Jan 23-25 - not sure what day it is !

I'm confused.  The 23rd was more packing, got the dogs out on the boat with Sheryl.  I'd planned to ride but it was drizzly most of the day so I didn't bother.  9am on Friday, 24th, we headed out in our pickup, easy ride to the airport.

It's a long flight.  We've found that it's easier to have a long flight than those short ones to Europe but it's still a long flight.  We departed on time at 1:30 and landed about 10 minutes late at 12:20 pm Dubai time, 9 hours ahead of Eastern.  Our luggage was on the carousel by the time we were out of immigration.  The entry visa is simply a stamp in the passport.  No talk from the agent.  Another car trip and we were at the hotel. 

We are gold on Marriott that comes with my Amex credit card so we got an upgrade to a suite.  Calling it a suite is a disservice.  Two bedrooms, a huge living room and dining room and kitchen larger than anything we've lived in, large storage room, three bathrooms ... I don't know how many square feet ... 12' ceilings (at least !). 

What a city.  Our hotel is in the marina area, quit a hike from the airport.  Construction is going on here 24x7 on the 4.6m sq ft of space, 7km of landscaped walkways etc etc.  It's amazing what oil can buy. 

We had dinner at one of the many restaurants but no alcohol.  The only way that we can get alcohol is back at the hotel, so we had a glass of wine on the 52nd floor bar/restaurant afterwards.  At home we have one glass of wine but somehow the level of the wine in the bottle goes down more than one glass.  Here, a glass is a glass and it's definitely not what we'd call a "Rose pour", i.e. the full glasses at the yacht club !

I'm wishing that we were spending a couple of days here vs two nights and one full day.  Heading into the desert for an excursion would be interesting.  At least we aren't already on the way to the airport ! That's tomorrow. 

Onward !