April 18, 2012
DUBAI, UAE (United Arab Emirates)
On March 1 this year (just 6 weeks ago) Emirates Airline started flying non stop from Seattle to Dubai, so we booked flights with Emirates and this meant we had to get to Seattle. On Tuesday April 17, after a crazy day at work, we managed to make the last ferry of the day departing Langdale at 8:20 pm for the 40 minute sail to Horseshoe Bay and Vancouver on the lower mainland. We had no idea how far we’d get , but we were hoping to make it across the Canada USA border, so we didn’t book a hotel. This turned out to be a bad decision!
We arrived at the border around 10:45 pm and NEXUS was closed - they open from 6 am through 9 pm each day at the Pacific Peace Arch crossing. Our NEXUS cards give us a special (and much faster) lane when crossing the border between Canada and the USA by road or air - to get your NEXUS card it requires an application and pre clearance by both Canada and the USA. So we waited in a line of around 30 cars and were through the border around 11:15pm. We pulled into Bellingham and that’s when we found out that every hotel was full - no vacancies anywhere, and apparently there hasn’t been for the last 6 weeks! We continued driving south to Mt Vernon and Burlington - same story! The night clerk at the hotel told us they have no idea why everything is so busy! By now it was after midnight and we were getting very tired. Carrying on South we made it to the Tulalip Hotel around 12:30 pm - a large 5 star property with beautiful rooms and extremely comfortable beds - success - they had 6 rooms left! So we fell into bed and Terry was asleep in seconds and I followed shortly afterwards!
The next morning I was awake by 6:30 am and finishing the last few pages in my book and Terry woke up shortly afterwards when the Skype rang on his cell phone! The Tulalip Hotel also has a fabulous shower with three shower heads - so with very hot water hitting us from top to bottom we were soon wide awake! A couple of hours on the computer finishing up work stuff and we were on our way to the Seattle Airport by 11:30am, stopping along the way to buy those last bits and pieces that you always find you don’t have when you pack your bags! Fortunately we always pack from a long list so at least we know what we are missing after we have packed! This time we each have a duffel bag with wheels so that we can pull the bag and they only weigh 11kg each - this trip requires basic easy care clothes, so no fancy shoes or accessories needed! The medical supplies we take and the cameras and computer gear weigh at least as much as our clothes and good walking shoes!
We parked the car at SEATAC Parking on 200th street (we had made a reservation for the car!) and were delivered very competently to Emirates checkin by a friendly driver who helped us load the bags into the small shuttle bus and gave us a tag that will get us back to the Jeep when we arrive back into Seattle. At the Emirates checkin, there was an agent having each person weigh every piece of luggage (checked and carryon) prior to checking in at the counter. She was advising everyone who was overweight that they would be paying excess baggage charges - both of the passengers in front of us had large overweight pieces of luggage.
We managed to get our seats changed to exit rows with extra leg room (yippee!) and headed to security - take off belts, shoes, jackets, scarves, empty all your pockets (if you have any clothes left on that is) take computers out of bags etc - and we were soon through Security and getting dressed on the other side! Then we had a wonderful surprise! We were looking for somewhere to get a bite to eat and a drink - and there was this fabulous bar called “The African Lounge” and the decor was amazing - spacious and decorated completely in African furnishings - down to the fabrics, the lamp shades, the murals on the walls - even the names of the cocktails and menu items! We had been instantly transported to Africa from Seattle! We sat down (of course we found the table next to the wall with an available plug for the computer) and caught up with emails and checking available flights while we shared a wonderful pulled pork sandwich and glass of white wine. We walked into the African Lounge at 3 pm and needed to be at the departure gate at 4:30 pm for our 5:30 pm departure for the 14 1/2 hour flight to Dubai on a Boeing 777-200 (long range). We relaxed and the time flew by.The passenger load was pretty light so there were many empty seats but each set of seats had 1 or 2 people in it. The configuration was 3 seats on each side and 4 in the middle. The flight attendants gave us all a menu for the flight, and a small zippered amenity bag including socks, eye shades, and small toothbrush and tooth paste. After being offered a wet face cloth to freshen up we departed on time under sunny Seattle skies and before long were enjoying a glass of wine. The crew is international and the pilot listed all the languages, that amongst them all, the crew were fluent in - there must have been at least 12! The female flight attendants are very beautiful and wear those wonderful beige suits and the small red pill box hats with the white chiffon scarf that drapes from under the hat to their necks - very elegant! I’m sure you have seen photos of them in magazines or on the TV ads for Emirates Airlines.
Dinner was served about 2 hours after takeoff and options included cod with noodles and vegetables, and chicken with rice - very tasty! The trays included real silverware (when was the last time you had anything other than plastic knives and forks on a flight?) and a salad, bun with butter, individual cheesecake, cheese and crackers and a beverage. Then the cabin lights were dimmed so that everyone could sleep. When the lights are dimmed the roof of the cabin is covered with tiny white lights so that the effect is the black night sky full of a million twinkling stars - how cool is that? Terry did a bit of Rotary work and then put on his eye shade and Bose noise-cancelling headphones and managed to sleep for most of the flight! I slept for maybe 3 or 4 hours and then started this trip diary - and sure enough, just as the plane information brochure stated, there was an electric outlet behind my legs under the seat so that while I typed the computer was charging and using the onboard power! I also enjoyed the entertainment system - now let me tell you about that!
