Delay, disruption and despair

As we sat in the lounge, sipping a glass of champagne and watching planes get airborne, we realised very quickly that we were very much the lucky ones. Our flight was delayed by two hours and twenty minutes as a result of bad weather in Dubai. Fog disrupted all flights at this major hub and we were just going to have to sit it out. So, first job - no, not another glass of pop! Well, maybe in a minute - post Gabrielle’s first blog post. So, after fighting the intermittent WiFi and battling with a recalcitrant browser on an iPad, I finally achieved it. Much rejoicing all around.

We finally boarded our A380 and pushed back at 16:20, some two and half hours late! It was a further twenty minutes after that that we actually left terra firma for terra incognita. Would we make our connecting flight in Dubai to whisk us on to Hong Kong? We ruminated anxiously and tried to work out whether we would be able to dash to the gate. All the time there is the niggling memory that Dubai airport is huge.

Of course, we could have taken a direct flight to Hong Kong. But at twice the price. We were slightly regretting not making that investment at that moment because now, we would either need to gallop like crazy to the connecting flight or we would have a seven hour wait for the next one. So we thought. Which will it be? Of course, now we already know the answers, but let’s leave ourselves in suspenders shall we?

Meanwhile, very lovely ladies and gentlemen have been plying us with delicious food and drink and offering to make up our beds and generally being very solicitous. We eat. We drink and then we sleep. But not very much and in Gabrielle’s case, not at all.

The flight arrived in Dubai at 02:50 and our next flight was 03:30. It was doomed before we started. As we hurried off the plane, all passengers on connecting flights were caught in a chaotic gaggle where hotel vouchers and revised flight tickets were handed out. All the Dubai airport staff were shouting place names over each other. Fortunately Gabrielle picked out Hong Kong from the melee and then spotted our tickets on the table. She grabbed them and … Our flight was 24 hours later - the same flight, but next day. Our spirits were down. It was the middle of the night and we were now being sent to retrieve our luggage and head off to who knows where in Dubai.

As we wait for the shuttle train, Gabrielle realises that it’s already the 25 February and it’s her dad’s anniversary. Cue a small meltdown made worse because we are in Dubai and physical affection can lead to serious consequences.

Everyone passed through a blue arch that was labelled “Children’s passport control”. We wanted to take a photo but thought that adding a night in the cells might not improve our journey. All people with new passports that would have worked in the eGates or anyone who had not been to Dubai using their current passport, had to go and get their document stamped. Pretty much everyone. Bizarre.

We arrive in Baggage reclaim at 4am. It soon becomes apparent that there are no more bags. AirTag and FindMy say our bags were in the airport half an hour previously. But are they now winging their way to Hong Kong?

No they are not, apparently. They are in the airport, but we can’t have them. We have waited by the carousel until everyone else has left. The lady in the baggage office tells us that our bags will be prepared for the flight in 24 hours. No, that will not do, we tell her. We are to be guests of Emirates at a hotel and we need our cases. Ok, but it may take three or four hours. You will need to ask the concierge at your hotel to request them for you. What? The bags will be pulled out of the container and delivered to you. We decide that arguing the point is not going to get us any further so we go in search of our car to take us to this hotel and who knows what we shall get there?

The chauffeur service desk guy is most helpful and gets us on our way speedily, sans luggage. We drive off the main drag and onto what looks a fairly dodgy area of downtown Dubai and then all of a sudden we turn into the courtyard of a towering palace: the Al Jaddaf Rotana Suite Hotel. A delightful guy checks us in, takes our voucher, knows what to do about the luggage and checks our reservation for a car at midnight. We take the keys and head up to the seventh floor and open the door. What a vista! It is a two bedroom suite with a lounge, dining table for six, a kitchen, laundry, two bathrooms both with baths, a huge master bedroom … and an alternately giggly and shocked, over excited Gabrielle.

We stumble around trying to find each other: “Where are you?” comes the plaintive cry. And then we decide that we need to find out what’s going on and how our itinerary has changed. What’s certain is that we shall now see little of Hong Kong as we will be whisked straight to the cruise ship from the airport. Meanwhile, we have three meals and 24 hours in a very luxurious apartment. But it’s 05:00 and we need to sort out our next steps so we resolve to stay up anyway - neither of us had much sleep on the flight - and we get on with emails to the various powers that be, all of whom of course are tucked up warm in bed.

I shower and shave and Gabrielle has a luxurious bath. We are making the most of this and, by the time we have finished, it’s about 06:30 and breakfast is being served in the restaurant. Time to eat and then a bit of a snooze we think.

So down to the gigantic restaurant that sports the largest chandeliers that either of us has seen. The buffet, newly opened, stretches into the distance. You work up an appetite just wandering around it. We are fed and watered and then head back to the suite where we fall into bed and go to sleep very quickly. Only to be woken a couple of hours later by the telephone. Our cases have arrived. Wonder of wonders!

Back to sleep until about 14:30 when we decided that we were neither emotionally ready to go sightseeing, nor physically capable of doing anything much than to recover, ready for our next flight at 03:30 tomorrow morning.