Dubai Day 1

I had booked tickets on Emirates airline and my date of departure was 16th June, 2011. By the time we had decided, getting return tickets were becoming a problem, while booking through Travel Agents. I did check online at emirates.com for tickets and it was available for much cheaper rate than what the travel agents were offering. I booked for my family and went to Emirates office at Chennai to book the tickets for my sis-in-law's family. While I made my booking, I selected the meal options as well for all of us. (I prefer selecting my meal options because most of us are vegetarians and getting veg meals in flight is a big deal!!!)

My flight was supposed to depart Chennai at 9:45 am but was late by almost an hour. This particular flight (EK 545) looked pretty new and had very comfortable seating. I was starting to get a bit hungry and was waiting for the food to come. The refreshing lime juice was super yummy. Coming to my meal, they didn't have any veg meal :( I was pretty shocked and informed them that I had booked my tickets almost a month back and I had mentioned my meal option as well. While she informed me that they didn't get any information regarding that, I was kind of surprised by the kind of miscommunication that can happen in such an airline. 

I called the local Emirates office at Dubai and informed them about the same ( I didn't want to be in a similar situation during my return journey). They were flabbergasted that the ground staff were not informed and hoped that I would not be in a similar situation during my return journey. After we landed (around 12:45 pm), we proceeded towards immigration. The one thing I was irritated with Dubai Airport is you have to stand in a separate queue for Eye scan and another queue for immigration. Can it just not be combined as one ? The waiting time was just frustrating.

We were getting a bit worried because we had a booking at Burj Al Arab for High Tea at 4:30 pm and it was already 2:30 pm and we were not out of the airport. Finally we made it out of the airport by 3:00 pm and rushed to take a taxi. The taxi driver was a bit clueless about where the Apartment (Ascott Park Place) is located. We did roam about a bit before we could finally spot our Apartment. The check in happened quite quickly, since we told them we have to rush for our booking at Burj Al Arab. 

The apartment was a big one. The living room, dining and kitchen were big. The master bedroom had a huge bathroom with a seating area. The second bedroom was also spacious with a big bathroom. The third bedroom was very small with a bathroom. The problem was, we were not able to lock any of our bedroom. We quickly changed and went for our High Tea. Since, children below 18 were not allowed at Skyview Bar, we had made two booking at Burj Al Arab.

View of Burj Khalifa from our room

Living area

We were two couples (Sis-in-law,Bro-in-law, Hubby and me) dining at Skyview bar. While  my MIL and the two children were dining at Sahn Eddar Restaurant. When I was making my online reservation, they had enquired if were celebrating any special occasion or if we have any dietary requirement. They had also informed us about the dress code that needs to be followed. All the details were sent to me by mail as well, confirming my booking. The place is absolutely beautiful and the architecture inside is just mind blowing. The service as expected exceeded my expectation and the view from Skyview Bar is absolutely worth it.

 First we were offered Champagne. For people like me, who don't drink, they offer an apple & date juice, which was super yummy. Next came fresh berried with cream. As per our requests, we were offered hot and cold sandwiches. (My mouth is just watering thinking about them and writing. They were absolutely delicious). Meanwhile, you can have any kind of drink / coffee / tea. The variety is just too much to choose from!!!. We were then served an assortment of pastries, scones and chocolates. The presentation is mind blowing. The quantity served is just too much and we would all nibble on the same piece so that we could taste it.

We were initially not given a table with the view, but later on request they were sweet enough to change our table. They have extremely friendly staff, which makes the whole experience completely worth it. I cannot write much about the experience at Sahn Eddar, since I personally did not experience it. But, I was told from my MIL that it was very good and they had a great time as well. We spent a good 2.5 hrs at this place and we didn't realise the time pass by.

We were busy clicking pictures of the hotel, while the staff was arranging a taxi for us. We then went to BurJuman Mall for our shopping. I thought the mall was fine with lots of brand in it. We didn't do much of shopping here. After we were done looking at the mall, we went to a nearby grocery store to buy food that we could eat in the night (if we were hungry). Trust me, we were so full after the Afternoon Tea, that we didn't have anything the entire night.

Getting a taxi in Dubai is so easy, that we just took one from the mall outside to our apartment. Shall continue my Day 2 in my next post.