I changed my mind

It was a great flight. I didn't sleep a wink but it doesn't matter. For $1.00 I had all the wifi i wanted. I wrote a couple of student recommendations, caught up on email, cruised Facebook a bit and learned about all the pre-trip vaccinations I was supposed to get back in Boston but didn't. Oh well.

I had the entire left bulkhead row to myself. Heavenly. The best part was that I met Jana, a Swedish flight attendant that was strapped in facing me during take-off and landing. Jana was beyond kind, giving me tips on how to spend my day in Dubai. Mid-flight she brought me handwritten instructions on how to find the Metro, where to take it to, where to have lunch, where to explore and what to do. She was sweet and thoughtful and interesting and convincing; so much so that I changed my mind about the malls.

I'm now at the Dubai Mall drinking coffee at Cafe Barbera. This place is mammoth and it is packed. There is an indoor skating rink, a huge aquarium,







a waterfall and every conceivable high-end retailer that you can think of with prices to match. My coffee was $8.50. Just a plain old cup of coffee. Yikes.

I had hoped to go up to the observation tower at Burj Khalifa,






the tallest building in the world. Unbelievably, the next available tour is at 10 p.m., ten hours from now. Instead, I'll nurse my coffee for a little while, catch lunch at the outdoor fountains and maybe take a stroll down to the beach. It's a great place to people watch. What better way to spend a 80 degree day killing time in Dubai.

To save me some headaches, Jana gave me one of her personal Metro cards. If only I had thought to pay her for it. I'm sorry Jana. I'm very grateful for your generosity.

The only hiccup was that the Metro didn't open until 10 a.m. It's Friday. Weekends here are Friday and Saturday and everything opens late on weekends.

Not to worry. I ran into Ted, a recent immigrant from the Philippines. Ted escorted me to the bus station. He instructed me to get on the C5 bus for a 30 minute ride and then switch to the F11 bus.

Easy, or so I thought. Unfortunately Ted was confused. There is no F11. I hung out for 20 minutes at an industrial park outside of town waiting for the 29 bus instead. The 29 dropped me off 40 minutes later at the Burj Khalifa. I would have been better off waiting for the Metro to open. 🙂

Customs at the airport were wild. It seemed that overnight flights from around the world converge in Dubai at the same time.

There were thousands of people


waiting to get through. I didn't mind much. I was still running on adrenalin. I filled the time by starting this blog entry and looking at all the bleary-eyed multinationals. Given the recent events in Brussels, it was comforting to see so many people of different colors and faiths hanging out together. The world needs more of that.






Chatting with Jana whet my appetite for more travel. She talked about her adventures in Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Thailand, Scandinavia, New Zealand and Australia; all places on my bucket list. Coincidently, this trip was originally supposed to be to Namibia but was cancelled because no one else registered. Next year, perhaps.

I'm off to Kathmandu in a few hours. So excited.

Happy weekend everyone!

G.





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Location:Dubai,United Arab Emirates

Location:Dubai