Last Day in Dubai and on to Hong Kong

As one might expect, today’s plans were slightly different that initially planned. Mom was extremely sore, especially her right hand which is bruised through to the palm. I had considered going skiing, but then was afraid I might fall and hurt myself and then we’d really be in trouble! Instead, I saw was a gorgeous day we had in store – no clouds or haze and just a slight breeze. Mom and I did go down to get a little bit of breakfast from the massive buffet, but again, that was difficult for her. We returned to our room and I did a little organizing of our suitcases before heading out to the pool. It really was fantastic. Mom opted to stay inside and read her book since there were several steps to negotiate getting down to the pool.

I spent a few hours out there enjoying a new book, but the sun was quite warm. Soon one of the pool attendants brought a damp cold towel by and then a lime slushy – you can’t beat this kind of service! I went up about 2pm since I knew we needed to start getting our things ready. We had a 4:00 pm checkout, but there was still a lot to do. We both showered and managed to get ourselves put together by the time the bellman arrived. We didn’t really get out of there until about 4:45, but all things considered we did well. We walked around the grounds of the hotel and then found a nice little corner where we could sit and relax.

We went to another Italian restaurant on the grounds and had a very nice dinner. We finished up around 9:00 pm so we had just enough time to get our luggage and meet our driver. It was about a 30 minute trip to the airport, but the traffic was crazy, much worse than during the day. We arrived at DXB to a sea of humanity. It was such a jolt to all of the senses. We had to first put our bags through x-ray before we even went to get our tickets. I will say that once we got to the Cathay Pacific counter, they took very good care of us and had a wheelchair ready for Mom almost immediately. It is a good thing that we had that for her as the airport is enormous, much larger than I had anticipated. It seemed as though we walked for miles. The nice part about having her in a wheelchair is that we do get to bypass many of the long lines at security, immigration, etc. Since we were quite early we went to the British Airways Lounge to relax before the flight. They had all kinds of food and drink for us to enjoy. It was not long before it was 12:15 am and they came back to get Mom. We were taken to the gate and taken down below. The plane was about ½ mile away and you had to go up stairs, so instead, they have this type of large hydraulic box lift to take up those in a wheelchair.

It was the funniest thing to be lifted up on the opposite side of where everyone else was boarding. The gentleman who was taking care of Mom was great, he made sure we were totally taken care of and even got her all the way to her seat. The plane boarded extremely fast and orderly. This is one of the new Airbus planes with the herringbone set up for business class. The only con is that you cannot talk easily to the person you’re travelling with - it is definitely designed for the solo traveler. We just loved it. You have your own space and access to the aisle. We were in the air right on schedule and it was such a smooth take off that you hardly even noticed it. They brought around beverages and our amenity kit and were getting ready to serve a meal. We both opted to sleep. They have really nice pillows and comforters and of course the seats that go completely flat. It was fantastic. Mom and I both had a great night’s rest and agree that was the fastest 7 hours ever!