Day 0: The Flight

Day 0

As I stand in line and board the A380 Emirates flight, the only blonde American on the flight, I can say for the first time, I had second thoughts about this new adventure. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stick out like a sore thumb given the current political climate. However, I made a promise to Dr. Sowell and Al Nasr to come to the UAE to start the build and I refuse to go back on my word. So off I went blonde hair and all.

The Emirates Flight

Any concern that I had when sitting down on the plane quickly resolved itself. I sat next to a mother and her son on their way to Hyderabad, India for a family gathering. They were wonderful companions for the flight. The son was studying biogenetic engineering and the mother had run a private hospital prior to NYC for her husband who is now a Dr in NYC. They had lived in Ohio; we had a great time discussing the common misconceptions people have about India and Indian people. She told me that a woman had once asked if Indians have any cars in India. How most people think that anyone with a turban (Sikhs) or covers their hair is Muslim and not Indian. We laughed together. We shared stories of our journeys through India and through the world. And of course we speculated and pontificated about how to save the children of the world from certain destruction from different ailments and issues.

When I think of different perspectives and misconceptions of Americans, it reminds me of a few things…I once had an Au pair that came to America thinking that every American (not family but individual) ate 3 WHOLE chickens per day and that is why we are all overweight. I reminded her that she was living with a vegetarian family, so we weren’t a part of the 3 chicken a day American public. I remember asking her where she obtained this information…. The scary part is that it was information from her English teacher in Germany. The other time I was asked why all the houses where we live fly the American flag. If you were to fly a German flag on your house all the time people would think you were a Nazi. I always grew up just thinking that everyone was patriotic and just flew them out of patriotism. However, I was corrected by Craig who explained that: During the Revolution households flew the flag of the country of allegiance. So I might have flown a U.K. flag and my neighbor might have flown a U.S. Flag… From that point on every piece of apparel, (underwear, bra’s t-shirts) pillow cases and towel I bought for her was an American flag. I am not sure what I will send her this birthday since I am in the UAE. Her birthday is in 2 days. I guess I had better hop on it.

So back to the flight: Wow they had amazing food, I had some of the best Indian vegetarian meals (of which I also ate Chola Indian food on my way to JFK which is my favorite) on that plane ride. (Side note: I am thrilled to be where I can actually get a veggie burger almost anywhere including McDonalds) It was a special meal but there were about 25 different kinds of special meals. Asian, Asian Vegetarian, Hindu, Halal, Kosher, Kosher Low Sodium, Diabetic, High Fiber just to name a few. Very kind and nice air hostesses who were fun to talk too. Not your usual British Airlines (not to single them out as there are many but they are certainly my least favorite for international travel)Steward who thinks you are as important as a speck of dust and will leave you with your light on for a good hour before coming to see what is needed.

I arrive at DXB relieved to see that signs are both in Arabic AND English, whew...I just figured out the alphabet and numbers on the plane… (the one good part about the A380-800 was the programming was amazing…342 or so movies, a gazillion TV episodes and News shows in 6 different languages (I of course didn’t watch really anything except an Arabic movie that was on. In the games section was chess, mahjong, all sorts of stuff I had never heard of AND (most importantly) a Berlitz world traveler edition game so I was able to practice my Arabic on the flight. The A380 has cameras on its nose tail and belly; you can look at your screen and see everything on your screen! Amazing! I flew over Baghdad at 41k feet and watched the sunrise and set all on a screen from my seat. The landing into DXB was the most spectacular…All of the lights and ocean. The runway has beautiful multicolored blinking lights for landing; it was like having my own personal light show to watch while landing 

DXB looks like Las Vegas without the gambling and crowds, very efficient and clean. It was a far cry from 20 degrees at JFK. Only 56 ish but still a huge change, my down coat was no longer needed. The remarkable thing that was most different and interesting about my arrival was: that the immigration officers were so friendly, I’ve only had extremely stiff non smiling officers before. I think perhaps maybe I had one smile at me in Guam out of pity with me schlepping all my stuff. The luggage carousel was slow to spit out luggage (I was very concerned that my business attire disappeared, knowing that I was to be at the office by 0730 the next day) that by the time I received my luggage (which was the only slow part) I had to go to the bathroom desperately.

Bathrooms are always an interesting indicator about the culture you are going to be surrounded with. So off I go to the bathroom thinking how in the heck am I going to get into the bathroom with all of this luggage! I get outside the bathroom and notice that not only had all of the other women left their luggage outside the bathroom unattended but their coats and purses too… This is definitely not NYC, but then again the US doesn’t take stealing quite as seriously. In the U.A.E. if you bounce a check you go to jail. I wonder what the penalty would be for stealing someone’s purse or luggage! Not like they wouldn’t know. Security is very visible. But Yikes to think! So I did like the roman's do and left everything outside and went to the bathroom. I returned to find everything just as I had left it nothing had moved a cm.

I walked through customs and saw a fully veiled police woman! I then realized if she said anything to me I most likely would not hear her because I couldn’t read her lips! Poor prior planning on my part!

At the meeting point my new CEO waited for me (patiently), upon arrival. We got the luggage to the car and begun the 1 ½ hour drive to Al Ain, my new main residence and the company headquarters. It was a beautiful drive through Dubai. When I first lived in NYC I swore I would never drive into the city but take the train that lasted 4 days. I thought the same thing when I was driving through Dubai. This time that irrational thought lasted less than 12 hours after my arrival.

I’ll save that one for the next update. My day off is Friday…. Look for updates then.