The last couple of days of our vacation consisted of relaxing and enjoying the amenities of the cruise ship and later the hotel. It was nice getting to spend some time with my family and not worry about time tables or schedules.
We arrived back in Barcelona in the morning and quickly made our way to our hotel. We were too early to check in, so we stowed our luggage and sat by the pool wile London played in the water.
The thought crossed our minds several times about taking advantage of the situation and doing some more touring of Barcelona, but I think we were all ready for some downtime. We stayed in the hotel and just enjoyed a quiet dinner and some movies. Since I had to be up at 3:00am, to catch my flight, it was wise to just rest.
The next morning I reluctantly said my goodbyes and left our room for the lobby. I barely made my plane due to the fact that the hotel shuttle was backed up and insufficient in getting their tenants out the door.
I was flying from Barcelona, to Rome, to Amsterdam, to Dubai, and finally Kandahar. I spent 5 hours in Rome’s airport, and another 7 hours in Amsterdam. In Amsterdam the flight got delayed after we were airborne for 30 minutes and the pilots discovered the landing gear would not retract. After making an emergency landing, and sitting on the plane for 4 more hours wile the technicians repaired the landing gear, we taxied to the flight line only to have the breaks overheat. By this time the flight crew had exhausted their union regulated working hours, and the flight was cancelled.
After an exhausting additional 3 hours waiting in lines for a hotel voucher and transport to a hotel, I finally checked into a barebones hotel room. By this time I was ready to literally pass out.
I was only able to sleep for 5 hours because the airline had told me to report back the next morning. Then I was informed that my plane was not due to fly to Dubai for another 12 hours. By this time I had already contacted my connecting airline to reschedule.
I finally arrived in Dubai, but the airline delivered me an hour late, causing me to miss my already rescheduled flight. I re-booked for a nominal fee and proceeded to find a hotel. After getting to the hotel, I realized that I had an entire day to burn because my re-booked flight was scheduled for the following day. I decided to stow my luggage and take a tour of Dubai.
The business center of the hotel had tour packages and excursions available, so I bought a ticket on a hop-on-hop-off bus that drove all throughout Dubai. I’m glad I did this because it gave me a chance to see some parts of the city that I’ve only seen from the air, and to see some of the finished landmarks that were still under construction the last time I was frequently travelling through Dubai.
Land reclamation is big here, you can see a manmade island being build just beyond this beach.
Burj Al Arab boasts to be the only 7 star hotel.
A view from my touristy hop-on-hop-off bus
Driving down the main road on Palm Jamera. All of this was just ocean until sand was piled up to create land.
The Atlantis Hotel on Palm Jumera. It’s kind of creepy to call it Atlantis, since all it would take is on little earthquake to cause this thing to sink it in a spectacular display of classic liquefaction.
Construction site on Palm Jumera, I’m guessing this will be underground shopping and commercial property. The bridge is a monorail transit.
I stopped at the Dubai Mall and was impressed by this massive 4 story salt water aquarium.
I was thinking of my daughter when I took this photo. It’s basically thousands of silk butterflies suspended from string.
I was anxious to see this landmark. The Burj Kalifa, tallest building in the world.
This is a huge water fountain in the Burj Kalifa complex. I caught the tail end of the water show which is synchronized to music and light, and shoots water in the air about 70 meters. The water jets are servo controlled and can aim in different directions. I was quite impressed by what little I saw. I think they were just testing it because on of the information kiosk people in the mall said that the actual show stated at 7pm. I would like to have seen it, but I was shouldering some serious jetlag, and needed to get back to my hotel.
I returned to my hotel and watched a little American television (something I haven’t seen in a long time) before turning in early.
The following day I returned to Dubai International, and got on my plane with no difficulties. After a 2 hour flight, I arrived in Kandahar safe and sound, ready to get back to work.
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