Dubai airport shopping

Emirates sent me an email to check in via internet 24 hours prior to flight. This is easy to do online. My seats for both flights were reserved by my travel agent on the side aisle. And I got an extra seat when the guy next to me moved. But still this plane is not meant for sleeping. The seats recline, but no footrest and the seats are too high off the ground, your legs dangle.

The food and service was good, as always. The flight is 14 hours from Melbourne to Dubai. Plenty of time to sleep five or six hours and watch some movies on the excellent entertainment system. Saw 27 Dresses, Wall-e and Get Smart. All of which I had missed in the theatre.

Dubai airport shopping
Dubai airport shopping
Dubai airport shoppingLong stopover at Dubai Airport. Don't know if Emirates is still offering hotel rooms for long layovers, but they did provide a free meal at the Safar Restaurant near gate 119. There was a long queque for breakfast, and I had already eaten on the plane, so I waited until about 10 o'clock and was served a snack of tea and sandwich and was given a voucher for lunch. I later met a lady from South Africa who also had a long layover from London but her connecting flight left a little earlier than mine and and she was entitled to a snack, only.

When I first arrived in the airport there were people sleeping all over the airport, clustered together in little spaces, they were also lined up for breakfast. I think these must be the workers from Africa who travel to the Middle East to be work. They must have a long connection time. The meal thing is a great idea for them.
Dubai airport shopping
Dubai airport shopping
Dubai airport shopping
Dubai airport shoppingThere is a Marharaba Lounge near gate 123 where you can pay to stay and have food and access the business facilities, but I think it is best to book ahead with your travel agent. There seems to be a greeting and pick up service. But at the lounge, staff seemed overworked, and I tried to get in, but kept getting pushed aside by "greeters" with their little groups. So I just wandered about taking photos of the airport and the facilities.

If you wanted to rest and eat, the Safar restaurant has a regular restaurant side where you can probably take a table and keep ordering. There are internet kiosks in the center of the terminal hall, which I think are free, but the machines that were working were always taken and you had to stand up to use them. I tried to get wifi connection, but either I couldn't find the hot spot or my laptop has wifi disabled.

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Dubai Airport at Night

Before Athens could host the 2004 Olympics, there was a need for extensive infrastructure development.

While constructing the new underground railway (metro), they unearthed many archaeological sites that were previously unknown. So there are several interesting museums in the metro stations, displaying various artefacts found nearby.

The same thing happened when the airport was being built in the late 1990s. The small museum in the airport describes how the locals lived during the last few thousand years.

This large pot was found during the excavation.

Dubai Airport at Night
Dubai Airport at NightThe route taken by Emirates passed over the southern portion of Cyprus. After the Turks invaded the northern part in 1974, there has been an ongoing feud about the sovereignty of Cyprus. The Republic of Cyprus effectively controls only 59% of the island.

The following photos are from the excellent flight information in Emirates.
Dubai Airport at Night
Dubai Airport at Night
Dubai Airport at Night
Dubai Airport at NightIt was weird flying parallel to the border with Iraq and thinking about all that was going on down there.

It was night-time by now and the flames that lit the dark provided abundant evidence of oil wells.

I was sitting next to a Canadian military guy who was stationed in Afghanistan. He was on 2-weeks’ leave and headed for new Zealand. He was torn between his sense of duty and the insanity of the situation in Iraq.

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Dubai Tower

Stories of the mass abandonment of Dubai, lack of investment and a general depression in the once buzzing architectural centre have been rife in the international press of late. But it would seem that architects are not yet prepared to let go of their playground yet as this latest design shows.

There is one difference though - this design attempts to shed off the common association of distinctive with outrageous to create a more sophisticated building, perhaps a sign of a new era for Dubai?

"Our design for the Burj Dubai Residential Tower aims to create a distinctive building in Dubai to become an icon," says Alessandro Zoppini of the building's designers, studio zoppini associati. "We have proposed therefore something which refuses the usual fashion of twisting and torting volumes without any meaning or reason: the building volume is very simple and its layout is generated by the need to maximize the views to the New Burj Dubai Tower."

