Date with Dubai :) - The unforgettable flight journey (Day 1 )
DUBAI, an emirate ( or a political territory ) in the United Arab Emirates is also the largest populated in the UAE. When we first decided to go to Dubai for our second anniversary, we were initially doubtful about the place because Dubai is a fair distance away from Australia. But thanks to that moment when both of us thought lets not worry about the travel time, lets worry about the attractions :) And then finally we were all set for our trip.
So it was 7 nights/ 8 days trip and the journey started on April 25th, 2014. Our's was a 17 hour journey. We booked Royal Brunei airlines from Melbourne to Dubai and a transit at Bandar Seri Begawan (Capital of Brunei) airport.
We left on Friday, 25th April. Our flight was at 12pm and we reached the Melbourne International Airport at 9.30am. After checking in, we had breakfast at Nando's and Hungry Jacks and then proceeded towards immigration and security check. The topic of discussion during breakfast was that of three grannies who were travelling with us. They seemed to be either sisters or friends and they were very old but still were so enthusiastic, stylish, fit and they even carried their own luggages. This came as a shocker as to how inspiring they were :). Finally it was time to board our flight and we left Melbourne at 12pm.
The best part about flight journeys are the movies ( if there are any good ones on our monitors). We had a few good and a few bad ones and few were terrible movies. I was so thrilled to see one of my favourite movies, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam to be in the list. So I decided I will be watching that. We were about to settle down comfortably when the flight attendant came with light refreshments which had some packed juice and a pack of peanuts. I was excited to taste the peanuts and to our surprise they turned out to be very yummy. We just finished them in no time.
We reached Brunei at 4.40pm earlier than scheduled which was at 5.05pm. When we entered the airport, we were in a bit of shock because the Bandar Seri Begawan Airport was like a coffee shop, a little bigger may be. It was a cute little cosy airport. It had a small cafe, a candy store, a duty free shop and a restaurant to which you can enter only if you have an invite. This was only one part of the airport. The other part was under maintenance. If you are thinking that this nation must be a poor underdeveloped nation, then you are wrong. The country is supposed to be a kingdom and from a few sources we also heard that it's a rich country and also a well built and maintained country. This actually reflected through their currency, Brunei dollars. Their currency is very strong and it's equal to the Singapore dollars (1BND=1SGD) which can also be used there.
After a tiring flight, we had this three hour transit in Brunei. There was only one cafe and it was crowded like crazy. We had no option but to go and wait in the queue for our turn. There are two reasons for the crowd, one is that its the only shop for a quick bite and also the only place where you have access to WiFi. There was no WiFi in the airport but if you buy anything from this cafe then you could sit in their lounge area and access internet, so you see it was a good strategy :) So finally it was our turn and we used our great minds to buy two iced coffees thinking it to be our usual cold coffee types and then the reality check. We couldn't sip even once, it was that bad. It had cold water and coffee decoction in a large can(How on earth can someone drink this). Even after adding five packets of sugar nothing improved. So we decided to bin it. But then we were too hungry as we didn't have proper food in our first flight ( you know how bad the flight food can turn out sometimes especially if you are a vegetarian). But there was nothing to eat to fill our stomach. There were cakes and muffins which didn't look appealing and also having a dessert to fill our stomach while hungry is not at all a good idea. So we were thinking what to do with this large can of disgusting coffee, when suddenly Naveen got this idea of asking them for some milk. The idea worked good enough to satisfy our hunger for a while.
After all this, we finally got internet access and boom, we started chatting with family and friends. We were so much into this that we didn't realise it was almost time for us to catch our next flight. Once we finished the security check and were in the waiting room, we noticed something. There was this guy who travelled with us from Melbourne with a toddler. The baby was so tiny, it was only a few months old. He was travelling with the kid to Dubai all by himself. We were so impressed with this dad as he had three bags and carried his baby in one hand. Everyone in the airport including the security people were so fond of that little one. The funniest thing which happened was during their security check when he had to keep all his bags on the conveyor belt and didn't know how to do it with the baby in one hand. So he put the baby inside one of the security boxes. Everyone found that to be really cute and were smiling because the baby looked so adorable and it didn't know it was sitting in a security box :) The security staff also played with the baby. I wish even I could but the dad looked a little grumpy.
