Dec 29 22: Flying to Dubai

We’ve finally arrived in Dubai after two very long plane flights (Denver to Frankfurt and then Frankfurt to Dubai).

Evidently we took off just in time to miss a snowstorm in Denver, departing at 4 PM on Dec 28. Overnight 9 and a half hours to Frankfurt, followed by a bleary 4-hour layover in an airport lounge. Then another 6-hour flight through a different night to our port of embarkation in Dubai.

It was strange to fly over so many places we’d only seen and read about during war coverage decades ago. Lots of brightly-lit cities and massive gas flaring over Iraq and the Persian Gulf! Otherworldly glow of reddish-orange across the desert night.

On our final approach to landing in Dubai, we glimpsed our ship — MV World Odyssey, our home for the next four months. The distinctive pattern of lights strung from bow to stern is easy to identify, even from thousands of feet up at hundreds of miles per hour.

Immigration and customs were trivialy easy and uneventful. Then we were shocked at the unbelievably long taxi lines in the middle of the night at Dubai airport! Honestly after 30 years of work travel all over the world I’ve never seen so many people waiting for taxis. Luckily, we were able to get an Uber to the hotel.

In the morning, our view from the hotel window includes Burj Khalifa over Dubai Creek. There’s 11 hours of jet lag so feeling pretty zonked, but got up and showered and ate a nice breakfast.