Today is our last day in Dubaï. Once again we move out to a hotel closer to the airport. There is a huge detour from the metro to the hotel and we’re glad to finally arrive after a long walk. In the afternoon, we don’t want to do much so we go to the swimming pool and then off to the dinosaure park. When we arrive at the station, the dinosaures are on the other side of the highway. But, how do we get there? We walk, and walk, and walk and we finally see a bridge going there. But the bridge is located inside a park. So we walk and walk and walk some more to find the entrance. After walking for a good hour, we finally get to the entrance. We are exhausted! Dubaï is really not made for pedestrians. There are almost no bridges to cross the highways, the pedestrian crossings are scarce, there are only few metro stations and for each bus, only 3 an hour.
The dinosaure park is like a cheap and failed Jurassic Park. It’s the first time we’re really not impressed in Dubaï. Côme is happy to see dinosaures though. He really likes Dubaï. For him it’s the hottest country but the greatest. After the dinosaures we take a look at another part of the park: the glow gardens. There, there is a series of illuminated structures. It’s actually quite nice but we are tired and just want to go home. We only have a few hours to rest before going to the airport and we know we still have a long walk from the metro station to our hotel. When we get there, a man in a minivan stops to pick us up. He had seen Côme exhausted on Doo’s shoulders.
We spend a few hours at the hotel and then take the shuttle to the airport terminal. And from there, our own Pekin Express starts (it’s the French version of the Amazing Race). The home agent from the terminal tells us that the only flights taking off here are from the company Emirates. We tell him that our company is Himalayan Airlines and so he tells us we have to go to terminal 1 (one metro station away). We ask him if we can walk there but he says no. Nothing in Dubaï is made for pedestrians (Don’t we know that!?). So we rush to the metro station but a woman tells us that the metro is closed (it’s 11:30 pm), we have to take a taxi, but we don’t have any more money.
So we rush outside and Doo jumps in front of a car waving his arms. He asks the driver if he can please take us to terminal 1. The driver accepts. We all jump into the car, relieved. Once in terminal 1, we thank the driver a million times and rush inside the terminal. There, we take a look at the monitor with all the flights but we can’t see our own. We go ask an agent that tells us our flight is located in terminal 2. We can’t believe it. Doo desperately asks him if there is any way we can access the terminal with a shuttle. The agent tells us that it’s not possible. The only way to get there is by taking a taxi.
Once again, we rush outside and Doo tries to stop every car he can. Julia also joins him in this chase. After two refusals and a car that doesn’t even stop, he asks a man just exiting a car. There is a woman inside and Doo insists. The man tells the woman to drive away and tells Doo to pick up a cab. Doo answers that he doesn’t have money for the taxi so the man tells him he will pay for it. He asks someone how much does a taxi costs to terminal 2 and gives Doo 50 dirhams (about 15 euros). All three of us thank him (even Côme is saying “thank you” in English) and we rush to the first taxi on the line that is about to leave. The driver hesitates to pick us up (we look kind of panicked) but finally agrees.
In the taxi, we realize two things. First, terminal 2 is really far far away from the others (like 8 kms away), and second, our taxi driver was not allowed to pick us up where he did. It was only a drop off point and he risked a heavy fine for that. But he understands the urgency and is driving like a race pilot (even exceeding the speed limit for us). In the taxi Côme tells Julia: “I understand why it’s called Pekin Express, it’s really too much stress!!!”.
We reach this f…ing terminal 2 in about 7 minutes and give all the money we have to the driver thanking him also a million times. When we ask the agent about our flight, guess what… she calmly tells us: “your flight has been delayed, please take a seat and we’ll call whenever you can check-in…”
At the check-in, the “adventure” is not done… The agent responsible for the flight tells us that Côme needs to take a PCR test. Doo shows him an e-mail from the company saying that 5 year old children did not need to take a test (he had specifically asked them to make sure) but the man says that Côme is not 5. He is 5 and 5 months… Doo is agravated and tries to point out the stupidity of such answer but Julia tells him to back down.. It’s pointless. So we go to the airport test center. Côme is apprehensive of the test so the man in charge kindly decides to test him from the mouth, not the nose. 15 minutes later, we can finally check-in with a negative test. It’s almost 1 am. We try to sleep on the uncomfortable seats of the waiting room and we finally take off at 4 o’clock in the morning.
Today, Côme:
Did not understand: why the best rides and parks are located in the hottest country.
Learnt: that huge illuminated hearts you could walk through existed.
Enjoyed: the glow garden park.
Julia:
Did not understand: why you can go to Nepal without a test when you are 5 year old and 3 months but not 5 and 5 months.
Learnt: that Nepali people travelled with huge boxes of goods.
Enjoyed: when we left the fake Jurassic Park.
Doo:
Did not understand: why the airline company did not specify the departing terminal on the reservation.
Learnt: that Pekin Express would be too stressful to do.
Enjoyed: the kindness of all the people who helped us that day.