Headlines
Packed, Repacked
Coffee and Shops
To the Airport!
Dubai
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Stream of Consciousness
This post is typed in the Giraffe cafe at Dubai airport.
Packed, Repacked
Time to pack our bags.
The timing works well. We fly out in the evening so have all day to prepare. Which is good for packing things that we still need to use at home.
There are a few things that get added, a few replaced. Mostly, it's quite simple. I added a windcheater to my backpack. Must be missing something, the backpack is not too crowded. And it's easy to fit everything into my bigger than usual case. Last few trips, I've had several items in Deb's case.
Coffee and Shops
Off to the Forum, to return all library books. To get coffee and cake. And to buy a couple of last minute essentials: including a small Vaseline, for pre-run use.
Then home again for lunch, some last minute repacking and some playing of computer games.
To the Airport!
Robbie picked us up to give us a lift to the airport. He phoned my mobile, to say he was on his way, we didn't hear it ring. He phoned our home phone, it was off the hook. He phoned Deb's mobile, I heard it buzzing, upstairs, packed away. He sent an email...
Anyway... Robbie arrived, we were ready, so... Off to the airport!
It was just Robbie (Antonia stayed home with Will) so Robbie dropped us and left. No need to hang round, so we went straight through security to the departure lounge.
A bit of a shock there... Lots of duty free shops -- but no cafes! Two hours to wait -- with no food or drink! But... luckily... the cafes were in the other direction.
Deb bought a magazine. As we discussed who should pay -- I realised that I no longer had my credit card! Or my glasses... Or my jacket, with all that in its pockets...
My mind was a complete blank. Luckily Deb instantly realised... I had put the jacket on a tray for x-ray scanning. Deb had had to have a full body scan -- due to her shifty eyes and generally suspicious looks, I guess. While I was chuckling at Deb -- I forgot to pick up my scanned jacket.
Oh well. Back to pick it up. Still plenty of time for coffee and muffin.
The departure lounge -- away from the cafes -- is new and spacious. Rows and rows of chairs on one side, more comfortable chairs with small tables on the other. One duty free shop. No café.
And nothing exciting. We sat, we waited, we boarded.
I'd picked seats way up front. In -- as it turned out -- the families with babies area. The babies were all good, quiet. Some were almost cute. I'd also chosen the two aisle side seats. I hate being on the inside... So Deb was next to a man who, very politely, slept for most of the flight.
I watched a movie: UP. Brilliant! I used cc, closed captions. No sound, just read the captions. I prefer that, on a plane. No worries about the engine noise interfering with my listening. In the movie, the good guys finally meet the bad guy. He said, All a misunderstanding. They said, All a misunderstanding. Everyone said, All a misunderstanding. After that, that's all the subtitles said, All a misunderstanding... All the way to the end of the movie. Not to worry, the plot was fairly transparent :-)
Dinner, cat naps in uncomfortable airplane seats,11 hours in the air.. Now the worst is over.
Actually, the plane was okay. Almost enough leg room. A double decker A380 Airbus or some such. We, of course, were on the lower deck. We were so close to the front that we debarked ahead of the first rush... Usually we wait till the crowd has passed.
Dubai
So now we're in Dubai terminal. Drinking coffee. Sun has risen outside. Another hour till we board the next flight, to Birmingham. Just under eight hours flight.
So far, so good :-)
Footnote:
While I was typing, the free Giraffe WiFi access expired. Now we're checked in and connected -- for free, for an hour -- to the Dubai airport WiFi.
As we left the cafe we were given a card for 20% discount if we go to Giraffe on our way home through Dubai. We took the card but will probably go to a different coffee shop. When testing cafes, I prefer the one I haven't tried before :-)
And now, to publish this post...
Oh, yes, foot-footnote: This flight is apparently shared by Qantas. Out tickets are bought from Emirates. I wonder if the Qantas flight was the same price -- and why it didn't turn up when I searched for flights?! Oh well... I've stopped preferring Qantas as our national carrier, as I understand it, it's no longer Australian owned. But we may have missed out on frequent flyer points. Ah. To bad :-)
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