I'm leaving on a jet plane

Welcome back! After a little over five months back in Nashville I have once again taken to the skies on another globetrotting adventure, and this time to some uncharted territories in the Middle East. Specifically I will be spending most of my time on the coast areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The first stop was Dubai, and to arrive there I boarded their homegrown airline, Emirates, and the trip began.

Unlike some other overseas recruiting trips, like Asia where I have described the Singapore Airlines Business Class experience, my Economy Class Emirates experience was nothing to write home about from an asthetic experience, it was a normal airplane cabin with comfortable seats and plenty of leg room. Then I sat down in the seat and my opinion of Emirates skyrocketed immediately. I was staring at an 11" widescreen personal tv screen. Remember people, I have a 15 hour date with this space on the plane, so I began to get excited. I proceeded to pick up the entertainment system guide (Emirates calls it ICE) and discovered my 15 hours would consist of options like oh 1200 tv channels, 400 music channels, and a 3D flight tracker to amuse me.

A little backstory, I chose to fly Emirates because it was a direct flight to Dubai, their hub, but also it has accolades like the 5th best airline in the world and is the world's fastest growing airline, so I figured they have some stellar customer service...and I was right. As we are taking off from Houston I didn't have time to bid the States adios because I am planning my flight itinerary, suddenly 15 hours seems like a short amount of time, so many entertainment options, but I decided what movies and tv shows I wanted to watch and then they started serving drinks and dinner. I watched a movie, ate dinner, and then started watching some tv and I fell asleep - for hours - and woke up when the Emirates attendants were shoving more food and drink at me and resumed my now extremely shortened flight timetable.

So, with 1200 tv and movie channels I barely got through a half dozen and they were announcing our descent into Dubai. We left Houston at 7:00pm on Monday and landed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) 15 hours later at 6:30pm on Tuesday. If you're wondering when you realize you are in Dubai (and much more on this - with pics - in the next post) it is clear the minute you enter the airport terminal. Emirates has its own terminal that was just completed in 2008, it is a showcase and the largest building in the world by floor space, but it is temporary because Dubai is building a brand new airport...yes, in Dubai a one year old terminal building is old, that is how filthy, disgustingly rich this little grouping of emirates is...and that is only the beginning.

I made it to the Taj Palace Hotel, checked in got settled, and all ready because Wednesday would be the first day of work and the first day experiencing all that is Dubai and Abu Dhabi.