Living Dubai-Part One
Dubai, baby steps
Leaving Egypt
It was a rapid process, I had to pack up, put all my things together, leave my employer, buy plane tickets, buy new bags, arrange someone to meet me there and try as far as i could to know the least bits about the place i am going to.
It happened that one of my old friends was surprisingly traveling to work there on the same day i was. We talked and decided to fly on the same flight, so i canceled my egypt air ticket, took the difference and traveled by emirates air that takes off from borg al arab alexandria airport.
My friends drove me to mohandessin, the point where emirates airlines take you by bus to the airport.
I waited but my friend to travel-with didn't show up, i gave him a call and realized he had problems doing his working permit from egypt and that he will have to delay his travel till it's done.
Said goodbye to my friends, my family and everyone i left behind, the bus started moving taking the cairo-alexandria highway. It was so crowded with a huge amount of traffic due to fog accidents, we were delayed about an hour.
Once there, I presented my papers, the officer asked for the work permit, i said none is needed as this is a visitor visa, after some argument he decided to let go of me.
Having my bags weighed at the boarding counters, they made me pay overweight of about 500 egyptian pounds, i was told at time of booking that i have 40 kilos for any number of pieces and seven for handbag, i had fifty seven on me by that time.
The egyptian agent said no they were wrong, it is just 30 and an additional seven kilos. After another argument, he agreed to make it a total of 40 and i paid for the rest.
At borg al arab airport, they take you with an internal bus to the airplane, you climb up the stairs, they greet you with a warm smile from a nice face which seemed to be so not egyptian nor arabian.
The flight
Once on board, you are welcomed with a warm wetted cloth to give your face room not to dry. I was about to put my bags in the bag cabin above my seat when two Omanis advised me not to, saying that this is only for fragile stuff, you can place your bag in the cabin above our seat.
It was a nice gesture, I thanked them, went back to my seat and started exploring what emirates online coach/economy seating have to give.
First each passenger has a tv in the back of the seat infront of him, it is a touch screen tv, you just open it, choose the channel and set the volume and other options then put on the headphones and enjoy their movie choices.
Below that tv lies the tv guide, and many other magazines including their duty free products selection that you could buy on board. You can find as well the security guidelines and a magazine with lots of articles about technology, emirates and flying.
The captain greeted us and said we are sorry for the delay, ofcourse you know we never get delayed on this kind of airlines and such delay was due to traffic conditions of the road.
The plane took off, they started displaying a video that constantly viewed the altitude, ground speed, outside temperature and current location on the map.
We took a certain route from alexandria to cairo, then sinai and crossed the saudi borders just above tabook and continued till the gulf and through the international gulf waters just above qatar directly to dubai airport, we had a turn in the air due to delay and losing our slot of landing in the airport before we successfully landed around seven in the afternoon.
The airport
Once you get out, you find a huge place, many signs, but one direction, the floor is moving under you, you can see downstairs from the right showing two other floors below.
You keep walking on and off these walking belts for about half an hour or more, such a long way.
You pass by duty free shops and many sections until you reach passport control. It was so crowded that I had to stay there for about an hour, many tourists from all over the world were there to visit as dubai shopping festival was to commence next day.
My turn came, I presented my papers to the office, it was a lady, she had a nice computer that she used to retrieve my records and then stamped my passport, she then asked are you here to work? i said yes. My visa had a big bold Employment word at its top, don't know what that question was all about..
Using many screens you will be able to know at which belt you can find your bags, then you pick them up move to the -nothing to declare- area, get your bags scanned and you're out.
I expected to find someone meeting me there, none.
I went to a police officer and told him that no one came to pick me up and that I need to make a phone call and I don't have in my roaming that capability.
He then told me what is the number you wish to call, I gave it to him and he kindly called the HR person from my company.
The Cab
Due to delay of my flight and the other delay at passport control, the hotel chauffeur who was assigned to wait and pick me up from the airport left. My HR person advised me to take a cab to the hotel.
It was broadway residence hotel appartments, in a place called Mankhool.
I stood where it said, taxi queue, you wait your turn and a taxi comes to you.
The airport is so big and so organized.
Inside the cab, there is a nice lcd television that keeps running ads and guides about dubai, you can see and here these ads.
The fare starts by twenty derhams and by the time we arrived to my hotel it was thirty six.
The cab was most probably toyota maxima, the driver talked strange arabic so it was better to communicate with him in english.
The Hotel
At the reception there was a filipino who warmly welcomed me in and asked for certain papers to continue the checking-in procedure. It was done easily, I took my bags and went to my room.It was in the first floor, had nice view, you could see dubai downtown from the balcony.
It was a studio appartment, my company rented for six nights and kept reminding me to find an alternative accomodation before my stay there ends.
