Fun with planes

Plane rides+sinus issues/cold=ACK. But! I survived and we managed to have some fun on the way.

We flew Emirates (as in United Arab) Airlines here. We'd never flown this airline before, but expected good things as they're apparently one of the airlines trying to compete with the other big names in the area-Singapore, Cathay Pacific, Thai and Malaysian Airlines, all of which we've flown except Malaysian, and all of which are excellent.

The Jakarta to Dubai flight was kind of a pain in the butt as we had stopovers in both Singapore and Colombo, Sri Lanka. There was some fun to be had, though, as the in-flight entertainment was pretty cool. You could choose from hundreds of movies and television shows and play, pause, rewind and fast-forward them at your convenience. There were also about a hundred CDs to choose from, as well as a bunch of video games to play. (Who rules at in-flight Tetris? ME!) The most randomly amusing thing, though, was the camera views you could choose from-one under the plane and one that was pilot's-eye view at the nose of the plane. Whee!

All announcements were given in both English and Arabic, which was cool. With the headphones, we were also given stickers we could place on the headrest of our seats that included English, Arabic and little pictures. My favorite sticker said "Please Wake Me Up For" and then had a little picture of food. I plan to keep that one, as I think it would serve as an excellent motto.

We'd reserved a block of time in a room at the Dubai International Hotel in the airport, as our layover was from 6 a.m. to about 3 p.m. I've discovered after traveling so much that I'm willing to pay ludicrous sums for a chance to shower after spending the night in an airplane seat.

The Dubai airport is pretty opulent, as I'm kind of guessing most everything in Dubai is. The airport hotel is five-star, right down to the marble bathroom, free fuzzy slippers and the guy who meets you at your hotel room door with a gorgeous basket of fruit. I showered, marvelled at the decadence for about five minutes, then passed out cold until the alarm on my cell phone woke me up five hours later.

We had about two hours to wander the airport and see the sights. Travis enjoyed a Chicken McArabia from Mc Donald's for lunch. I had to use every ounce of willpower to not gawk when, while checking out bracelets at a jewelry counter, the man in full flowing Arab dress standing next to me opened his wallet and tossed eight US$100 bills on the counter for a purchase with the same casualness I'd use when dropping a few quarters for a Snickers bar.

There is so much money in that part of the world it's overwhelming. People just have so much that they amuse themselves by finding weird ways to spend it...as is evident by the fact that there's a big domed mall where it SNOWS in Dubai...because really, shouldn't you be able to ski in the desert if you feel so inclined? This is how the A1 car racing circut came about, some sheikh got bored so he bought himself a fleet of racecars to play with.

We got into Istanbul last night around 6, made it through customs, got our luggage and took a cab ride to our hotel. Our hotel is small, quaint and very European. Our room is tiny but charming, and while our bed is slightly like sleeping on padded plywood I'm absolutely willing to sacrifice some comfort for a place like this. The rooftop terrace restaurant is closed since it's chilly still this time of year, but we are still able to go up there and admire the gorgeous view.

We're enjoying ourselves immensely so far. Today we just walked all around the city near our hotel. The weather is beautiful, crisp and clear and about 45 degrees. We bought ourselves two hand-knotted Anatolian-Turkish rugs today, big investments but absolutely worth it as someday our grandchildren will get to fight over who gets to have them.

Well, it's nearly time for dinner and I'm getting hungry for more Turkish food. Pass me the baklava, baby!