Time for inspiration

It’s been a long time between trips to the Northern Hemisphere. With work having stalled my writing, I’m excited to be heading north for a few weeks and hoping to find the inspiration to get me going on my new standalone novel, the first part of which takes place in London and Paris, two of the cities we will be visiting.

With three of the family’s work/school and university holidays falling at the same time in the middle of 2023, it seemed a great time to book an overseas trip. This excursion, as well as hopefully providing inspiration, may be our last big holiday as a family of four as the little Scotts are nearly 21 and 18 and will be heading off on their own adventures. It’s nice we can spend some holiday time with them and that they both wanted to come, but given the chance of a free holiday, why wouldn’t they!

Travel can out the worst in people, or maybe, it just brings out the worst in me. We hadn’t even got to the departure gate for our first flight when I’d been annoyed. Why do people choose entrance to departures to gather and take sad family photos impeding the progress of every other traveller? Move your weeping selves to the side, please. Not much further along our journey, a family had stopped to look for something lost in a handbag, blocking the only pathway to the e-gates and oblivious to all other passengers including the four Scotts who were inbound and on a mission. I’d like to say it’s my fear of flying that puts me on edge at airports but maybe I’m just getting grumpier in my old age. 

Before these blockages, our trip started off well. Usually, we use some kind of park-and-ride affair for Auckland Airport to have our car on hand for our return. The cost of this usually works out about the same for a couple of weeks as getting a taxi, or shuttle, to and from home. This time I suggested to Murray that we book a carpark at the airport as our last experience with the park-and-ride we usually use was a bit painful. My dutiful husband took the task on and booked parking at Auckland Airport which only worked out about $30 more expensive than the off-airport park and ride. What he didn’t realise, until we were reading the directions on the way to the airport, was that he had booked valet parking. What a treat it was on a cold, stormy July evening to rock up to the side of the International terminal, stop the car only metres from the side entrance and hand the keys over. We are now converts, it’ll be valet parking all the way from now on! Aside from the annoying people getting in our way the rest of the airport experience was smooth and by 8.30pm we were buckled into our 17-hour Emirates flight to Dubai.

The bad thing about this flight is that it’s 17 hours. The good things were pretty much everything else. The plane was big (two-story) with plenty of bathrooms. The meals were pretty good, and you could get snacks throughout the night. Leaving at 8.30pm NZ time and arriving at 5am Dubai time meant the entire 17-hour flight was spent in darkness. I wonder how flat-earthers explain that? Being dark for the entire time makes it really easy to nap as much as your body will let you without having some annoying kid on the opposite side of the plane blinding you every 30 seconds by whipping up a window shade while you’re trying to get your sleep in. I managed to fit in a couple of movies, a documentary, three episodes of a crime podcast, three visits to the bathroom, two meals and five games of Yahtzee against Christian in between naps. And while the flight didn’t ‘fly by’ it didn’t drag either and before long we were landing in Dubai just as the sun turned the sky red over the desert.

I saw a flying hack on TikTok so decided to give it a go as it seemed like a good idea for those of us with not very long legs. I took a scarf, knotted it and put it behind my tray table. I could then have my feet comfortably raised off the floor. It was also handy for storing my water bottle when my feet weren’t in it as the seat back pocket was tight.

(Always handy to know how long until prayer time – travel hack – sunrise from the tail camera).

Dubai airport could not have been easier, we didn’t get asked any questions about our intentions for our stay or have to fill in any arrival documentation whatsoever. The hardest part was getting my face to scan to match my passport at arrivals as I had to ‘open my eyes wider’. My eyes are naturally not very wide at the best of times and even less so after 17 hours on a plane. We were approached and offered a taxi as we approached the official line. 150 AED ($67 NZ) to our hotel the seemingly nice man offered. We declined and joined the official queue which moved quickly. We were soon ushered into a taxi and the 10-minute drive cost just under 40 AED (under $18 NZ). Official taxis in Dubai are a great way to get around. While the city does have buses and a metro even walking 20 minutes to or from a station is pretty hard work in the heat. Taxis though are everywhere, easy to flag down and relatively cheap. They operate via a taximeter which is government-regulated and based on the distance travelled with a small base fare. During the day the base fare is 8 AED and the KM rate is always 1.82 AED, getting stuck in traffic isn’t stressful as the meter doesn’t move if you aren’t.

