Woke up at 06:00, out at 06:55, too early for breakfast so walked to the train station in the pouring rain. Picked up a roll at the station then the fast train to the airport.
We had a 6 hour flight, then 1 hour at Doha, then a 1 hour flight to Dubai.
Flight from Doha to Dubai was delayed, they changed the plane which meant all the seat allocations were wrong so they had to tear up the boarding passes and issue new ones.
Flight was about 6 hours and uneventful, and I had the worst meal on a plane I can remember – very chewy beef that was luke warm in a terrible sauce with cold vegetables.
I’d tried to book the shuttle bus from the airport to the hotel but they didn’t confirm, so weren’t waiting. We got a taxi, a nice Lexus driven by a grumpy woman when we told her the name of the hotel because it wasn’t far from the airport. It was just as well the bus wasn’t there, it cost 3 times as much as the taxi.
When we got to the hotel I mentioned that we were expecting a pick up at the hotel and the guy was apologetic but said we didn’t confirm. I nearly said that it was a bit hard to do at 30000 feet but didn’t.
He said the only non smoking room had 2 single beds that he could push together. Not happy. We’d booked the room in February, and I asked what was the point of us booking specifically for a king size bed and non smoking room months in advance if, when we arrived, it wasn’t available?
My mild annoyance worked and he upgraded us to a suite. So we had 2 toilets, a lounge with a tv, King size bed, another Tv in the bedroom, a kitchen and a huge bathroom. I should have complained at some of the other places.
Tomorrow is a wander around the Dubai shopping malls – just a day of relaxation before the flight home which leaves at 01:35.
