Dubai!

Well I finally made it to Dubai after a 2-1/2 months separation from hubby. Now we can finally begin our newlywed life having barely seen each other since the wedding.

I arrived last Friday morning after a 12-1/2 hour direct flight from NYC on Emirates Air. There were tons of movies on the plane so I basically had myself a movie marathon of sequels: Oceans 13, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Shrek 3, Spider-Man 3…

The food was okay, the wine service was a bit lacking, but the plane was 30% full so I was able to get a window seat.

Not much of a view until we started our descent over Iran and then it was a striking view of the dessert. I couldn’t help it – I took out my camera and took pictures out of the plane window. Of course, the images I took don’t do justice to the expanse of dessert landscape and sand dunes:

Scotch picked me up from the airport and drove to our new apartment in Dubai Marina. Our unit is on the 35th floor and has a great view of the Marina and a partial view of the beach and the Arabian Sea!

Our complex has 6 pools and is a stone’s throw from the beach. Once all the construction is finished around us, there should be tons of shops and restaurants within striking distance.

The Starbucks alongside my building looks like it’s just about to open up. And yes, there are many other US chains here as well: Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Papa John’s, Baskin Robbins, Dunkin Donuts, Haagen Daaz, Burger King, Johnny Rockets…

More Dubai observations to come later. Right now, here is a quick re-cap of my last week. Scotch took me to Bab Al Shams for the weekend which was really nice. We had dinner in a huge outdoor desert setting with the usual belly dancers, but also camel and horse shows. Lots of camels! We also enjoyed a spa day of massages and facials.

I spent the rest of the week unpacking, checking out the pool and the beach (more camels!), and eating in a lot of restaurants.

Our internet and cable was finally set up today (hurray!) and we are now watching Mission Impossible 3 on Showtime with Arabic subtitles. I miss Ugly Betty.