Leaving Nepal IV: DUBAI

Welcome back to my travels from Nepal to the United States.  This instalment features lavish (and very surprising) airport and flight experiences in Dubai!

Catch up if you haven't yet read the other stints of the journey:

The Village // Village → Kathmandu // KTM Airport

Reading time: 5 minutes

✈ Flight #1: KTM to Dubai ✈

Duration: 5 hours

Airline: FlyDubai

Nepal Time (My Body Clock): 6:30-11:30 PM

During the first flight, I was feeling a lot of emotions.  Grateful, sad, excited, loss.  I immediately started my notebook project, for which I filled a notebook with insights and stories from my time abroad (now all posted on this blog).  It was so therapeutic to write, and it kept me busy in a time when an idle mind was not going to be a positive thing.

The flight itself was completely full, packed with other people who had lucked out through all of their steps and made it to that point.  Because the flight was delayed, so was food/drink service, which made for hangry people by around 7 PM (we had to have been at the airport since 1).  They fed us as soon as they could, but due to turbulence they couldn't do a drink service.  They only had 100 mL sealed plastic water cups, one per person, no more.  100 mL is about the size of a dixie cup.  I am guessing they were not prepared for so many passengers.  Maybe they usually social distance the flights but this one couldn't be because of the circumstances.  Anyway, I'm not complaining - I got to eat!  Later in the flight they served tea, and I got a lot of writing done.  

I made it to Dubai, and that felt like a miracle in and of itself.

Hello, Dubai!

✈ Layover: Dubai ✈

Duration: 14 hours 11.25 hours

Nepal Time (My Body Clock): 11:30 PM-10:45 AM

Dubai Time (Local Clock): 9:45 PM-9 AM

Now we have arrived at the most fun part of the story.  I didn't know anything about Dubai, Dubai airport, or Dubai airlines.  I didn't have time to research a thing, and I also didn't have a choice what airlines I flew with.  There was a flight, so I booked it.  Little did I expect what awaited me after my first flight.  It felt like flying out of the apocalypse that was peak-pandemic Kathmandu to some rich expensive heaven.  

Trillions of stores and so much duty-free shopping everywhere!  Of course I only took photos of the candy ones.  And H&M.

A rich expensive heaven, or something like that.  It was completely disorienting, to say the least.  Not to mention I was exhausted, I really needed to sleep, but I didn't know where to go because my gate hadn't been announced yet due to the length of the layover.  So imagine a discombobulated Roxi, sleepy and freshly emerged from the village and then lockdown Kathmandu and some of the most stressful days of her life, wandering through the fanciest airport in the world - which I later learned, it literally is.  

Even the bathrooms were high end.  Look at that contemporary art moment!

Apparently it's common knowledge that Dubai is the richest country with the nicest airport and super fancy airlines, but because I didn't know that, I thought I had discovered it.  I was amazed at how nice the airport was.  The bathrooms were gorgeous.  They had reclining chairs along the walls.  Every-other seat had a "not for use" sign so that people would socially distance.  It was a silent airport (no loudspeaker announcements) except for occasional short reminders to please wear a mask, which everyone followed.

For the first few hours, I wasn't super comfortable there.  At first I liked looking at all of the amazing duty free shops while walking, but I wasn't hungry and I didn't want to shop, I just wanted to sleep.  I didn't have a gate to go to so I just wandered to a general seating area and tried to find a girl or a family.  (Solo female traveler favorites.)  I found a couple and sat near them, but I didn't feel comfortable to sleep there.  I talked with Sanam on the phone, he had finally made it out of the car repair shop and was just a few hours drive from home.  Talking with him helped me.  I also wrote some in the notebook.  Then, I decided to go for another stroll around the airport...

...And that is when I discovered the reclining chairs.  I plugged in my portable charger, decided to trust that no one would take it (no one took it!), and took a very needed 2.5 hour nap.  A 2:30 to 5 AM nap.  It was great.  

I woke up feeling better, and my gate information had finally been released, so I went to go find my gate.  After finding my gate, I went exploring for where I should get breakfast.  I ended up choosing a sweet looking cafe where I got an omelette cheese tomato croissant.  It was probably one of the best things I've ever eaten.  I also wrote more in the notebook here.

Sanam and I were trying so hard to have another call before my long flight, but his phone was having trouble.  We weren't able to have the call, but we could message.  I told him not to worry, and that we used up a lot of good karma (results of our past good actions) recently, so his phone not working then was fine.  Also, both of the zippers on my bag had broken during my travels that day, which I also didn't mind because of all of the good luck we had had otherwise.  

Thankful for this clip, which held together the bag in which I was carrying my passport, flight tickets, phone, wallet, SIM cards... but, if something had to go wrong, I'm so glad this was it.

We sent each other our love, and I went on my next flight...

Stay tuned for the next instalment of our adventure - flying over the NORTH POLE (my favorite)!

🛫