One of my reasons for coming to Dubai was to meet a good friend of mine that passes through here quite regularly for business. When I told him I would be on Dubai on my trip, he arranged his schedule so that he could take a few days off of work and come from Kyrgyzstan to meet me here. The original plan had me coming in on the 11th, having a few days to check the city out, him coming in on the 14th and me leaving very late on the 16th. It all seemed so simple. Silly, silly me.Long story short, Kyrgyz Airlines sucks. They had 4 planes to their name (I'm not kidding) but apparently a couple of weeks ago, their "fleet" decreased to 3. So my friend's flight to Dubai was cancelled, and there was not a thing
to be done about it (and it's not like there are any other options out of Kyrgyzstan). He tried: he tried to reason, he screamed, he yelled, he ranted, he raved, he made phone calls, he offered more money, he sent e-mails, he smiled sweetly...all to no avail. As he was told at one point from the airline guy: "There is no more flight to Dubai. We have no plane. You have plane? You have plane, you get to Dubai. You no have plane, you no get to Dubai."So for a couple of weeks, we lost all hope of it working out, then word started coming in from the airlines of possible new flights, although the news changed almost daily, literally.
It was a roller coaster of one day thinking it would work, the next day not, all culminating on the morning of the 16th, the day I was scheduled to leave Dubai. The details of all that went down that day are indescribable. It involved numerous changes and possibilities, last-second decisions, cancelling hotels, changing flights (both his and mine), changing hotels, hours at the Cathay Pacific Airlines office, packing and unpacking, about a year worth of wages in overseas phone calls and text messages, lots of uncertainty and just a tad bit of anxiety. In the end, I made it to the Dubai Creek Hilton (our meeting point) on Saturday and he made it on Sunday.
It was a roller coaster of one day thinking it would work, the next day not, all culminating on the morning of the 16th, the day I was scheduled to leave Dubai. The details of all that went down that day are indescribable. It involved numerous changes and possibilities, last-second decisions, cancelling hotels, changing flights (both his and mine), changing hotels, hours at the Cathay Pacific Airlines office, packing and unpacking, about a year worth of wages in overseas phone calls and text messages, lots of uncertainty and just a tad bit of anxiety. In the end, I made it to the Dubai Creek Hilton (our meeting point) on Saturday and he made it on Sunday. It was a huge bummer to not be able to spend more time with him but, I have to admit, I
made the most of my time there and took full advantage of my time alone in my huge, cushy room at the Hilton (particularly since I know what kinds of places are in store for me in the upcoming countries). I mean, come on, it's not often that I get "stuck" at a 5-star hotel in a room full of windows overlooking the world's tallest building. I ate free food, I swam in the rooftop pool, I hung out in the jacuzzi in my room, I reveled in the down comforter and the king size bed, I enjoyed Jason's elite status private lounge access to the fullest (turns out I can drink a LOT of coffee in a 24-hour period), I went to the nearby souks, I marveled at the views from both my room and the rooftop terr
ace, I giggled to myself about the over-the-top service I received (like rose petals on the bed and chocolates on the pillow swanky; I'm also pretty sure I didn't open a door or lift a thing the whole time I was there). It was a nice way to spend my last night in Dubai.
made the most of my time there and took full advantage of my time alone in my huge, cushy room at the Hilton (particularly since I know what kinds of places are in store for me in the upcoming countries). I mean, come on, it's not often that I get "stuck" at a 5-star hotel in a room full of windows overlooking the world's tallest building. I ate free food, I swam in the rooftop pool, I hung out in the jacuzzi in my room, I reveled in the down comforter and the king size bed, I enjoyed Jason's elite status private lounge access to the fullest (turns out I can drink a LOT of coffee in a 24-hour period), I went to the nearby souks, I marveled at the views from both my room and the rooftop terr
ace, I giggled to myself about the over-the-top service I received (like rose petals on the bed and chocolates on the pillow swanky; I'm also pretty sure I didn't open a door or lift a thing the whole time I was there). It was a nice way to spend my last night in Dubai. Jason finally made it on Sunday afternoon and we were able to spend the rest of the day together, catching up, having dinner and cracking each other up in the way that only he and I can crack each other up. It was great and, even despite all the ups and downs, changes and uncertainty of it all, it was TOTALLY worth it in the end.
1 comment:
Wait! Somehow I missed this post! I cannot believe that you and J almost missed each other...yet again! I'm excited to hear more about your time together and I'm mad at you for not posting a picture of the two of you after all these blasted years!!!! Sheesh! That's all for now. Bet the images of this swanky room are like a distant memory to you right now, huh? Miss you...love you!
Me
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