There’s a fast flow of people rushing by me. The variety of different languages, races and cultures surprised me a bit at first. I feel like I am still in JFK. But this is Dubai and it is a modern multi-cultural city as well as an international hot destination. After 12 sleepless hours on the first leg of my flight I’m happy to have found a cappuccino and a chair and just people watch. After disembarking I followed the crowd, which led right into the duty free/high-end shopping area. Lots of beautiful people were simultaneously looking and posturing to be looked at. The whole place had the vibe of a nightclub actually. Not only was it too much activity, but I f also felt out of place. I haven’t fared well so far. It’s not the worst-case scenario, but I am just wishing the time to pass quickly so I can get on my next flight. It’s exciting to be here, (I wish I had gotten a stamp in my passport) but I’m just anxious to get where I’m going. I keep reapplying makeup and it’s NOT helping! My face looks as beat as I feel.
At the luggage check-in counter the young man taking care of me put me in a center row of 4 seats by myself so I would have room to move my body. The flight was not full. The bulkhead seats were taken by families with babies. Turns out that the young couple with the adorable little tot who had the 4 bulkhead seats in my section spread out taking over the 3 emergency exit bulkhead seats and using my row for the put-the-screaming-little-monster-to-sleep area! Then, I suppose because it was such a wonderful idea another young mother decided it must be magic and sat in my stretch-your-old-body-wish-I-could-afford-business-class extra seats and tried to put her screaming (monster) angel to sleep. There was not much sleeping going on from rows 21 to 26 on that flight. And I was probably the only one not screaming–or so it seems. It’s a good thing I love kids.
So here in the Dubai International Airport, despite my disappointment that there are so many westerners and it could as well be a posh shopping mall in New York City, I have to say I am proud of myself for finding my cultural stretching by recognizing the few words I know in Arabic and learning the numbers by listening to the announcements for flights. It’s a good exercise for my memory impairment. I’m sure I’ll forget it all as soon as I leave.
Some nice things the Dubai airport has besides the awesome shopping is some nice restaurants, a hotel, and a gym with a spa. Maybe I’ll hit the spa on my way back. I’ll have 4 hours in between connections. Actually, on the way back I’ll be half as worn out when I arrive from KL. I always feel a little disappointed when I find myself in a place which wasn’t at the top of my list of places to visit, but here I am yet I can’t explore. It would be nice to at least see a little bit of what Dubai has to offer. From what I know there is lots of extravagant shopping, big over the top modern buildings and man-made islands in crazy shapes, of exactly what I forget.
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