So for as horrible as 13 hours in a plane in the window seat stuck there sounds, it was only half bad. After my tea accident, I threw my backpack up into the overhead compartment to get out of the way, and forgot my ZzzQuil was in there until it was too late to take it and too late to ask my seatmates to move again, so I only slept for about 4 hours. For how tired I should be, I'm really not; I'm sure it will all hit me later though, like when I arrive 3AM local time in Hyderabad. But anyway, it was a good enough time. I read a book (Paper Towns, go read it now it's great), watched Insurgent (so much better as a book but I had to keep watching it since I had read all the books), and slept, so I'd call it a success. PS shout out to Emirates for serving some of the most delicious breakfast food I've ever had.
As soon as I got off the plane though, things got interesting. First off, DXB (Dubai International) is freaking huge. Like REALLY FREAKING HUGE. I thought JFK was bad but no. It takes 30 minutes to get to some of the gates WITHIN THE SAME TERMINAL! End rant. Naturally I had no idea where I was going, so I chose the security line for people who already have boarding passes printed, only to get through security and see that the boarding pass I have doesn't have a gate on it. Great, so I have no idea where I'm going. I wander around for a while following signs for information (hallelujah there is an English version of all signs because my ability to read Arabic is below zero percent) but because of how big the place is the arrows point you in circles right around the point you're trying to find but never to it. I finally just jumped in front of a man wearing an emirates suit and asked him to point me in the right direction. Naturally because my layover is so long, they have no idea what gate I will be at, but since I arrived on an Emirates flight and am departing on an Emirates flight, I qualify for a free meal voucher. Score! When I go to claim it, I ask the lady if she has any idea where my gate will be. I told her there's currently a flight leaving in an hour for my same destination (my flight was early, so now I'm wishing I had booked the earlier one. But you know if I had my flight here would have been delayed and I would have missed it, so whatever). She said it wouldn't be the same gate, but the same wing (B) and that I can use my voucher over there, so I head in that direction, take the train there, and find my way around. BTW tried to switch to the earlier flight, they said no. Oh by the way did I mention it's 44*C and there's only air conditioning in some places? Yeah so that's nice. Anyway I make it to B, all the while trying to connect to the airport wifi to let my dad know I'm alive (hey Dad I'm alive just FYI) but in true Carla's luck fashion, my phone says it is an insecure connection so I skip that. I do notice though, that the Heineken Experience restaurant has its own free wifi that you need a code for, so it's probably legit. However at this point I need to use the bathroom, and there's practically none, or at least I can't find them, so I wander some more. There was one stall open even though there was a line, but I was next so I checked it out, maybe it's dirty right? Well wrong. It's a hole in the ground. While I knew this was coming, I haven't expected it in a relatively brand new airport with all western-hemisphere attractions to have a hole-in-the-ground bathroom! Granted it was a porcelain hole, but non the less a hole. So I stand in the stall mentally preparing myself for this, when I hear the stall next to me flush. FLUSH! That means a toilet! So I get right out and wait for a real stall because let's be real I'm not peeing in a hole if I don't have to. I wait with baited breath for someone to open the stall and alas! There's a toilet! I go in though, and see that the lady before me left her shopping, so I take it out to put on the counter by the sinks so she can come back and grab it, and someone jumped in the stall! You saw what I was doing, rude. So I had to wait some more and obviously was not happy about it. I just had to use the bathroom gosh dang it.
Also, going back to the heat, basically everyone smells at this point, and I'm not saying this derogatorily. Dubai isn't really a quick flight for anyone, plus it's a billion degrees, I feel gross, and we all know how much of a clean freak I am.
I only left home 26 hours ago so my clothes and hair and lack of face wash don't bother me all that much, it's mainly the fact that I now haven't brushed my teeth in over a day. Luckily, Emirates rules, and they gave everyone a toothbrush and sleeping mask and face towel in this adorable little travel pack thing when we got on the plane. So after I finally get to use the bathroom, I brush my teeth. I had tried to bring my water bottle from the plane with me to use to brush, but I had to throw it away when I went back through security. But if there's a big sign over the hole-in-the-floor toilet that the water is potable, the sink waters gotta be good enough to brush with; I'm not drinking it. Well I did it so I hope I was right. At this point I don't even care because my mouth feels great. And I rinsed my face so I feel half way fresh again.
So now, I came back to the Heineken Experience place with the legitimate wifi, am sipping on a draft beer and writing this blog post. It's currently 3:00pm here, I board at 9:00pm, so I'm going to sit here, sip this beer, wander around some of the shops to walk off the potential DVT forming in my legs after the flight here, redeem my meal voucher, and board that plane. Once I'm on, I'm only 3 hours from Hyderabad. It will be 3:00AM when I arrive, hopefully there won't be too long of a wait for the driver, then the real fun can begin. I know getting there is half the fun, but I'm really looking forward to World Congress now. They emailed us an itinerary and let us pick the workshops we want to participate in, and they all sound so awesome I absolutely can't wait. Once I know what I actually get to go to (did I get my first picks or not), you'll hear about it. But even second and third choices are fine because they all seriously sound awesome.
Okay, enough writing for now. I'm going to enjoy my Heineken and push the toilet experience from my mind. Bye for now!