DBX...JFK...BOS...
“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of
others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope,
and those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of
oppression and resistance.”
~Robert F Kennedy
The other day I had quite the adventure in Dubai. You could
say, that it was definitely a marathon sprint through the city much like those
Manhattan or Tokyo exploration days. I basically was nonstop finding loads of
craic & doing it on a shoestring with the metro. The city reminded me of
Hong Kong in many ways tied with Las Vegas. There was no stopping I on where my
light chasing adventures took me.
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| Aquarium at Atlantis The Palms |
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| The Burj Al Arab Hotel |
I decided to purchase an all day metro pass for $22 AED
Dirham’s that was quite the steal to see some of the sites that Dubia is famous
for. I somehow found my way into more of the business section of the city
wandering around to the tram to go take a wee ride out on the monorail to go
see The Palm. Palm Monorail
was like $25 AED Dirham’s for a roundtrip pass ticket all the way out to Atlantis The Palm
. I basically went to check out
the man made posh real estate development & to see the Persian Gulf.
Honesty, I’ve never been to Atlantis in the Bahamas, but figure that I needed
to go see what is was all about. The place was huge & nonstop entertainment
with temptations galore. For the
nature lover that I am, it’s not a place that I wanted to spend my entire day
at buying into “material world” items of luxury. I did experience the Lost
Chamber Aquarium & had the pleasure of checking out one of the chambers. It
was nice to see a wide varietal of fish & rays. After my stop at The Palms, I decided to surprise a
friend at work over at the “wave hotel", the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. On my
way over, I figure out rather quickly that the tram’s last stop wasn’t as close
as I wanted to get to make my destination. I ended up walking for over an hour
to reach the hotel, but got to experience some sites along the way. I noticed that
the bus drop of stations had a very nice air conditioner waiting areas &
that the streets were like NYC traffic with fast passed SUV’s & taxis
driving. I really wanted to walk pass the Burj Al Arab, the famous hotel with the big sail to see what it looked
like in person. However, since it is a seven star resort, I couldn’t go into
it. I had to take a photo from the street. After quite the bit of wandering I
did make it to the Jumeirah Beach Hotel to see a friend. It was nice to catch
up with my friend & I actually did stick my feet into the Persian Gulf
while I was at the beach. After my
visit with my friend’s suggestion, I made my way to see the world’s largest
building, Burj Khalifa, along with a stop at the The Dubai Mall
where it was tax free duty free shopping. I will admit that the Dubai Mall was
fabulous & I had too much fun with exploring some of the best shopping that
the world has to offer.
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| The Tobin Bridge, Boston's Morning View |
I had quite the
experience getting back to Boston tho. Yesterday, I arrived at DBX rather early
to make sure that I had enough time leaving the UAE. Once, I got to Emirates
counter to check in, I found out that the direct flight back to Boston was over
sold. The nice Serbian ticket lad, told me that I had the option to fly to JFK
to get back to BOS & I would get a free one way ticket out of it. I was
definitely in alignment & it was a no brainier to say “YES” to the offer. I
took the long way back. I had about 13 hours of flying time where I basically
watched movies the entire flight. When I was flying over Ireland, I had the
floodgates of tears going down my face for numerous reasons. At that moment it
hit me that I was almost back to the States after an amazing opportunity for me
to grow not only as a person but as an artist as well. I conquered the fear from within that
was holding me back. Also, I was missing my newfound family as well. I did make
it back to JFK Terminal 4 where I started my trans Atlantic adventure &
found going threw US Customs to be different from the last time I went threw.
Luckily last year I had the opportunity to go threw at Dublin which was easy
peasy. I found JFK to be pretty easy, but still confusing with new regulations
from the Department of Homeland Security. Once I made my way out of the
Customs, I had to recheck my bag for my connection. I realized that I wouldn’t
have enough time to make it over to Terminal 5 with the train & go threw
security once again for my originally scheduled Jet Blue connecting flight,
instead I waited for an Emirates represented to rebook me on a later flight.
Luckily, I choose the better option to get rebooked, but I had to take a Delta
flight that left at about 8:40PM.
I had a feeling that with the new handwritten tag on my checked bag that
it wouldn’t make it. I got into Logan at about 9:30PM last night & once I
got off the plane realized that temperature in Boston was much colder than it
was in NYC. I went down to the baggage carousels in Terminal A waiting for my
bag to appear, as it turned out my hunch at JFK, my bag didn’t turn up. I went to
the Delta office to calmly ask where my bag was & for some reason it out
rerouted to Atlanta & was showing up at midnight into Logan. Oh, great, I
was thinking, but I didn’t get upset like I have done in the past. I was like “wow”
my inner work that I do every day to start my day must be working cos I was
calm as a cucumber. I was very grateful that my parent’s best friends picked me
from the airport & took me in for the night. After a ring around the rosy I
finally got back to Maine. It’s been an adventure with planes, trains &
automobiles for sure. I’m still on South African time. The universe did get me
my bag. I’ve been gone for most of the winter & not enjoying all of the
snow, but grateful to have missed the dark days of winter.
Reverse cultural
shocked once again has set in once I step foot of the plane from Dubai at JFK.
I asked if the nice South African flight attendant if she could please take me
back to Jozi with here. I haven’t yet process all of the emotions yet that I
have going threw me, but with time I will. I do need to catch those zzzzz’s…
