It took about two minutes for the bus to slowly drive from the Emirates plane (which now looked like a motionless mammoth with fleas working on it) to the airport. Getting through the black tinted glass doors, into the airport was another task in itself, since there was now a hubbub within the passengers to quickly shift inside and be first in the queue for the security and passport check. Fortuitously we were near the start of the queue and the passport checking scarcely took longer than five minutes. The security check of the hand luggage was also unproblematic, that is for my parents and my sister. “Could you please open your hand luggage sir!” a security guard demanded. I was carrying with me a portable TV, and mp3 player, the family video camera and my dad’s digital camera. Frustratingly after showing the over cautious security guards that these electronics were not dangerous, I became exasperated even further when I had to open all the battery compartments for additional security checks.
We now had a ten hour stay in Dubai until our plane to go to Saudi Arab arrived. All we could do now was to explore the modernity of this wonderful international airport, though doing this for ten hours seemed impractical and my tired dad now had a problem on his hands. He was exasperated even further to find out that we weren’t even getting a free room for ten hours inside the airport. My sister who could no longer now hold her self plodded off to the nearest ladies toilets and all of us were thankful that the constant groaning had now ceased. After quickly booking one of the rooms in the hotel which was inside the airport it self, we rushed off to catch the rest of the eight hours of sleep left. My sister who was already relieved of one problem now had another urge to spend hours in the Claires Accessories fashion shop that she had caught a glimpse of near MacDonald’s. But she was wise enough to know to what extent our tired parents could be pushed, so she decided to keep her mouth shut.
After taking a much needed nap for seven hours we all took a soothing hot shower and got all of our hand luggage ready. The hotel room was perfect. The circular window on one side of the room showed the perfect view of the inside of the Dubai Hotel. The bathroom itself was mainly made out of opaque glass, which added to the luxury of the room. We now had less than one hour for exploring the airport. My dad and I went of to the shops which interested us and my mum took my desperate sister to Claires Accessories. Rather than going inside any shops in particular me and my dad were fascinated in the airport structure itself and to the extent it had been made too look modern. I was absolutely fascinated to see actual palm trees inside the building. They were lined along the wide pathways to the terminals and I took pleasure in taking video of this modern airport.
After all of our family reunited, we filled our forgotten stomachs, which groaned in anger for not being fed. The family’s favourite restaurant was in much favour of being the place to eat; Pizza Hut. When our bellies filled up and stuck out like balloons they cried “STOP” and we were satisfied. Within the next ten minutes we had gone upstairs to our room again packed the hand luggage and put on our religious clothing, to get ready to go to Saudi Arab. This consisted of two white sheets for men, one for tying around the waste and downwards and one for the top part of the body. After giving the access card to our hotel room back at the central desk we headed off to the terminal. I felt mostly embarrassed by the thought of the only two pieces of clothing on me accidentally falling off. I ensured that all the knots were tight so that they were impossible to untie. After some peculiar looks from tourists and other people in the airport we were slightly more relaxed when we reached the doors to our terminal, where everybody was wearing similar clothing to us. My mind wondered off - daydreaming about the next adventure we were about to encounter at the next stage of our trip. Images came into my mind , when we were back home, about my dad telling me about Saudi Arabia and the torturing heat that awaited us. I also thought about the images I had seen of this holy country and I aspired to see what the core of the Islamic faith held in store for us.
After ten minutes or so the long awaited announcement sounded our ears; “Please could passengers for flight number seven – zero – three to Saudi Arab make their way to the terminal gates”. The long ten hours had given us a chance to rest and gave us a taste of the zest and excitement of Dubai. No doubt I was looking foreword to coming back to Dubai after two weeks and indulging myself in the excitement of exploring all of Dubai.
