Enroute to Regina

… You know that niggly feeling we all have. That little voice that tells you something is not right. Some people call it pessimism and “calling into existence, what it is that you want least”. But other people call it trusting your gut. Whichever side of fence you sit on; let me tell you about my morning.

So perhaps you may recall that my hotel in Dubai is in a newly developing area called Tecom (yes, I know, novel concept, as 85% of Dubai is newly developing, but regardless). This “sub division” is not well known, but it is adjacent to a well known area “the Greens” and it has a well known hotel landmark in it. So if you tell a taxi, I am going to the Greens or the Rotana in the Greens, he will get you to the right area and you can direct him through the maze of streets to your specific hovel. This area, like many of the areas in Dubai does not have street names or numbers. In fact, due to the development, the street locations are in constant flux, depending on what is being constructed that day /week. But this is the norm here, and taxis and drivers alike are not fussed by this. North American or Swiss demands for precise and accurate GPS / maps must be parked at the passport control counter.

So today, I flew out of the UAE back to Canada for a meeting in Regina on Friday. After evaluating approximately 20 routings and schedules, my travel agent and I finally agreed on the most optimal itinerary, considering cost and timing. As it turns out, the best flight for me to take back to Toronto departs out of the Abu Dhabi airport. Without any major delays this airport is about a 45 minute highway drive from my hotel (which is in the south part of Dubai). My ticket comes with transportation to the airport and I book the car for 7am in advance of my 10am flight. I have been working essentially adjacent to the Abu Dhabi airport and do the commute daily, so I was pretty confident with timing (ie how long it would take to get to the airport) at that point of day. But for some reason, I became a bit paranoid about the car arriving. I doubled checked with my travel agent that it had been booked. I made her give them them detailed “Dubai” style directions I wrote out, plus the hotel and my cell numbers. She thought I was going a bit over board. After all, I am flying Eithad, and they have a bit of reputation for amazing service and not having problems.

So 7am comes around. No car. I don’t even wait till 7:05. I have my hotel clerk call. You can never really be sure what the conversation is, between the mixed languages and the overall desire of people to agree to whatever you are staying just to make you happy, regardless of if they can deliver on what they just said, it is impossible to follow. But he has spoken to two people and is on hold…. But by 7:15, all I know is a car is on the way. But the gut kicks in again. I go up to my room, get my local cell phone and call the number my travel agent gave me for the limo. The person who picks up says I have to call the “1-800” line. I was like, NO. My hotel is getting the run around from the central line and you are a live person, so lets deal with this. The long and the short of it ended up being, they messed up. They never sent a car. They told me to take a taxi and I would be reimbursed.

So at 7:30, my hotel calls me a taxi. I am told that getting a taxi in Dubai is easy now. It takes anywhere from 10 to 30mins. But back in the boom, that was like 30 – 90mins, standard. So they call a taxi and I try not to count the minutes … Finally at 7:45 two taxi’s show up!! And we are off (just in one taxi). We fight the crazy traffic to get out of Tecom (only crazy b/c of a really really really stupid lane merging location) and get on the highway. 5 mins later … break lights as far as you can see. The taxi driver is like, I take alternate route but you need to approve. I am like, dude, I only know this road. If you think it is better and we won’t get trapped trying to get back onto the highway go for it. Well the detour was a good idea … we avoided the 5 car crash just past the Marina and made it to the airport at 9am! That driver ROCKED!!! Also, a little thank you for the 140km/hr speed of traffic here :)

So I arrived, checked in at the crazy separate business class “section”. Literally, you access it by separate doors on the departure level. They check me in and tell me to go to the lounge and the customer service gentleman will bring me my re-imbursement. I was like, hum, the flight boards at 9:15. I am happy to wait here. “no no” they say, enjoy the lounge. So I go, drink some water, read the New York Times and wait for my 200AED. It is now 9:30, they have not called for my flight yet, but I am bored and decide to check out the terminal and wander to the gate. Let’s just say, the shopping is better than at Heathrow, from a name brand perspective. The Coach store was the low end. If only it was cheap!!! Alas, no new Jimmy Choo’s or cartier or I Phones for me.

A purchase of candied dates for my client, and I am off to the gate and on to the plane. Finally, I can sit back and relax. Okay, well, sit back and work.

But wait, there is more …… they announced a delay …. they come by to ask me if I have an onward flight from Toronto today …. I do, I say, 8pm. Relief washes over the steward’s face. No worries, he says, our delay is only an hour. It makes me wonder though, what would they do if I missed my flight? I bet they would pay for something ……

Back to work…