We were delighted to sleep in until 07:00 and casually pack up before heading out for the airport to catch our flight to Dubai. We made great time to the airport and dropped off the car randomly in a lot before giving them the key inside. Hope they found it. Over 4 days we put ~1200 km on the car, more than the 800 we would have been allowed with the other agencies. However maybe we should have kept it since it may have been faster to drive to Dubai, but who knew the entire peninsula was under attack from the wind gods. Overnight the 50th floor of The Torch in Duabi’s Marina District was engulfed in flames as high winds flung fire and debris around. The troubles didn’t stop there as flight delays built up and one of Emirates MCT>DXB flights was canceled, making for a very full, and late flight for us. While they wouldn’t admit it and claimed there would be no delay, we departed nearly two hours late, after the canceled flight’s departure time of course. Fear not, we enjoyed that hard-earned beer at the Plaza Premium Lounge with breakfast. They initially refused my mother entry based on her EK first ticket, saying EK no longer pays lounge access unless it is part of a same day onward long haul. She just used her Priority Pass. Eventually, but still well before we actually boarded buses for the A330, we headed to the gate. My mom was flying in first as part of her AS award with a stopover in DXB, I would be relegated to the back of the bird.
So much for priority check-in
Diverse lounge locations
Still empty; but not for long
Wadi Shab victory beer with croquets, hashbrowns and idli
Boarding chaos
Two door boarding
EK flight 863
Muscat, Oman (MCT) to Dubai, UAE (DXB)
Depart 12:25, Arrive 13:50, Time 1:25
A330-200, Seat 1B, 18K
Regional first class
Flight attendants
Way too much food for ~1 hour
Slumming it in the back
IFE never quite worked right visually; just left it on Tim Clark describing his master plan
Excessive meal even in economy
Touchdown in the Dubai dust storm
Upon landing we breezed through immigration (thanks to an extra fast pass I had acquired on my IKA>DXB flight) and both of our bags came out first. My mom checked in for her pre-booked chauffeur service and we were on our way. Although in a Volvo since they said it might be 5 minutes for the Mercedes. What horror! Along the ride we enjoyed our first glimpse of the expansive Dubai skyline including Burj Khalifa.
Palm Jumeirah bound
Is everything gold here?
Dubai Metro station
Burj Khalifa; You can even see the top!
When we arrived at the Fairmont Palm Jumeirah we were warmly welcomed and led to reception. I had requested a suite upgrade at the time of booking but no availability existed so I asked again at check in and was told for 400 AED a night we could use our suite certificate and upgrade to a superior suite. Not interested in paying more, I asked if I could combine a room upgrade with suite upgrade and he was surprisingly happy to do so. The double upgrade combined with a third night free and an additional free night certificate certainly made the 3-day stay in a stunning suite for the price of one night in a Fairmont room quite the bargain. The icing on the cake was all of these certificates expired in 4 days. The room wasn’t currently ready so he suggested we have a drink and snack in their waiting room.
Eat this sandwich even though your room isn’t ready
Our original plan (baring any flight delays) had been to take a boat ride around the Madinat Jumeirah and get a reasonably close look at the Burj al Arab before heading back toward Dubai Creek for the WTA Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship. With our lengthy delay in Muscat and waiting for a room, we had to scrap that and just head to the tennis match. We eventually gave up on the room being ready too and just decided to get to the tennis match and get ours keys tonight. A reliable taxi whisked us off to the stadium at the Irish Village.
Entrance to the Irish Village
WTA this week, ATP next week
Schedule of play
An expensive prank idea
Tonight’s winner will be going home with a new Arabic coffee pot
Monster tennis balls
The stadium
Selling not just shirts and hats…
…but iPads and PS4s
…even Emirates plush toys
There were just two matches tonight, the Women’s doubles and singles finals. After roaming the grounds, and making the life altering decision whether my mom should buy a blue or white shirt, we found our way inside just as the doubles championship was beginning.
(HUN) Timea Babos & (FRA) Kristina Mladenovic
defeated
(ESP) Garbińe Muguruza & (ESP) Carlos Suarez Navarro
(6-3, 6-2)
Packed house early on
The Hungarian and French planning their next poach
Kristina Mladenovic service
Winners
Winners and almost winners
I really enjoy playing doubles but found watching it in person to be less fulfilling as the points are complete so quickly. Plus the majority of the seats were still open as the crowd was clearly only interested in the singles final. About an hour later, but not before some energizing tennis ball giveaways, we were treated to as exciting of a straight set final as one could hope for.
Free tennis balls!
(ROU) Simona Halep
defeated
(CZE) Karolína Plíšková
(6-4, 7-6 {7-4})
The crowd really filled in for this match and security was kept busy tracking down the culprits of in-play vocal fanatics. On one of the changeovers they drew attention to the royalty in attendance tonight: His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai) and one of his spouses, Her Royal Highness Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein. Along with some other dignitaries they all partook in the trophy presentations, which concluded with a giant puff of confetti into the night sky.
Plíšková and Halep pre-match photos
Full house, sorta
Plíšková putting the ball kid to work
Halep service
His and Her Highness
Victory
Sportsmanship
Signing the camera
Dubai Sports interview (in Arabic) with the fan in front of us
Congratulating the champion
Trophy hoisting
Confetti!
Having a beer outside the stadium in The Irish Village
Figuring our room still wouldn’t be ready 6 hours later we decided to enjoy a beer in the beer garden and had a nice conversation with an expat currently living in Al Ain. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this beer turned out to be my only alcoholic beer outside of a hotel or airport the entire trip. It began to drizzle a bit, calming the dusty sky, and we took a taxi back to check out our magnificent hotel room.
Thanks to my brother and his wife for the welcome amenity they arranged we had a snack to enjoy before we called it a night. Just to please all taste buds it included some chocolates, Turkish delights, stuffed dates, fruit and a bottle of sparkling date juice. Another great day in the books.
Bedroom
One of the bathrooms
Ready for a family of 8
Dining room, living room, office
Welcome amenity
Night view from the balcony of Dubai Marina