The onboard entertainment guide is like a book! It’s about 8 inches by 6 inches printed on glossy paper and has 72 pages and is in English and Arabic, there are 700 movies to watch (fabulous selection) including English, Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog, Punjabi, Bengali, Sinhala, Urdu, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati! There are games to play, TV shows, Opera, Sorts TV, all the UK Chart Hits for every year from 1952 to 2012. You get the idea - amazing! Each seat has its’ own wide screen digital touch screen TV - seriously - these screens are large and easy to watch. Even the headphones they give you (no you don’t have to pay for them) are a good quality so that you can actually hear everything! There are so many music channels you are completely spoiled for choice!
As for the seats - well, they are the same size as every other airline’s Boeing 777 - 200, pretty small when you are sitting in them for very long - oh how lucky we were to have the Exit rows with that extra leg space. We had selected the seats at the back of the plane when we booked (at the back there are only 2 seats on the side ) and I still feel that is the best choice for me if I can’t get the exit row at the airport checkin. The Emirates mileage plan is called Skyward and they are partnered with Alaska Airlines if you prefer to credit your flown miles with Alaska Airlines.
Halfway through the flight breakfast was served - 3 choices including plain egg omelette with button mushrooms, baked beans (that could be dangerous!), fresh flaky croissant, fresh fruit salad, crackers butter, cream cheese and jam along with orange juice, coffee and tea.
Dubai is 11 hours ahead of Vancouver - we will be arriving at 7 pm Thursday April 19 and heading off to the Premier Hotel near the airport for overnight before our onward flight to Addis Ababa Ethiopia tomorrow morning Friday April 20. It’s currently well into our flight with 2 hours left to go. It appears that we are about to be served another beverage or light snack. So I will continue this on arrival in Dubai and hope that there s internet access to send it to you before we depart for Ethiopia. Terry has just woken up and is now listening to an audio pod cast about Dubai. The passengers are starting to stir and walk around the aisles to stretch and use the facilities. At one point the lady sitting behind me tried to use my arm rest to rest her foot on - I moved that off my armrest pretty quickly! Some passengers are using the flight for ongoing connections to India and Asia - but the mix of passengers is fairly typical of the Pacific Northwest - cosmopolitan.
It’s now 9pm on Thursday evening and we are in our room at the Premier Hotel Dubai Airport! As we came in to land at Dubai we could definitely see the Arabic influence - lots of ornate arches and decorations as you looked down - then a soft landing after being in the air for nearly 15 hours. WOW - what a huge and ultra modern airport - lots of glass, waterfalls and moving walkways but fortunately not many flights arriving so we didn’t have huge lineups! As Canadians we have been required since January 2011 to have a visa and this is not necessarily a simple process. If you fly in and out of Dubai with Emirates you can get your visa through a service via the Emirates website. If you book accommodation through a Tour Operator in Dubai (or in Canada who deal with Dubai ) then they can do it for you. You can also do it yourself via the UAE (United Arab Emirates Embassy) in Ottawa - as long as you have time to get it turned around. You have to pay for anything more than a 36 hour in-transit visa. The reason Canadians need a visa is because the Canadian Government would not give Emirates Airways landing rights in Canada other than Toronto so the UAE then decided Canadians needed to buy visas for UAE - tit for tat! So when we arrived with our 36 hour in transit visa in hand, we were met by a rep from Arabian Adventures who arranged our overnight stay. We were directed to the eye scan (required only for those foreigners like Canadians who have to have a visa!) I could have used my British Passport - since then I would not have to buy a visa - however - you need 6 months left before your passport expires and mine expires July 2012! USA folk do not require a visa for the UAE.
After the eye scan (the officials are good looking guys all wearing the traditional white long gown and head dress ) we then went into the line for passport control. This was shift change time and the outgoing and incoming passport officials (everyone here wears the traditional white dress and head dress) all had to take some time to chat and laugh with each other before processing started again! But our line was short (only 7 folks in front of us) but everyone has to be photographed so this is definitely not a fast process! The walks are long in this very large airport and I have heard that at times the processing on arrival can take 3 hours - certainly they must get huge numbers of passengers here at times because they are set up for it. Also - before you leave the baggage claims area, there are 2 Duty Free Shops - so you can buy duty free when you arrive into Dubai. We didn’t take a look in the stores but given that they have the most upscale and huge variety of shopping in Dubai (over the top I think it could be called) then I’m sure there is lots in the Duty Free Stores!
We walked through the green line “nothing to declare”, none of the Customs Officials hanging around stopped us, so we were off to the Arabian Adventures office in the general meeting area who then called the driver to drive us the very short distance to the Premier Hotel at the airport. This hotel was opened in 2010 - the front desk and porter staff all speaking English and very helpful. There is a 24 hour coffee shop in the lobby, a restaurant with “full English Breakfast - all you eat” available from 6am, and room service available until midnight.
There is a roof top swimming pool and so we took a quick look - the views of the city are very hazy - we suspect due to the humidity and/or dust from the desert. The temperature was 82 degrees fahrenheit when we landed at 7pm and it feels sticky and humid. We ate dinner in the bar (yes - we can drink alcohol here and apparently in all the hotels in Dubai) - the only other people in there are all single guys in their 30’s, 4-’s and 50’s - obviously all expats working for big companies and also several marines or ex-marines - they are in from Kandahar and other cities around Africa and Western Asia.
Our room is small with small window (fairly typical at airports for sound proofing) but very clean with a queen size bed and flat screen TV, and coffee making in the room. The Premier has a shuttle so we shall be off back to the Dubai airport in the morning for our Emirates flight at 10:30 am to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. So now it’s time for bed , and even better, for a good sleep we hope! A very full two days we’ll be in touch when we can - we expect maybe only twice in Ethiopia when we are in Addis Ababa!
Great photos of the restaurant and Dubai airport!! Sounds like a great airline! Enjoyed the blog!!
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