 (GMT) a.m. I tried to stay up for the entire flight, however, when the clocked turned midnight EST my body was ready to go to sleep. I raised my window shade and it was daylight outside. Could I make it another three hours until the plane landed? I had watched three movies back-to-back and now I was tired of watching movies. I started to explore the many games available on the entertainment console. I played solitaire and then sudoku. The sudoku game wasn’t right. It was flawed. I was highly disappointed because I wanted to finish the game but the programming did not allow for the correct number to be placed in the square. If you know how to play sudoku then you know that you cannot repeat a number in a row, a column or a box. Even though I entered the correct number, the system advised it was incorrect. When I asked for a clue it displayed the number I tried to enter but when entering the number it was wrong! Ugh! With this flaw there is no way to complete the game because the board will never be filled. Okay, two hours left in the flight. Let me just close my eyes and get a nap. I have to get my body use to the new time zone. For the next few days, my nights will be days and my days will be nights. I nodded. Before long breakfast was being served so I gained consciousness just long enough to accept my breakfast. The plane was making its final descent. The flight attendants were moving up and down the cabin collecting blankets, food trays, etc. I nodded off again for a few seconds (in my mind). Before long the flight attendants were passing out hot towels. I thought the towels were to clean our hands but was told it was to clean our face (as in washing our face). The man in the row in front of me blew his nose in the warm towel and then proceeded to wipe his face with the same towel. How nasty is that! I read a sign that the Dubai airport was a “silent” airport. There are no announcements over the PA about flights departing etc. One needs to read the signs to move around the airport. The airport was quiet and beautifully clean (if that makes sense). As I walked through the airport I noticed the shine from the floors. The only sounds heard were from the people who had departed the plane. In hindsight, I would have recommended that everyone in the group meet in a central location once we departed. We were kind of scattered. Everyone maneuvering on their own trying to figure out where to go. (It was not hard as long as you read the signs but it would have been nice to go through immigration/customs and baggage claim as a group. We eventually came together in baggage claim.) The good thing is that we had on our shirts and were able to easily identify who was part of the group. I carefully payed attention of those in front of me so where they went I went! If I felt turned around, I looked for someone in the shirt. For the most part it was a breeze going through immigration/customs and picking up our baggage. Now we had to find our tour guide so we walked towards the exit and BAM our tour guide was in a designated area holding a sign. He was beaming from ear-to-ear and welcomed us to Dubai. He explained that we would walk to our bus and from there we would go to the hotel. Side note: The baggage carts that people use to place their luggage on to maneuver around the airport are FREE! I was skeptical at first since in the states you have to pay to use the luggage carts. In the baggage claim area, the carts are available for use and you just grab and go. There are also no individuals in baggage claim hassling you and asking if you need assistance. How refreshing! Check-in at the hotel is 3:00 p.m. That’s a normal check-in time. Our rooms were not ready but that was not to be expected. The hotel staff stored our luggage in an area as we set in the lobby chatting and resting. The travel agent and tour guide worked with the hotel reception to get individuals in their room as quickly as possible. I was one of the last individuals to get a room, which was a little after 3:00 p.m. I wasn’t concerned or upset. It is . . . what it is. I took the time to journal! My room was on the 22nd floor right off the elevator. I noticed there was a camera right above my room door. Talk about feeling safe! I think the camera was there mainly because of the position of the room and to pick up traffic in the corridor and also I was right next to the linen closet. My first day in Dubai! A group of us decided to walk to the Mall of the Emirates, which was a HUGE mall. It has roughly 600 stores inside the mall. There is no way I’m going to discover all of the stores during my stay. It was a reasonable walking distance but the HEAT! All of us were sweating as we walked to the mall. As we approached the mall we tried to figure out how to enter. Again sweating and needed some AC badly. Once we got inside the air conditioned mall we all celebrated. Now it was time to find something to eat! The Mall of the Emirates is so big there are two food courts. One on each side of the mall. Plus there are restaurants such as the Cheesecake Factory in the mall. There is even a grocery store in the mall. I would compare it to a Super Walmart. It literally took up one side of the mall. I was AMAZED! Click here to watch video recap.
