From 2018 through 2024, I've taken a two-week Holiday, generally in September or October. Generally also to Asia, with exceptions in 2018 (Africa) and 2021 (Spain & Portugal). Obviously, I did not take such a trip in 2020, but had planned one. It's always been odd doing this in September or October - basically right after most people would take two weeks off (e.g. Summer). Well, this year I'm doing it in Summer, but also making it one of my weirder ones. The trip will start with five days in India attending my cousin's daughter's wedding, going there to spend five packed days of revelry with effectively all members of my Mom's side of the family, the closest to a family reunion since my cousin's wedding in 2010/11. However, India really isn't great this time of year, and with the wedding events ending on August 18th, most of my cousins were gone by August 19th. So I had a challenge - where else to go?
After a lot of stewing, I ended up landing on Australia for some reason. Actually, I guess for myriad reasons - it's a lovely place, i have family there that have all treked to meet us in the US three times since I last went to Australia in 2013, and despite it being their winter, is perfect weather for me wanting to escape US summers. Tied to that last point, it is relatively affordable to get tehre and stay there. And the last point, while I definitely was not as homesick in Australia during my 2013 trip as I was in Japan, I still feel like I left a lot of meat on the Australia bone.
But Australia is well in the future. This is about India. Or actually, this is about a ridiculous trip over the oceans to Dubai. It started with me deciding to use my 8 hour layover in Dubai to (a) leave the airport and see the city and (b) go to one of their more famous tasting menu spots Tresind, a three Michelin star Indian spot. It is expensive, though by Dubai standards there are many more expensive spots that are lesser reputed. The bad news for me though was the charge for the menu is nonrefundable. I would land around 6:45pm, and the dinner was at 9:15. It should have fit perfectly.
And it would've been if not fora combination of Newark airport's much reported miserableness and a huge torrent of rain and lightning around 5-7pm on the day I was leaving (my flight was at 9:15). It hadn't rained for days but somehow the day I was leaving it was truly lightning like I've never seen in terms of the pace, size and proximity of lightning bolts. Of course, that was long gone by the time my flight was supposed to leave, and the inbound flight reached on time. But alas, our 9:45pm departure became a 11:58pm departure, adn a 8:55pm arrival (this seems to be the one route with a flying time that approaches the stated length.
To fast forward, I was able to make my meal, despite me leaving the plane at 9:11. Credit Dubai's near empty immigration, easy taxi pickup and good roads (at least in teh direction I was going). I reached Tresind at 9:59pm. They started the meal for me at that point, and by the end of their 2.5hr service time I had basically caught up with teh rest of the seven-table crowd (that's their max capacity). The meal was excellent - of which I'll chronicle later.
The flight that preceded it was also quite nice, especially since we were so delayed I just assumed the dinner wouldn't work out. Once I let myself go of that expectation, I could enjoy the nice ride in Polaris. United continues to make improvements to their catering, which has correctly been called out as the main limiting factor in the past. Now, it still isn't great, and because of the delayed takeoff, they served it all at once and even skipped the pre-meal first drink and nuts. I guess this is because we're now eating near 1am instead of 10:30pm, but this is still a thirteen hour flight. There is time here.
Anyway, I enjoyed my chicken tagine dish, with a nice prawn starter. The sundae was graet as always. United's nice wine selection (the one area they've generally outpaced at least their US based competition) remained strong. I slept like a lamb, and also took in some nice views as we saw the beautiful morning sun on the horizon a few hours into the flight. Before I knew it, we were landing in Dubai and the chase to the restaurant commenced.
Dubai airport is massive, but immigration was crazy quick. I take it taht because of our delay we were now landing at a time where few other flights are, as the immigration hall was relatively empty when I got there. Taxis are super easy to pick up from the airport as well, and the roads leading from DXB to the Palm Jumeriah St. Regis were quite empty. The city was hazy so it was hard to really see the extent of its modernity, but it does seem like a glistening spot.
Like many, I'm always a bit of two minds traveling to the Middle East, but at least with Dubai it isn't squarely around oil. Now, we may not like the seedier aspects of Dubai, but I'll say this, I've come to really appreciate how the airline took advantage of its central location to connect the entire world in one stop. The number of ethnicities, of people, of cultures that I saw roaming in that airport. Looking at the departure board, you can't help but smile about the random, but globe covering nature of that list. Maybe this is driven by flying through it twice in about three months, but I'm defintiely coming around on Emirates. Kudos to you Dubai.
