Our Holiday! – Part 1

It’s been a long long while since we last blogged.  And now for new updates – our trip to US!

We booked our tickets to US sometime in Sept.  Was actually looking at some cheap tickets to US, unexpectedly the travel agent recommended Emirates. Turned out that travelling by Emirates would hurt our pockets slightly less, and we get to stopover at Dubai.  CG and I figured that we could always make a short stop at Dubai and visit a friend, so we went ahead with those tickets.  =)

After booking the tickets, it was a whole 2 months of preparing and planning for the trip.  Actually it was more of CG who did the planning since he’s the one who know such things.  After we more or less got the planning etc settled, it was time to clear work so that we could go for our well-deserved holiday.

Day 1 – 20 Nov
We arrived at Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 1 at about 11.30pm on Fri (19 Nov) night. Check-in was quick and efficient, of course, it is Singapore!  =) Had a quick cup of hot chocolate and cakes with my mum and brother who came to send us off, before we boarded the plane and flew off at 0120.

The initial impression of Emirates was good – big personal TV screen, LOADS of movies and TV channels, sounds like entertainment was good.  However, the service standards were disappointing. They were nowhere near our SQ.  When the air stewardess was pushing the food trolley, she practically hit every row of seats.  In one particular incident, she hit CG’s row and the impact was so great that CG later realised that his earphones adapter broke!  Gosh!!! Imagine if his hand had been there!

There was this particular air steward whose service was appalling.  He came around to serve breakfast.  CG and I had just woken up from our sleep and hence were in a blur.  When CG asked what breakfast there was, the air steward replied, “You didn’t read your menu?!”  How rude can he get?!  Though these cabin crew may be two out of the many, I must say the entire incident didn’t leave a good impression on me.

After 7 hours, we arrived at Dubai airport at about 4.45am (Dubai time).  Pretty nice and efficient.  We cleared customs very quickly and hopped onto a cab to our friends – J and S’s place.  Their place is BEAUTIFUL!  It overlooks Dubai Marina and gives a picturesque view.  And there were two very cute cats – Ally and Moshi.  Simply adorable!  They were so cute that I actually overcame my fear of cats.  After settling down, we took a nap until about 12 noon before going out to explore Dubai.

Dubai is pretty much like Singapore, LOTS of malls everywhere.  Things are very upmarket with many branded stores.  However, we didn’t buy much for a very simple reason – we are going to US!  =)  Went to see the old Dubai, the Souks, travelled by their taxi and metro.  The Dubai Metro is just like our Singapore MRT.  So like home.  =)

After a day of exploration, J brought us to the Dubai Marina Mall where we were entertained by a spectacular fountain performance.  After the fountain performance, J brought us to this other place – 360.  Very nice bar on the 2nd storey at the end of a dike.  From 360, we were able to see the skyline of Dubai. Fantastic!  We stayed out until about 12 midnight, and also hoped to adjust to the jetlag by delaying our sleeping time.

Day 2 – 21 Nov
Woke up about 12 noon before heading out for lunch with J and S.  After a nice lunch with alfresco setting, CG and I took a cab to the Mall of the Emirates where we were supposed to go for a Desert Safari tour.  There, we boarded a 4-wheel drive Rover and were driven for the Dune Bashing.  I would say it was a good experience but will probably only go for it once.  It was not particularly scary but is quite nauseating.  I nearly threw up, probably 30 mins of Dune Bashing is a tad too long.  After the Dune Bashing, we were brought to this Desert Safari Camp where there were camel rides.  CG and I went on the camel ride and I literally screamed my head off each time the camel moved.  The sudden jerk was quite scary.  Anyway, practically every lady who took the camel ride screamed.  =P

Dinner was a desert-style buffet, amidst some cultural belly dancing and other performance.  It was quite interesting initially, though it got boring after a while.  The performances ended at about 8.15pm, where we were brought back to the Mall of the Emirates and we took a metro back to J and S’s place.  Took a quick shower, said our goodbyes, then headed for the Dubai International Airport for our flight at 2am to New York.

Day 3 – 22 Nov
The flight to New York was 14 hours long, of which I slept for about 9 hours.  Emirates service wasn’t fantastic again, but slightly better this time.  Reached New York at about 7am in the morning, but spent TWO hours waiting to clear immigration.  =(  This is my first visit to the US, so naturally I was quite blur. Thank God for CG who seemed to know everything, so I just acted on his instruction.  =P  By the time we cleared immigration, collected our luggage and checked in again for our domestic flight, it was already 9.47am.  Bought some food from Wendy’s and now typing my entry for the blog while waiting for my next flight at 12.30pm.

This flight will bring us to Boston where we will be staying with A and C.  So excited to see them, as well as L and L.  Stay tuned for more updates!