Round The World and other travels

A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries

This is: Spring Fever 2008

Return to Dubai

Although perhaps a bit premature, I woke this morning with the feeling that Part 2 of the trip was drawing to a close because, to be honest, my next short stay in Dubai was basically a positioning stopover for the journey home. That's not to say I wasn't looking forward to it, of course! Anyway, I had my usual Club Lounge breakfast and was ready to check out at about 0800. I caught a taxi to the airport and passed through the various formalities fairly quickly. This airport seemed the most basic of the trip so far, but the Oman Air lounge was reasonably OK.

(Link to flight log in side panel)

Once again, arrival at DXB was relatively straightforward, thanks to the Fast Track invitation issued to premium passengers on board the aircraft. My suitcase was already on the belt when I arrived and in no time I was on board a taxi for the short ride to the brand new InterContinental Festival City - my last IC of the trip. Once again, despite this being another freebie stay, I was given the full RA treatment, including a most impressive 14th floor suite with panoramic windows. Excellent, just excellent!

After settling in, I decided to explore the adjacent, and equally new, Festival City shopping complex. I didn't really feel like venturing further afield as it was already mid-afternoon. I had a good look around another impressive mall, which is still not fully open in the sense that a large number of units still bear 'coming soon' signs. I didn't make any purchases, as I was already concerned about how my luggage, which had been perfectly manageable when I set out, was now in danger of getting out of control. It's one of those little mysteries about travel that I've never quite managed to get to the bottom of : how, as time goes on, suitcase contents seem to expand to the point where sitting on the lid is required

Back at the IC, I had a relaxing evening helped along by a very nice room service dinner (oriental - it was what I felt like) and a DVD shown on my large, plasma screen TV. I went to bed at a reasonable hour in view of the very early start required the following morning.