… but I’ll take it. I was watching a match while eating the only decent cheeseburger I’ve had since I left the States. The Dubai airport isn’t so bad really, at least when it’s not crowded and you know where the best locations are for stuff. i won’t revealing all of my secrets, but knowing where the least crowded bathrooms, couches you can lie on, and places to plug your laptop into and have a chair are very worthwhile if you spend any time here at all. If any of you are looking at spending some time in Dubai’s airport, drop me a line and I can make your stay a lot nicer:-)
So yeah, watching cricket while eating my BACON cheeseburger is pretty nice, almost as nice as listening to Pavement’t first album during the call to prayer… I did nap a bit on the floor, I’ve been in more comfortable beds before, but I needed the sleep. The floor is your typical slab of concrete with a thin carpet over it. I was tired enough that the blindfold I got from Emirates was all I needed to doze for an hour and a half on the concrete. I can’t seem to sleep on the flights, even when I have enough leg room. God it must be nice to be small on flights. Since the seats don’t go back very far, my neck stiffens up and hurts like hell. I can either lol to the side or droop forward, both hurt. I can’t get to my side which is my favorite sleeping position. My cousin beth gave me one of those neck cushions before I left. I think it saved my life on the way over here on that 13 hour flight. I figured I didn’t need it for these short flights, but I neglected to take into account the hours were all during times that I’d normally be asleep. Plus it would have been a nice pillow when I was laying on the floor. Next time I’ll know better…
I’ll actually be buying some stuff at the duty free shop this time. Two liters of whiskey for a friend in Sana’a and I’m going to load up on chocolate. I’m buying a handful of big Lindt dark chocolate bars with almonds. All I can get in Yemen is milk chocolate, and rather sweet stuff at that. I’ll also be getting some chocolate with liquor inside of it. It tastes amazing, they have jack Daniels, a couple of cognacs, grand marnier, and that orange liquor I can never remember the name of. I find them to be heavenly, much like that bourbon fudge I used to get. I hope that will keep my chocolate ravings under control for a while. They have quite a selection of alcohol here. It ranges from the cheap, regular stuff to thirty year old scotches and even Louis the 13th cognac at a cool $1300…
It’s a bit of a cultural whiplash going from the cheap, haggle away Chinese markets to the real upscale, if you have to ask the price kind of place. They are raffling off a new Porche and a BMW 7 series car. There are only a 1000 tickets for each, but each ticket costs a little over $150. Definitely not your typical door prize. I briefly thought about getting a hotel room when I got here because of how tired I was. Well, since they seem to start at $160 a night, I decided the airport was fine:-) Dubai is pretty nice as long as you have some money to blow.