DUBAI DIARY - Fly away

Fly away : From UN-eventful to Eventful!

Yes, airports intimidate me. Hence the deep love for the Indian Rail system with all its good, bad and the downright ugly. However when we finally booked our flight for Dubai, the fear of airport was culminated with the whole complex immigration process and a wish to request for a under-water train tunnel from Mumbai to Dubai.

The check-in, the immigration at Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport was comfortable. The take-off and the altitude variations for once did not block my ears thanks to the in-plane head-phones and the giant IC aircraft. Love aaj kal and some english stand-up comedy kept us busy apart from the beverages and the dinner.

The flight time was nearly 3 hours and 15 minutes. We landed at Dubai airport Terminal 1 at 10:28 Dubai time. The glitz and the glamour bedazzled me instantly.

A few memorable moments-

1. Flight- flight: My uncle had a flight to Dubai at 7Pm IST, my flight was at 8:30PM IST and dad's Air Arabia flight was at 9:30 IST. We all landed nearly at the same time and my relavties had a hard time managing time and shuttling between Dubai Airport and Sharjah Airport as well as different terminals. I'm sure it was a one-off airport-running game for them. :P
2. The Lights: One-hour before landing at DXB, we spotted random sets of flights from the aircraft window. We were gyuessing what they were. The guesses ranged from the spot on some islands, ships to the bizzare moon rays! We even asked the air-hostesses about the same. Her answer truly anused us. She said, "Ma'am it must be the lights from the aircraft wing, don't worry it is nothing alarming!" "Yeah right" *sarcastically* was what I felt. As the flight neared DXB, the lights grew prettier, grander and more wide-spread. That's when it struck us that we were gazing at the emirates from high-above! How GOD-ly!
3. Eye spy: My grand-mom had narrated to me a real-story about a lady whose eye balls matched those of a wanted person. She was immediately sent from the eye scan at the airport to the jail! When my eye scan wasn't registering, the guy dressed in the Khandoora (traditional attire of arb men complete with the head gear) threatened me by saying he'd put me in the queue again if i didn't open my eyes wide-enough. Then he flashed a bright torch into my eyes, but to no avail. Finally he lost his cool and told me, "Aakh kholo nahi to main bahar nikalta hu!" At that one instant I imagined myself sitting in a cell in an air-conditioned UAE jail :P Luckily the eye scan registered and the guy sweetly told me to wash my eyes before I went for immigration as they'd begun to water; a culmination of fear, torch-light and my hands stretching my small-almost chinky-eyes!
4. Passport Control: We kept looking for a board for immigration, finally realising that at DXB it is known as passport control. The guy at the counter looked in his 20-s. He was dressed in a Khandoora and looked a little cute. He asked me where I'd come from, who I was going to stay with and my relavtives phone number. Luckily, mom's cell was operational and I could tell the guy the number. I was hoping and praying that immigration wouldn't take as long as the eye scan. Prayers were answered!