The second flight was delayed by 20 minutes and we left Brunei at 8.20pm. This flight journey was special because we would celebrate our anniversary mid air :) Our arrival time in Dubai was 12.05am but since the flight was delayed by 20 minutes, the arrival would also be late. So when the clock strikes 12 and the date changes to April 26th 2014, we would be up above the sky wishing each other on our second anniversary :)
To make this moment special, I had planned a surprise inside the flight. But I couldn't get it arranged for 12am due to safety reasons as the flight would land in Dubai any time after 12 and everyone are expected to be in their seats for landing. So I arranged the surprise at 11.45pm. Around 8pm, I went to the pantry area to meet the flight attendants and asked them for a small cake which I was very sure they would have it but never expected the cakes to be so cute. They gave me a red velvet cake with chocolate icing and a carrot cake with butter cream icing which looked yummy. I asked them to get my husband to the pantry at 11.45pm so that we could cut the cake and they happily agreed to help me. Around 11.30pm, I started pretending as if I'm feeling uneasy and made sure Naveen was aware about this. Then at 11.40pm, I got up as if I'm going to the toilet but I went to the pantry instead. He couldn't guess anything because he didn't see me going towards the pantry as the lights were off and the curtains were closed. After two minutes, the flight attendant went to him and told him that I'm feeling very sick and I'm calling out for him. He was damn scared and worried. So he came running towards the pantry only to find two little cakes to wish him happy anniversary :) He surely was surprised and was enthralled. The flight attendants wished us for our anniversary. It was one beautiful moment. When we were heading back to our seats, everyone were looking at us because we had two cakes with us and they weren't given any :)
After we got back to our seats we were busy discussing how I planned the surprise while I finished the cake. After this, we looked at the time on our screens and it was 12.15 am. We still hadn't reached Dubai. The most scary part of the journey were the last few minutes when the flight was supposed to land in two minutes according to the announcement but we were still in air and there were no signs of descending. All the flight attendants were inside and none of them came out. We were a little worried and then finally after 20 minutes the flight landed. It was delayed by 40 minutes when we arrived at the Dubai International airport at 12.40am. We were very excited to start our trip. Day 1 was full of fun and surprises, we were hoping for some really good fun in the coming days. We took a taxi to our hotel, City Seasons which is in Deira, Dubai. Our hotel was very near to the airport. (We realised this when the taxi reached the hotel in 10 minutes). The taxi guy was upset because he knew the hotel is very near and he can't make much money :)
We paid around 25 AED ( United Arab Emirates dirham ). They have separate meters for the airport taxis. Minimum on an airport taxi is around 20 AED and for other taxis it is around 3.5 AED. So if you any of you are planning to visit, then don't be surprised with the fares.
After checking in the hotel, we enter our room only to find another surprise :as Naveen had arranged for a special cake at our hotel room and he had ordered my favourite strawberry cheesecake :) Now that was two good surprises from both of us :) We had the cake and ate loads of them in the middle of the night :) We soon got our WiFi access and informed our family that we reached safely and finally it was bed time :) After an 18 hour flight journey we couldn't wait to sleep and dozed off within no time :) Back of my mind I knew what was coming the next day, another surprise for Naveen :)
Well this was our journey on the first day. Hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing about it :)
My next post is about our anniversary celebrations at the Palm Atlantis (Day 2). Keep reading and thanks :)
So it was 7 nights/ 8 days trip and the journey started on April 25th, 2014. Our's was a 17 hour journey. We booked Royal Brunei airlines from Melbourne to Dubai and a transit at Bandar Seri Begawan (Capital of Brunei) airport.
We left on Friday, 25th April. Our flight was at 12pm and we reached the Melbourne International Airport at 9.30am. After checking in, we had breakfast at Nando's and Hungry Jacks and then proceeded towards immigration and security check. The topic of discussion during breakfast was that of three grannies who were travelling with us. They seemed to be either sisters or friends and they were very old but still were so enthusiastic, stylish, fit and they even carried their own luggages. This came as a shocker as to how inspiring they were :). Finally it was time to board our flight and we left Melbourne at 12pm.
 |
| Airport selfie |
 |
| Royal Brunei Airlines |
 |
| Busy playing candy crush |
The best part about flight journeys are the movies ( if there are any good ones on our monitors). We had a few good and a few bad ones and few were terrible movies. I was so thrilled to see one of my favourite movies, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam to be in the list. So I decided I will be watching that. We were about to settle down comfortably when the flight attendant came with light refreshments which had some packed juice and a pack of peanuts. I was excited to taste the peanuts and to our surprise they turned out to be very yummy. We just finished them in no time.