(Our hotel is the two buildings in the middle joined with a sky bridge – rooftop pool – sky bridge – daytime and dusk views from our room).

We were at our hotel, the Marriot Executive Apartments Dubai Creek, by about 6.30am, a wee bit before the 3pm check-in time. Let the longest day in the world commence. We were prepared to have to store our bags and find something to do for 8 or so hours but when we were offered early check-in to our two-bedroom apartment for 250 AED (about $111 NZD) we jumped at the chance and were pleasantly surprised with our digs for the next two nights. For less than $300 NZ per night, we have two bedrooms (one king, one twin), and an open-plan kitchen/lounge that is bigger than our own at home. A toilet is located off this area then down the hall, there is a bathroom, the first bedroom and at the end the master which has more wardrobe space than all my clothes at home could fill, my 11kgs of luggage looks positively lost, and finally there’s an ensuite with a bath.

After unpacking a little and showering we were keen to keep moving so headed out for a walk. Even at 7.30am, the temperature was around 30 degrees and climbing as we meandered to the Dubai Creek checking out the traditional wooden dhow boats tied along the creek. After 40 very sweaty minutes, we arrived at the spice souk. We wandered down the darkened alleys enjoying aromas including dried rosebuds, lavender, sulphur soap and burning incense while fending off the requests from all the stallholders to venture into their small airconditioned shops.

Travelling like locals we forked out a dirham each and boarded an abra. Meaning ‘to cross’ in Arabic these small boats carry around 20 passengers on each trip across Dubai Creek. The middle section of the boat serves as a seating platform with each passenger having a water view for the 5-minute trip. Locals disembark before the boat has even come to a stop alongside the small wharf. The fact the four of us were sitting at the easiest disembarking point did not matter, they scuttled past us as we waited for the perfect moment to make the short leap from the boat to dry land. Once on the other side, we entered another souk which was lined with stalls of clothing and souvenirs. The stall holders tried to engage with us as we walked, one telling Kennedy she looked like Shakira, another calling out Jack Sparrow, we weren’t sure who that was too, the best shout of the day was the call that Christian looked like Jeffrey Dahmer, not sure why he thought that would inspire us to spend money with him. After we each made small purchases, with the temperature now charging over 35 degrees and the time only just 11am we wearily waved down a taxi, returned to the hotel and we all succumbed to a nap.

The rest of day one included a few trips to the supermarket to buy lunch and snacks, a swim, watching F1 and trying to stay awake for the rest of the day to get into the time zone. 

Day 2 – Dubai

My leaden eyelids had given up at 8pm and I embraced sleep, sadly just not for long enough. At 2am I was wide awake and I spent the next 6 hours trying to get a bit more shut-eye. We opted for easing into the day and headed out just before midday, catching a taxi to the Burj Khalifa. Christian’s love for tall buildings sparked when he first laid eyes on the Petronas Twin Towers when he was six. For a good couple of years, he studied the heights of all the tall buildings in the world and collected miniatures of the ones he visited. His face lit up again today when he saw the 829.8m structure. While he and Kennedy went to the view area on the 124th floor, me and Murray waited in the food hall. Murray because he’s been up before, me because I’m terrified of heights and I’m too old to pay $80 for something that will scare the shit out of me. 

(Christian (with me and Kennedy) at 6 years old in front of his first building crush – and at 18 checking out for the first time the tallest building in the world)

After the offspring had descended we spent a couple of hours wandering around Dubai Mall enjoying some of its cool features like a massive waterfall and a two-story aquarium, but mostly enjoying the airconditioning.

Mid-afternoon we took a taxi to The Walk at Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR), billed as a ‘buzzing beachside boulevard’, it was a little underwhelming given that it’s the height of summer and apparently when everyone leaves Dubai. Can’t blame them, within 5 minutes of being out of the taxi sweat was running down my back and I was slipping about in my plastic Birkenstock knock-offs. After a bit of a wander about we hunted out air conditioning again for a drink before returning to the hotel for a refreshing swim.

(Jumeirah Beach deserted – I think I’ll change how I spell my name. I like this better)

Tomorrow we return to the airport for our onward flight to Paris. Overall I’d rate our Dubai stopover 8 camels out of 10. On the upside, it is nice to break up the journey, it’s easy, feels safe, and isn’t ‘break the bank’ expensive. The downside is the oppressive heat (although could be an upside to shedding a few kilos) and the forced start to dry July, although, that could also have its upsides.

Paris, here we come.