A Spot of T

We’re here. feeling, hmmmm… kinda weird, tired, giggly, but safe and sound. The term culture shock has taken on a whole new meaning. Right now, Judy and I are ferociously each tackling our own addictions. She’s trying desperatly to get her international BB in sync, and I’m trying to get online. She’s talking to her IT ppl in canada, arguing with aliant (bell), and working with our hotels business center. ahhh… a new UEA sim card just arrived at our door so maybe she’s in luck! I’m also waiting for an internet connecter cord to arrive. Looks like they’re a tad behind the times in this country…. I was sure they’d have wifi. Enough about that and on to our journey. We left Saint John at 5:45 our time arriving in TO and leaving from there at 9:45 on Air Emerites. The flight was 13 hours long but I must say it was very pleasant. Our seats turned into beds which they made up for us and the food and service was exquisite. Judy watched PS I Love You. I watched The Ultimate Gift. We laughed generally enjoyed ourselves until falling asleep gazing at stars lit up on the ceiling of our cabin.Arriving at the airport was soooooo strange. The heat hit us hard. Our welcoming committee was FAR from welcoming! Then we found our woman holding up a sign with our name on it and we felt as if we’d been rescued. She escorted us through customs and a waiting drive to our hotel. And here we are. Things are so very different but I really don’t have a whole lot left in me tonight to go on… One thing totally different was how we checked in. These men took our luggage and then walked us into this huge ornate room and told us to sit on the couch. First, they gave us wet faceclothes to wipe our hands and face, then they insisted on us each having a small cup of arabian coffee poured from a huge gold pot - then opened an ornate box of nut stuffed dates for us to try. After we were relaxed, they checked a computer for our reservation and then some sort of a business attendant woman (she was from Switzerland) shows us to our room. At the desk in our room, after showing us around, she then asked for a credit card and signature! Talk about backwards!!  

This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 6:05 am and is filed under Trip to Dubai. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.