Travel With Reason » 2008 » March

Need a Middle Eastern Barbie? This exotic airport has it

Ron Reason — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:58:00 +0000

A trip through Dubai International Airport’s duty-free concourse (supposedly the world’s most profitable) might in itself be worth a trip here, or a layover. I almost never buy anything but it’s great fun to browse. (I love foreign stores in general, especially grocery stores – but that’s another entry). So cool to see Middle Eastern Barbies and inflatable pilot suits among the gift-shop offerings.

Currently the airport is undergoing an incredible expansion, and when I connected through here in September 2007 (en route from India to Kenya), we had to take a shuttle bus that I swear took about 20 minutes to get us to the connecting gates. This place is gonna be scary in about five years.

People met: Thanks to a minor flight delay, I met two fat and happy Arabs (Qataris), an uncooperative German nun, a Somali gal who ran the Swatch© kiosk with an iron fist, and two cute Pakistani girls, who were from Canada but on their way to a wedding in Lahore (Pakistan). They informed me that Paki weddings are not as elaborate as Indian weddings. (Not that I necessarily assumed that, just because the two countries are near each other, but thought they might have cool customs to tell about.) All these were confronted in pursuit of birthday wishes for my mom. (See related blog post.)

Stop by for dinner? In Dubai? Why not?

Ron Reason — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:56:04 +0000

On a business trip to Kenya, I booked a flight with Emirates Airlines’ to take advantage of their policy of free layovers in their connecting cities. Dubai isn’t exactly on the way to Kenya (it probably added 2 hours’ flying time), but I had just learned the week before that my friend Mario happened to be in Dubai, and he suggested “stopping by for dinner.” Why not? Only someone in his world would make such a suggestion and only someone in mine, I guess, would think nothing of accepting.

So I planned a 24-hour layover, partly motivated by the prospect of seeing more of Dubai that I had in the past. Despite having visited five times, I had seen almost none of the city that has become all the rage on the Discovery Channel. Held captive by needy clients! Not that I’m bitter, but warning to all future clients: you’re showing me around town.
Highlights: Upon arrival, I saw the city-state’s skyline exploding. I mean this figuratively – each time I fly here the number of skyscrapers seems to double – and literally – just moments before we landed, a fireworks factory blew up near downtown and sent huge plumes of dark smoke into the sky. An eyebrow-raiser as you can imagine, to see such a thing in the Middle East, or any large city for that matter.

Also: Incredible photo-op drive around the Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building and growing; overnight at posh, dripping-with-marble Emirates Towers Hotel; quick tour of the old port (creek) area and souks (markets); chance viewing of fantastic exhibit on the use of Arabic lettering in just about every form of media possible, and another exhibit of highlights from the JP Morgan modern art collection (Warhol et al), and a hilarious encounter with a Moroccan dwarf selling bottled water in the spice markets.

Flying Emirates: Something Arab in the air

Ron Reason — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:51:37 +0000

Sick and tired of the poor service on United Airlines and its international cousin, Lufthansa, I decided to jump ship to Emirates, the ever-growing Dubai-based airline. The one with the lady crew members who have great outfits reminiscent of “I Dream of Jeannie.”

I think routing through Dubai to get to Kenya took a couple of extra hours in the air over, say, a London connection on British Airways or something, but so worth it. (I actually love long flights – I read and sleep like nobody’s business, and increasingly, take photos of people doing weird things.) Good service and food – actually flew Emirates coach and had a better experience than I have had on United or Lufthansa in business. (Can you say seats that won’t recline? Or won’t stay up? Busted televisions? Rude crew?) And my guardian angels of airline logistics were working in force – had the entire row to myself, minimizing contact with The Great Unwashed. If Emirates is any indication of Dubai’s plan to take over the world, they have a good chance.

Highlights: Viewing “Die Hard 4” on the back-of-the-seat monitor, which featured about 500 movies. Great food – again, on par or better than United’s business class.