This morning at 1am local time I arrived in Dubai. It has
been many years since I was at Dubai airport and as I weaved my way through
security I marvelled at how much had changed. Local importers of marble have
clearly had a good few years. It’s a bright clean modern airport.
30 min later I cleared customs and walked out of the Arrivals
exit. I started looking for signs to the Dubai Airport Hotel. Eventually I asked
a friendly looking local and as she pointed back towards the customs area I felt
my heart sink. The Dubai Airport Hotel is actually in the airport,
before you get to customs. I spent half an hour trying to talk my way back
through security but it was clear I wasn’t going to be successful. Arguably the
least helpful suggestion for how I could get to my hotel room was for me to
change my next flight to an earlier time so I could check in right away, then
once I had the boarding pass I could get through security.
The fact that this approach would mean all the meetings I had
planned would no longer happen seemed to be a minor aside.
In the end I booked myself into another hotel and chalked it
up as yet another thing I learnt after it was too late.
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