Photos, Expect Many in Next Part
Leaving Egypt
It was a rapid process, I had to pack up, put all my things together, leave my employer, buy plane tickets, buy new bags, arrange someone to meet me there and try as far as i could to know the least bits about the place i am going to.
It happened that one of my old friends was surprisingly traveling to work there on the same day i was. We talked and decided to fly on the same flight, so i canceled my egypt air ticket, took the difference and traveled by emirates air that takes off from borg al arab alexandria airport.
My friends drove me to mohandessin, the point where emirates airlines take you by bus to the airport.
I waited but my friend to travel-with didn't show up, i gave him a call and realized he had problems doing his working permit from egypt and that he will have to delay his travel till it's done.
Said goodbye to my friends, my family and everyone i left behind, the bus started moving taking the cairo-alexandria highway. It was so crowded with a huge amount of traffic due to fog accidents, we were delayed about an hour.
Once there, I presented my papers, the officer asked for the work permit, i said none is needed as this is a visitor visa, after some argument he decided to let go of me.
Having my bags weighed at the boarding counters, they made me pay overweight of about 500 egyptian pounds, i was told at time of booking that i have 40 kilos for any number of pieces and seven for handbag, i had fifty seven on me by that time.
The egyptian agent said no they were wrong, it is just 30 and an additional seven kilos. After another argument, he agreed to make it a total of 40 and i paid for the rest.
At borg al arab airport, they take you with an internal bus to the airplane, you climb up the stairs, they greet you with a warm smile from a nice face which seemed to be so not egyptian nor arabian.
The flight
Once on board, you are welcomed with a warm wetted cloth to give your face room not to dry. I was about to put my bags in the bag cabin above my seat when two Omanis advised me not to, saying that this is only for fragile stuff, you can place your bag in the cabin above our seat.
It was a nice gesture, I thanked them, went back to my seat and started exploring what emirates online coach/economy seating have to give.
First each passenger has a tv in the back of the seat infront of him, it is a touch screen tv, you just open it, choose the channel and set the volume and other options then put on the headphones and enjoy their movie choices.
Below that tv lies the tv guide, and many other magazines including their duty free products selection that you could buy on board. You can find as well the security guidelines and a magazine with lots of articles about technology, emirates and flying.
The captain greeted us and said we are sorry for the delay, ofcourse you know we never get delayed on this kind of airlines and such delay was due to traffic conditions of the road.
The plane took off, they started displaying a video that constantly viewed the altitude, ground speed, outside temperature and current location on the map.
We took a certain route from alexandria to cairo, then sinai and crossed the saudi borders just above tabook and continued till the gulf and through the international gulf waters just above qatar directly to dubai airport, we had a turn in the air due to delay and losing our slot of landing in the airport before we successfully landed around seven in the afternoon.
The airport
Once you get out, you find a huge place, many signs, but one direction, the floor is moving under you, you can see downstairs from the right showing two other floors below.
You keep walking on and off these walking belts for about half an hour or more, such a long way.
You pass by duty free shops and many sections until you reach passport control. It was so crowded that I had to stay there for about an hour, many tourists from all over the world were there to visit as dubai shopping festival was to commence next day.
My turn came, I presented my papers to the office, it was a lady, she had a nice computer that she used to retrieve my records and then stamped my passport, she then asked are you here to work? i said yes. My visa had a big bold Employment word at its top, don't know what that question was all about..
Using many screens you will be able to know at which belt you can find your bags, then you pick them up move to the -nothing to declare- area, get your bags scanned and you're out.
I expected to find someone meeting me there, none.
I went to a police officer and told him that no one came to pick me up and that I need to make a phone call and I don't have in my roaming that capability.
He then told me what is the number you wish to call, I gave it to him and he kindly called the HR person from my company.
The Cab
Due to delay of my flight and the other delay at passport control, the hotel chauffeur who was assigned to wait and pick me up from the airport left. My HR person advised me to take a cab to the hotel.
It was broadway residence hotel appartments, in a place called Mankhool.
I stood where it said, taxi queue, you wait your turn and a taxi comes to you.
The airport is so big and so organized.
Inside the cab, there is a nice lcd television that keeps running ads and guides about dubai, you can see and here these ads.
The fare starts by twenty derhams and by the time we arrived to my hotel it was thirty six.
The cab was most probably toyota maxima, the driver talked strange arabic so it was better to communicate with him in english.
The Hotel
At the reception there was a filipino who warmly welcomed me in and asked for certain papers to continue the checking-in procedure. It was done easily, I took my bags and went to my room.It was in the first floor, had nice view, you could see dubai downtown from the balcony.
It was a studio appartment, my company rented for six nights and kept reminding me to find an alternative accomodation before my stay there ends.
Photos, Expect Many in Next Part
posted by voicy at
1/17/2006 02:10:00 PM
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3 comments
