With our bags all packed it was a pretty slow paced morning for us. One last breakfast, one last music video session, and we were set for a check-out at noon. Kuniko had asked if we could get a ride to the airport, and they said that for 30 Georgian Lari they could arrange it. We agreed and the deal was made. This time when we brought our suitcase downstairs to leave, the driver was waiting for us. To our pleasant surprise, it was the same giant guy who had picked us up on the train platform.
While he took the suitcase and Kuniko did the paperwork for checking out, an older gentleman who was apparently the owner of the hotel poured another few shots of cha-cha as a farewell drink. Once more into the breach, but I figured it would make the wait for the airplane go a little smoother and said sure, why not? The owner told us in broken English how happy he was that we enjoyed our stay, and through his daughter(?) at the counter encouraged us to leave a good review for the hotel online. We were looking for how to pay for the driver, and the timing and the way the owner said it strongly implied that they were willing to forgo the driver fee if we wrote the nice review. It was hard to clearly understand, but we left things like that, and went outside to get in the old Mercedes Benz once again.
The driver was just as speedy as I remembered, and he seemed to have the habit of driving down the middle of two lanes, preferring not to commit to any one particular lane and keeping his options open. I wondered how many car accidents he has had in his driving career.
We turned right on George W. Bush Street and headed straight out to the airport. The guy was very nice and so I prepared a small tip of 5 Georgian Lari for being so helpful. We arrived at the airport, he took out the suitcase and I handed over the tip. He looked at the amount and said “Thirty! Thirty!” The light dawned, and I realized what happened. The original fee for the ride wasn’t actually included in our bill, and there was no discount for giving a good review. We just need to pay the driver. I was a little embarrassed as I handed over the 30 lari because I didn’t have an additional 5 lari bill to cover the original tip, just large bills. Oops! He didn’t seem to mind, though, and waved to us as he sped off.
So now we were back at the airport, and we went inside to check the departures board and see where to check in. We had arrived three hours before our flight, but when we looked up at the board it said our flight was departing in just 15 minutes. Next to that it said “GO TO GATE”.
What the hell? I double checked the flight number and it was correct. Oh crap! Kuniko and I both felt that icy cold feeling of sheer panic. Did we have the wrong information? Did TripIt fail us again? We rushed to the check in counters, but none of them were marked with our airline, FlyDubai. As cold sweat appeared on my forehead we rushed to the airline window, but there were no FlyDubai staff inside. We couldn’t go to the gate with our suitcase, so we didn’t know what we could do. I took the suitcase and tried to find an English-speaking staff that could help walking around the lobby. Kuniko went upstairs in an attempt to talk her way past the gate staff and get to the departure gate so that she could maybe hold the flight. Minutes were ticking away here and I couldn’t help thinking how it would suck to miss our flight and subsequently miss the next one from Dubai to Osaka.
I ran back to the FlyDubai window and asked a staff member from another airline if they could help, but they just shook their heads and pointed at the empty FlyDubai desk. I found a passing pilot but he just shrugged at me and kept walking.
Suddenly, when I was out of ideas, a guy wearing a FlyDubai uniform walked in and sat down at the desk. I rushed to him, and asked him about the flight to Dubai and how we could get to the gate ASAP.
I may have been a bit shrill.
He answered calmly that the flight was on schedule and to just check the monitors. Soon we would be able to check in.
I told him that we had just checked the monitors and they said to go to the gate immediately because the flight was leaving soon.
“Oh,” he said. “Did they forget to reset the departure information? That happens sometimes. I’ll call the department and have them set it up correctly.”
I confirmed with him that we were in fact still two and a half hours before departure, and that the information we saw on the official airport departure screen was incorrect.
I breathed a massive sigh of relief, and soon saw Kuniko coming downstairs looking for me. We found that the check-in counters opened up soon after, and we were able to check-in without a problem for the regularly scheduled flight.
What a shocker. We knew that things worked a little differently out here, and we weren’t in some major metropolis airport, but at least you can get the departure times correct for the flight on the official board, right? Maybe we were asking for too much.
Anyway, after that rush of adrenaline we made a beeline for the nearest airport bar and had a cold beer and a sandwich to settle down. The sandwich was simple and forgettable, but the beer hit the spot. After that it was just a matter of walking around killing time before the flight. We bought some chocolate in a duty free shop, and waited behind some old ladies who didn’t speak any of the languages that the staff spoke. The prices of the items were in Euros but they wanted to pay using some other currency, and the old ladies tried negotiating using gestures to get all the things they wanted, even though they didn’t have enough cash. I think working at an international airport duty free cash register would be pretty stressful.
We had a very uneventful flight to Dubai, back across Iran, and landed just as the sun was setting. The view of Dubai from the plane was interesting – buildings surrounded by sand and long open highways stretching off to nowhere. We couldn’t see any famous landmarks coming in, however.
Since we had been to Dubai on the way to Georgia we easily navigated the airport and found our way to the metro station, and then took the train back to the Burj Khalifa. Previously everything was closed because we were there so early in the morning, but this time everything was open. We could walk all the way from the train station to the Dubai Mall in air conditioned comfort thanks to a long elevated walkway. It was a long way to walk, but much more comfortable than the way we did it last time.
The Dubai Mall is apparently the second largest mall in the world based on land area, so obviously we didn’t see it all during our limited time visiting. Our primary targets were getting a suitably cheesy keychain ornament of the Burj Khalifa to hang from our Christmas tree, and to eat some Lebanese food from the food court. We accomplished both of these almost right away. The keychain was easy to pick up at the official souvenir shop, and we had a felafel and a chicken Shawarma wrap once again. Both were delicious.
The mall was quite beautiful (for a mall), and well designed. It was a true cross-section of all kinds of people, with shieks and burqa-wearing women everywhere, but also Asians, Europeans and Africans too. It was a great place to people watch.
We did a little more shopping, and then went outside to watch the fountain show – a huge water area and a fountain and light show every 30 minutes under the Burj Khalifa itself. Just like Las Vegas, except much hotter.
Finally, we made the long trip back to the airport, and then went to our gate to get ready for the flight to Osaka. We had some beers, ate a little more airport food, and then sleepily boarded our flight at about 2 am local time. That gave us a chance to sleep on Emirates for most of the return flight to Osaka, and we arrived in the evening on Monday night. Kuniko was ready to go to work the next day, but as it turned out she had the day off.
We weren’t too tired after the trip, thanks to the couple days of relaxation in Tbilisi before our return. It was another great trip for us. Definitely more difficult than other trips and we had some moments of panic, but it is things like that which make for the best stories and memories. Can’t wait for the next trip!
