UAE: Dubai: What a long trip
I think I've decided instead of a blogspot blog this time, I'm just going to post publicly about my travels. This way, it requires zero extra effort to get things posted.
So..... Wed. morning at way too early in the morning I headed to Denver International Airport with LoLin's help. Way too early after a night of celebrating the end of finals with friends. Ending up going through Minneapolis and then landed in Peoria IL where my sister was waiting. So tired. Drove from Peoria through to Iowa City to meet my clients. Great meeting, lots of brainstorming.
Afterwards, I headed over to Megan's and we went to Old Chicago for dinner. Good times. its great to catch up with old friends. Afterwards, we headed back to her place where I promptly passed out from exhaustion.
The next morning, thanksgiving day. I don't really like Thanksgiving. My family is....different. We go to Old Country Buffet for Thanksgiving. I absolutely hate the place, but we go there anyways. I was running late because I was so tired, but I made it just on time. Had some crappy buffet style food and argued for a bit. Then.....airport time!
The long trip had commenced. Bouncing from Moline, IL to Minneapolis to Amsterdam wasn't too bad -- the first flight had 6 people, the international flight had about 30. I had a whole row of 4 seats to myself until someone slid into one of them. not bad though -- more than enough room to stretch out. Amsterdam was alright - grabbed my bag quickly and went through passport control and customs - easy time. Checked my bags into Lufthansa for my next flight series - and asked whether i had time to get to and from the city for fun -- she denied me.
so i hung out at Schipol - gambled at the casino, used some internets, read a lot -- finished Da Vinci Code. then the next flight series commenced: Munich to Dubai. Munich was alright -- had 2 Euro homebrew beers at the restaurant next to the Dubai gate. The flight to Dubai was long and tiring -- too full. the guy next to me was big like me -- and even though we had an exit row - we were cramped. oh well
Dubai Airport: OMG -- HUGE. It was immense -- i think i walked for 30 minutes before I hit visa control and they told me to just continue to passport -- where I waited close to 2 hours in line. You would think a 2 hour wait would consist of one line -- but there was a room literally the size of the Pepsi Center in Denver (where the Nuggets basketball team plays) -- that was FULL of people in lines - probably 40 lines about 100 people deep. I wish i could have taken pictures -- so immense. After passport control, I bought some illegal liquor and skirted around customs. Yes! Grabbed a taxi and got to the hotel. By the time I got to the hotel, it was 8:30 AM on Saturday morning.
Luckily the hotel was nice enough to let me check in early -- i took a nap and headed out to the Mall of the Emirates -- where they have the indoor snowboarding. Hit up Virgin for the Da Vinci Code DVD and wandered around. I saw Quiznos (for LoLin) and ate some Lebanese fast food. Good stuff. Headed back and watched the movie and read for a while before passing out.
Started off Sunday well, the first day with everyone. Went to the Burj Dubai Sales office first. This is being built right now -- as the tallest building in the world. They haven't announced the height, because they want it to be the tallest. The complex is huge. I mean -- enormous.
The second place we went was the The Palm Jumeirah sales office. Yes, this is *the* Palm Islands and the World. We saw lots of clips about their progress and was told that they are all sold out basically. Crazy. We didnt get to go out to the Islands, but could see them from the shore. The massiveness of the project is unbelievable. The same group also built the Burj Al Arab Hotel -- You know, the windsail one? We drove past there a few times and took pics. Great times.
Afterwards, we went to lunch at some Lebanese place and ate way too much food, napped in the bus for a bit and went to the Dubai Museum. By that time, everyone was tired and cranky -- went back to the hotel, called LoLin, went to the hotel bar with my roommate and went to bed. So tired. I woke up early this morning and got online. not too bad. Even though i dont have internets in my room. =(
Now, its breakfast time!!! I will try and post pictures tomorrow. Any special requests?
So..... Wed. morning at way too early in the morning I headed to Denver International Airport with LoLin's help. Way too early after a night of celebrating the end of finals with friends. Ending up going through Minneapolis and then landed in Peoria IL where my sister was waiting. So tired. Drove from Peoria through to Iowa City to meet my clients. Great meeting, lots of brainstorming.
Afterwards, I headed over to Megan's and we went to Old Chicago for dinner. Good times. its great to catch up with old friends. Afterwards, we headed back to her place where I promptly passed out from exhaustion.
The next morning, thanksgiving day. I don't really like Thanksgiving. My family is....different. We go to Old Country Buffet for Thanksgiving. I absolutely hate the place, but we go there anyways. I was running late because I was so tired, but I made it just on time. Had some crappy buffet style food and argued for a bit. Then.....airport time!
The long trip had commenced. Bouncing from Moline, IL to Minneapolis to Amsterdam wasn't too bad -- the first flight had 6 people, the international flight had about 30. I had a whole row of 4 seats to myself until someone slid into one of them. not bad though -- more than enough room to stretch out. Amsterdam was alright - grabbed my bag quickly and went through passport control and customs - easy time. Checked my bags into Lufthansa for my next flight series - and asked whether i had time to get to and from the city for fun -- she denied me.
so i hung out at Schipol - gambled at the casino, used some internets, read a lot -- finished Da Vinci Code. then the next flight series commenced: Munich to Dubai. Munich was alright -- had 2 Euro homebrew beers at the restaurant next to the Dubai gate. The flight to Dubai was long and tiring -- too full. the guy next to me was big like me -- and even though we had an exit row - we were cramped. oh well
Dubai Airport: OMG -- HUGE. It was immense -- i think i walked for 30 minutes before I hit visa control and they told me to just continue to passport -- where I waited close to 2 hours in line. You would think a 2 hour wait would consist of one line -- but there was a room literally the size of the Pepsi Center in Denver (where the Nuggets basketball team plays) -- that was FULL of people in lines - probably 40 lines about 100 people deep. I wish i could have taken pictures -- so immense. After passport control, I bought some illegal liquor and skirted around customs. Yes! Grabbed a taxi and got to the hotel. By the time I got to the hotel, it was 8:30 AM on Saturday morning.
Luckily the hotel was nice enough to let me check in early -- i took a nap and headed out to the Mall of the Emirates -- where they have the indoor snowboarding. Hit up Virgin for the Da Vinci Code DVD and wandered around. I saw Quiznos (for LoLin) and ate some Lebanese fast food. Good stuff. Headed back and watched the movie and read for a while before passing out.
Started off Sunday well, the first day with everyone. Went to the Burj Dubai Sales office first. This is being built right now -- as the tallest building in the world. They haven't announced the height, because they want it to be the tallest. The complex is huge. I mean -- enormous.
The second place we went was the The Palm Jumeirah sales office. Yes, this is *the* Palm Islands and the World. We saw lots of clips about their progress and was told that they are all sold out basically. Crazy. We didnt get to go out to the Islands, but could see them from the shore. The massiveness of the project is unbelievable. The same group also built the Burj Al Arab Hotel -- You know, the windsail one? We drove past there a few times and took pics. Great times.
Afterwards, we went to lunch at some Lebanese place and ate way too much food, napped in the bus for a bit and went to the Dubai Museum. By that time, everyone was tired and cranky -- went back to the hotel, called LoLin, went to the hotel bar with my roommate and went to bed. So tired. I woke up early this morning and got online. not too bad. Even though i dont have internets in my room. =(
Now, its breakfast time!!! I will try and post pictures tomorrow. Any special requests?