2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip
Day 87/105 - Sydney, Australia to Dubai, UAE
 |
| If you look closely at the clock, it reads 2:50 and that's not afternoon time |
Today was a travel day. It was early in the morning when we arrived in Sydney, so I counted that as Day 1 in Sydney. Today, we didn't get to Residence Inn until nearly 3 p.m. and it has been 19 hours since we left The Grace Hotel in Sydney. Today isn't going to be Day #1 in Dubai because we're beat.
Our cab arrived just before 3 a.m. so the day started well. We got to the airport and got checked in before 3:30 a.m. so again, great. Except immigration didn't open until 4 a.m. so we had to sit around for a while before we could actually get to our gate. We flew Emirates for the first time today. We sprung for the upgrade from Economy to Premium Economy and that paid off. We scored bulkhead seats so there was plenty of legroom.
We had a window and an aisle and the seats were large. All this is a good thing for a flight scheduled to last more than 14 hours. We had considered upgrading to business class, but on Emirates, the choice would be to pay for the upgrade or pay for another cruise. It was that expensive. So, premium economy was it. They fed us well. We watched movies. Arlona read a bit. Arlona slept for a while, I took two short naps. The flight was right on time. The worst thing I can say is that we hit moderate turbulence several times. Not much they can do about that. It was also our first time on an Airbus A380 and wow - it was nice. Two decks of passengers made loading and unloading fast and easy.
14:25 and 7,490 miles after we departed Sydney, we arrived at Dubai airport and began the long walk, train ride, walk, walk, walk to immigration, and then to get our bags.
 |
| You know you're in Dubai when all the airport clocks are by Rolex |
By the time we got to baggage claim, all three of our checked bags were coming around the bend. We retrieved them and walked to the parking deck to the Uber pick-up spot. I ordered an UberXL (because of our bags). Nasir arrived in less than five minutes and whisked us to the Residence Inn by Marriott Sheikh Zayed Road. The architecture on the drive was fascinating.
 |
| First glimpse of the 160-story Burj Khalifa on the far left - we're going there tomorrow |
 |
| This is outside the Museum of the Future - we're going there on Thursday |
After checking in, we took a walk around the hotel.
We did find a grocery store a couple of blocks away and stocked the fridge with pop for our visit. We also grabbed a three-pack of microwave popcorn and that will likely be dinner tonight. The mission now is to force ourselves to stay away until at least 8 p.m. to get our internal clocks adjusted to the seven-hour time change we just went through. Sydney is on UTC+11 and Dubai is on UTC+4, so we are now nine hours ahead of the US East Coast.
So where are we in the world?
 |
| Check out the thin red rectangle with the blue dot |
 |
| This zooms in on that area - you can see Dubai on the west of the peninsula |
We are in the United Arab Emirates, or UAE for short. We will be here for a week and then board the Oceania Riviera for a cruise from Dubai to Qatar and another UAE stop before ending in Abu Dhabi, just a little southwest of Dubai. The UAE is a new country for us, so that puts us at 60 countries visited on our quest for 100.
Arlona is making dinner (microwaving the popcorn) so it's time for me to wrap this up. Well, that and the words are a little blurry. Must make it for two more hours...
We spent several weeks in Dubai eight years ago. Based on your pictures, there are more beautiful buildings. It is a fascinating place. Be sure to take note of the construction workers. While not slaves, they are controlled. They are bussed out to their dorms every night. You won’t see them in McDonalds or the malls. We saw the same thing in Qatar.
ReplyDelete