I think my alarm was set to 4:00 a.m. I’m up and doing my morning routine. I proceed to the hotel lobby to check-out and to catch the shuttle to the airport. The hotel has a “continental breakfast.” It’s not really a continental breakfast. The breakfast is on a vacant check-in counter not in the area where one would eat. I know strange right? I’m not going to partake of breakfast since I don’t want anything to upset my stomach or have me having to go to the bathroom at the airport or on the plane. It is a 12 hour plane ride. Four other individuals from the group also board the shuttle. I know this because we were asked to wear the same shirt for traveling. This definitely helps to identify the Dubai travel group. We arrive at the airport and find the Emirates check-in counters. Guess what? The counters are CLOSED. They do not open up until 8:00 a.m. but the ticket I have has check-in at 7:20 a.m. Weird. An agent (I suppose with Emirates) starts a line to the side of the check-in counters. This “gap” time gives me and others the opportunity to chat with each other and make some connections. After all we will be together for the next few days as we discover Dubai. I’m checked in and have boarded the plane! I have a window seat. After lunch we were asked to pull down our shades. WTH. Is it nap time? The plane is dark and it is still daylight outside. I want to see the clouds. I want to look out the window. That’s why I chose a window seat, duh! But there may be a reason to have all of the shades down. Perhaps to keep the plane’s inside temperature cool? Oh and my feet are FREEZING! I have on compression ankle socks but they are quite thin. I didn’t think about my feet freezing. I was concerned that my feet would swell during the 12 hour flight. The flight had over a hundred movie titles. Games. Podcasts. Live TV. Music. This was the perfect opportunity to catch up on some movies. During the course of the flight I watched Encanto, A Journal for Jordan and Eternals. You would think I was pregnant how emotional I got during these movies (Encanto and A Journal for Jordan). I was not crying crying but a little choked up during some scenes. Since the beginning my headset seemed funky. I could only hear out of one side. I asked a flight attendant before we took off for another headset. I think she forgot in the midst of the boarding process. I was on this plane for a couple of hours so decided to request (again) another headset. I turned on my light for a flight attendant but it seemed as if they all took a break. All 22 of them? I wanted a new headset. I could only hear volume out of one ear. About 15 minutes later a flight attendant came. Even the “new” pair . . . I could only hear out one ear. Ugh! Well nothing much more for today . . . today was all about flying. Click here to watch video recap.
We arrive in New York. Before departing for the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) we fly into New York (LaGuardia) and will stay in New York overnight. This will ensure that we make it on time to check-in for our flight on Emirates Sunday. The travel agent has a room block at the Comfort Inn (JFK). Earlier in the week, I looked into options to get us from LaGuardia to JFK. We could take the shuttle from LaGuardia to JKF. Once at JFK take the AirTrain to Federal Circle and then catch the shuttle to our hotel. When I priced out the option is was roughly $22 per person to ride the shuttle. The next option was to take an Uber from LaGuardia to JFK. This was the simplest option. The cost was comparable to the shuttle from LaGuardia to JFK. Uber it is! I reserved an Uber once we arrived in the area for shared ride pickups. For some reason, Uber does not want to accept the address as I copied it from the hotel website. I did not notice it was incorrect until after I reserved the Uber. Ugh! I immediately sent the driver a message of the hotel address . . . he probably did not see it. The Uber takes us to this hotel and I look around and say this is NOT the correct hotel. The difference was the street name. The address in his GPS has the hotel address with “Street” in the name and the correct name was “Avenue.” No worries, we were literally seven minutes away from the CORRECT hotel. The driver was nice enough NOT to raise a fuss and dropped us off at the correct hotel. OH MY GOODNESS . . . The room was hella small. The bathroom was hella small. Okay, I can deal with this for ONE night. To top things off there are NO wash clothes in the bathroom. I called room service and was told they ran out of wash clothes. How in the hell does a hotel run out of wash clothes? Not even ONE wash cloth? Can the hotel not wash some laundry and provide me with a wash cloth? I was told that the number of wash clothes dropped off for the day was incorrect or they had a high volume of guests request extra wash clothes. So unacceptable! Side note: Later I talked about me experience with others in the travel group, they also stated they did not have wash clothes either or only had ONE wash cloth in their room. The good thing is that I packed some extra wash clothes in my bags. I was prepared but again it is totally unacceptable for a hotel to run out of wash clothes. It time to get some rest. We have a long flight . . . a long day ahead of us tomorrow. The following pages are daily Dubai journal entries. All entries have a video recap except one. You can
read the entry and their accompanying video or SKIP THE READING and simply click the videos below. Each daily entry will also have a link to the video. I’m sure I took over 500 photos because I have posted 204 pictures/videos already!!!! Enjoy! Friday, June 3, 2022 - https://youtu.be/E78W1gap8Nw Saturday, June 4, 2022 - https://youtu.be/TKkYOOJ6A8U Sunday, June 5, 2022 - https://youtu.be/6JED3xZcPF8 Monday, June 6, 2022 - https://youtu.be/oWZA96OhQCk Tuesday, June 7, 2022 - https://youtu.be/4YuhyuTX7qs Wednesday, June 8, 2022 - https://youtu.be/5_gJ361u3Yw Friday, June 10, 2022 - https://youtu.be/O1jmxxN2OPk Saturday, June 11, 2022 - https://youtu.be/GJKuVZR0L-U |