 |
| The yummy peanuts |
After a tiring flight, we had this three hour transit in Brunei. There was only one cafe and it was crowded like crazy. We had no option but to go and wait in the queue for our turn. There are two reasons for the crowd, one is that its the only shop for a quick bite and also the only place where you have access to WiFi. There was no WiFi in the airport but if you buy anything from this cafe then you could sit in their lounge area and access internet, so you see it was a good strategy :) So finally it was our turn and we used our great minds to buy two iced coffees thinking it to be our usual cold coffee types and then the reality check. We couldn't sip even once, it was that bad. It had cold water and coffee decoction in a large can(How on earth can someone drink this). Even after adding five packets of sugar nothing improved. So we decided to bin it. But then we were too hungry as we didn't have proper food in our first flight ( you know how bad the flight food can turn out sometimes especially if you are a vegetarian). But there was nothing to eat to fill our stomach. There were cakes and muffins which didn't look appealing and also having a dessert to fill our stomach while hungry is not at all a good idea. So we were thinking what to do with this large can of disgusting coffee, when suddenly Naveen got this idea of asking them for some milk. The idea worked good enough to satisfy our hunger for a while.
 |
| The disastrous ice coffee :@ |
After all this, we finally got internet access and boom, we started chatting with family and friends. We were so much into this that we didn't realise it was almost time for us to catch our next flight. Once we finished the security check and were in the waiting room, we noticed something. There was this guy who travelled with us from Melbourne with a toddler. The baby was so tiny, it was only a few months old. He was travelling with the kid to Dubai all by himself. We were so impressed with this dad as he had three bags and carried his baby in one hand. Everyone in the airport including the security people were so fond of that little one. The funniest thing which happened was during their security check when he had to keep all his bags on the conveyor belt and didn't know how to do it with the baby in one hand. So he put the baby inside one of the security boxes. Everyone found that to be really cute and were smiling because the baby looked so adorable and it didn't know it was sitting in a security box :) The security staff also played with the baby. I wish even I could but the dad looked a little grumpy.
The second flight was delayed by 20 minutes and we left Brunei at 8.20pm. This flight journey was special because we would celebrate our anniversary mid air :) Our arrival time in Dubai was 12.05am but since the flight was delayed by 20 minutes, the arrival would also be late. So when the clock strikes 12 and the date changes to April 26th 2014, we would be up above the sky wishing each other on our second anniversary :)
To make this moment special, I had planned a surprise inside the flight. But I couldn't get it arranged for 12am due to safety reasons as the flight would land in Dubai any time after 12 and everyone are expected to be in their seats for landing. So I arranged the surprise at 11.45pm. Around 8pm, I went to the pantry area to meet the flight attendants and asked them for a small cake which I was very sure they would have it but never expected the cakes to be so cute. They gave me a red velvet cake with chocolate icing and a carrot cake with butter cream icing which looked yummy. I asked them to get my husband to the pantry at 11.45pm so that we could cut the cake and they happily agreed to help me. Around 11.30pm, I started pretending as if I'm feeling uneasy and made sure Naveen was aware about this. Then at 11.40pm, I got up as if I'm going to the toilet but I went to the pantry instead. He couldn't guess anything because he didn't see me going towards the pantry as the lights were off and the curtains were closed. After two minutes, the flight attendant went to him and told him that I'm feeling very sick and I'm calling out for him. He was damn scared and worried. So he came running towards the pantry only to find two little cakes to wish him happy anniversary :) He surely was surprised and was enthralled. The flight attendants wished us for our anniversary. It was one beautiful moment. When we were heading back to our seats, everyone were looking at us because we had two cakes with us and they weren't given any :)
  |
| Two little yummy cakes for two little people :) |
We paid around 25 AED ( United Arab Emirates dirham ). They have separate meters for the airport taxis. Minimum on an airport taxi is around 20 AED and for other taxis it is around 3.5 AED. So if you any of you are planning to visit, then don't be surprised with the fares.
After checking in the hotel, we enter our room only to find another surprise :as Naveen had arranged for a special cake at our hotel room and he had ordered my favourite strawberry cheesecake :) Now that was two good surprises from both of us :) We had the cake and ate loads of them in the middle of the night :) We soon got our WiFi access and informed our family that we reached safely and finally it was bed time :) After an 18 hour flight journey we couldn't wait to sleep and dozed off within no time :) Back of my mind I knew what was coming the next day, another surprise for Naveen :)
Well this was our journey on the first day. Hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing about it :)
My next post is about our anniversary celebrations at the Palm Atlantis (Day 2). Keep reading and thanks :)
Comments
@pavi - your dubai is so beautiful that its taking me so long to write about it :)