November 29 -- The Longest Day

When we arrived in Dubai we did not have to go through passport control. We went to the connections desk. They asked for our baggage tags and passports for the next leg of the trip. So be sure you hang onto you bag claim checks. Even though they don’t really use them in the U.S. anymore they do check them at many destinations outside of the country. Moral is hang on to those bag claim checks. We took a bus to terminal 3. It was about a 15 minute ride. An Aussie that was sitting in front of us said it was faster to exit the terminal, take a taxi to the proper terminal and then go through security again. Who wudda thought.

As we entered terminal three we went to the Emirates desk to get our boarding passes. Had to show the bag tags again and passports. Got our boarding passes and then had to pass through security again. Our flight was scheduled to leave from the ‘A’ gates so we took a train there. There are hundreds of duty free sellers and restaurants in the area of the ‘A’ gates. So don’t worry about something to eat or picking up souvenirs some where else unless you think it might be cheaper.

The time on the layover wasn’t too bad. Both of us were really tired. Bonnie tried to sleep some in the chairs at the terminal but they weren’t designed for sleeping. Time seemed to go pretty slowly. I read some. Played bridge on my phone. Did a little writing and a little walking around. Seemed I was always anticipating the long journey back to Seattle. The gate opened about 1.5 hours before flight time.

We entered the gate area and once again had passports and boarding passes checked. We in and sat down until boarding time. Got onto the plain about 30 minutes before takeoff. Settled in for the long flight once again. Watched movies, dozed off and on. That was the extent of the ride but it was 14 hours. If you are a U.S. or Canadian citizen when you arrive in Seattle you can get in the express line for passport control. You don’t have to fill out the paper work on plane. It is really quick and easy. We were at the back of the plane but some of the first out of the customs area. Got the bags picked up and we were off to the light rail to downtown Seattle.

We dragged our bags up the hill to the Camlin and got checked in. There was a studio available right away or we could wait until the afternoon to get the one bedroom. We took the studio and promptly got some sleep. Slept ’til about 4 PM. Got up and had some dinner. Back to the Camlin and started the laundry. While we were waiting on the laundry we rented Mocking Jay part I and watched it. After the movie and the laundry was finished we went to bed again, about midnight.


This is the longest day because we left Dubai at 3 AM and arrived in Seattle at 6 AM the same day. Looks like three hours on the clock but because of the time zones this day was 39 hours long. It felt like a 39 hour day for sure.
 

November 17 -- Off to Dubai

Got up this morning around 8:00. Bonnie did her exercises. That’s generally her morning routine. While she was doing that I go myself ready to go so she would have the facilities when she was ready. We watched the news until about 10:30 then went on a historical tour of the Camlin.

The hotel has really and interesting history since is opening in 1926. Turns out the original owner “borrowed” the money from the bank he was president of and the tail gets more sordid as the story goes. The tail was interesting and a tour of the older parts of the building was fun. It was originally constructed as an all suite hotel with monthly rates available. At some point all of the kitchens were walled up and it became a regular hotel with a dinner room and bar on the top floor. The kitchens were uncovered again when Worldmark bought the property in 1996. The renovation cost quite a lot more than was initially anticipated. However, the Camlin has turned out to be one of the favorite properties of the owners.

After the tour we checked out an had them store our luggage while we went to eat and made another trip to the drug store. We picked up our luggage at about 1:30 and off to the airport we went. Got checked in at Emirates. They checked our bag right through to Ashgabat so we didn’t have to mess with it in Dubai, that was very nice. Boarded our flight at 4 and were off to Dubai and another adventure.

Flying from Seattle to Dubai was a really long trip, 15 hours. The flight was very nice. The food was very good. The entertainment system on Emirates is really amazing and helps the time go by quickly. Even so 15 hours on the same airplane is a long time. Entry into Dubai is easy and quick. There is no visa required for U.S. residents and you just have to go through passport control for entry.