Dubai Tower
Dubai Tower
Dubai TowerZoppini believes the design also creates a closer expression to the local architectural culture. The greatest interpretation of this appears through the adaptable steel sun shading device which both provides sun protection as well as reinterpreting in a very modern way the traditional Arab sunshade.
Dubai Tower
Dubai Tower
Dubai Tower"Our design for the Burj Dubai Residential Tower aims to create a distinctive building in Dubai to become an icon," says Alessandro Zoppini of the building's designers, studio zoppini associati. "We have proposed therefore something which refuses the usual fashion of twisting and torting volumes without any meaning or reason: the building volume is very simple and its layout is generated by the need to maximize the views to the New Burj Dubai Tower."

Zoppini believes the design also creates a closer expression to the local architectural culture. The greatest interpretation of this appears through the adaptable steel sun shading device which both provides sun protection as well as reinterpreting in a very modern way the traditional Arab sunshade.

The building has a very simple structural system: a central core concrete structure which provides for lateral stability and an external steel diamond structure allowing a completely flexible floor plate which can be easily adaptable to all tenants needs.

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Dubai World

Dubai World
Dubai World
Dubai World
Dubai World
Dubai World
Dubai World
Dubai World

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Dubai Airport Duty Free

We travelled in Emirates Business class on the EK 28 which had a flight time of just over 7 hours. We relaxed in our cradle seats and enjoyed the outstanding ICE in flight entertainment system, unfortunately no one seemed brave enough to take me on at the inflight Trivia Quiz where you can play interactively against anyone on the aircraft. I settled down to watch Invictus which was one of over 200 movies on offer and enjoyed a fantastic lunch whilst flying over Europe.

Dubai Airport Duty Free
Dubai Airport Duty Free
Dubai Airport Duty FreeWe landed in Dubai just after midnight and once passport control was negotiated many of our group popped into the Duty Free shop for some liquid refreshments for their rooms.

Our fantastic ground agents – SNTTA transferred us to the Grand Hyatt Dubai Hotel which is a 20 minute drive from the Airport. Even in the early hours the temperature was in the high 20s and we were happy that nearly everywhere has excellent air conditioning. The Grand Hyatt is a downtown hotel with fantastic rooms and public areas. The lush grounds and collection of swimming pools belie it’s downtown location and it is a true oasis in the thriving metropolis of downtown Dubai.
Dubai Airport Duty Free
Dubai Airport Duty Free
Dubai Airport Duty Free
Dubai Airport Duty FreeOur fantastic ground agents – SNTTA transferred us to the Grand Hyatt Dubai Hotel which is a 20 minute drive from the Airport. Even in the early hours the temperature was in the high 20s and we were happy that nearly everywhere has excellent air conditioning. The Grand Hyatt is a downtown hotel with fantastic rooms and public areas. The lush grounds and collection of swimming pools belie it’s downtown location and it is a true oasis in the thriving metropolis of downtown Dubai.

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Dubai International Airport

Dubai International Airport is the main airport of Dubai which is the largest city in the United Arab Emirates. Dubai Airport is situated in the district of Al Garhoud which lies around 4km or 2.5 miles southeast of Dubai itself.

Dubai Airport is where the home base for Emirates is located which actually handles around 60 percent of all passenger traffic. The Emirates hub at Dubai Airport is the largest within the Middle East & Africa. Budget carrier Flydubai also has their base at the airport. Dubai Airport is currently operating around 5,600 flights per week served by approximately 100 airlines which transport passengers to over 200 destinations worldwide.

Dubai International Airport
Dubai International Airport
Dubai International Airport
Dubai International Airport
Dubai International Airport
Dubai International Airport
Dubai International Airport

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Dubai Airport

Dubai International Airport, which is for the record, the largest in the Gulf, is outstripping the world as far as the recovery of the aviation industry in concerned in this year.

It is to be mentioned here that as the airport capitalizes on its role as a pivot for business travelers arbitraging between a struggling Europe and the burgeoning economies of Asia but the analysts are of a view that the success of the Dubai market may act as a magnet for new competition.

It may be noted here that the traffic through Dubai International rose by close to 16 percent in the first nine months of the year, which has been able to put the local market well ahead of the 12.9% average increase in the Asia-Pacific market. It has also helped it a lot making it the world's fastest growing.

The data according to Airports Council International has also supported this fact and expects that the industry will move in a similar fashion in the coming times as well. Aviation is surely one of the most thriving businesses for the tiny Dubai and it is expected that the growth will be sustained for a longer duration this time.

Dubai Airport
Dubai Airport
Dubai Airport
Dubai Airport
Dubai Airport
Dubai Airport

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