Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Citymax Bur Dubai hotel.  In case you were wondering why the lobby is always busy (unless you check in around 1:30 or 2 in the morning), it’s because they have a pretty nifty arrangement that keeps them full.

I’m not sure how Citymax and Alpha Tours (dba “Natalie Tours” in Russia and Ukraine) hooked up, but hooked up they have, and as a result, there are tons of Russian speaking people here.  There are three room service menus here — one in English, one in Arabic and one in Russian.  Most of the staff speak a little Russian as well, sometimes not much more than the basics related to their jobs, but still some.  English is still the better language to know to get around, but this place had made it very easy for Russian speakers to visit.

They were down to a single non-smoking room by the time we arrived.  It wasn’t in the best place — first floor (which is the second story of the building) and right next to the elevator.  Plus the window looked into an unused courtyard area.  We could have gotten a smoking room that might have been a bit better, but I didn’t want to be smelling smoke all night.  (I don’t care how thoroughly you clean a room; if people regularly smoke in it, you’re gonna smell something.)  Fortunately, we were able to grab another room the next day, 5th floor, with a westward looking window.  There’s a lot more traffic noise, though.  Traffic noise or people/elevator noise — sometimes you just can’t win.

The hotel is OK.  Kind of a Motel 6-y sort of place, but with a pool on the roof.  They do have three restaurants and a bar, though, and I don’t think Motel 6 has gotten to that point yet.  Small rooms, but OK; if you’re not really attached to the person you’re sharing the room with, you might want to get a second room.

Here’s something crazy:  wi-fi is free in the public areas of the hotel, but you have to pay for it in the rooms.  However, the wired internet is free in the rooms. That just makes no sense to me.  Things work, though, so I can’t really complain about that.  Fortunately, I had brought along a laptop that I was planning to leave with my wife.  If I had just come with my iPad or iPod, I would have had to spend a lot more time in the lobby.

You know how most of the lower cost hotels have a free breakfast for you?  You know — toast, muffins, a bit of juice and coffee?  Well, this place definitely amps that up.  Free breakfast here is a real breakfast, and is included as part of the tour package.  (Like I said, Citymax and Alpha Tours.)  Every morning there’s a breakfast buffet, which makes their main restaurant a busy, noisy place.  There is a good variety of stuff, including some common items from the American breakfast table.  No bacon, I’m sorry to say, but then again, this is an Islamic country.  (They don’t even sell bacon-flavored potato chips in the stores. And the ham here is turkey ham.) This morning, in addition to some of the more common fare I prefer, I tried this Indian rice and corn thing.  It was something like grits and it tasted pretty good.  The other morning I sampled a spicy vermicelli; I liked it, but my wife’s not big on the spices.

This is a 600-plus room hotel, but so far, the staff has been pretty prompt and attentive to any questions or issues.  I’m not saying that if I found myself in Dubai in the future, I would absolutely stay here, but it’s not bad, and I’m sure there are other places that are worse.

This was the first time I had ever been to Zhulyany airport. All my previous travel in and out of Kiev had been through the larger Boryspil airport, so this was a new experience. Like with O’Hare in Chicago, the city of Kiev had grown around Zhulyany, so the shuttle went from cityscape to airport with very little transition. It’s a small place, too, so it was no trouble finding the check in counters or anything else. I kind if I liked it; it had a much more relaxed feel than the hubbub of Boryspil.

There were lots of new experiences in this trip for my wife.  She has only been on an airplane a couple of times, and only domestically going from Boryspil and Donetsk. I don’t think that checking in was very different for her, other than having to show off her spanking new international passport.  (I think I got to see her new passport — and driver’s license — within about 20 minutes of our reunion.)  Everything after that was a bit different.

In addition to the security screening, there were also stops at customs and passport control.  I think she was a little disappointed when my passport got stamped, but hers didn’t.  I was trying to point out that it was because I was leaving the country (Ukraine), but I don’t think she got the whole in-out thing until we got to Dubai. (She also didn’t realize that, as a couple, we could approach the customs etc. desks together, rather than waiting one after the other.)

I’m going to say that waiting around is not my wife’s strong suit, and in retrospect, that may have clued me in to what I would experience on the flight.  Somehow, though, she managed to survive the almost two-hour wait before we could get on the plane.  (Eh, the drawbacks of international flights…).  The last half-hour wasn’t too bad– there was a nifty little wind/thunderstorm thing that blew through Kiev.  But the rest of the time was interspersed with eyerolls and comments about how having to be there two hours beforehand is really dumb.

And then there was the flight.  Not an overly crowded flight, thank goodness, since I was assigned a middle seat.  (My wife likes the window seat so she can look out.)  Our flight was with FlyDubai (I hadn’t heard of them either), which is apparently the low-cost carrier that is run by the higher-cost Emirates Airlines.  This meant that we had to buy any food or drinks unless we brought some with us, which we didn’t.  It also meant that there was little in the way of entertainment in the seat video screens, unless you bought one of the movie or TV packages.

As I said, my wife has been on a couple for flights, from Donetsk to Kiev and back.  These flights take just over an hour, and the airlines flying between those two cities are the full-service carriers.  This means that just after take-off, you get a drink and snack, and by the time you’re done with that, it’s pretty much time to land.  My wife “knew” the flight to Dubai was longer than the flight to Kiev, but there’s knowing and then there’s experiencing.

It takes about 5 hours to get to Dubai from Kiev.  This is about the same amount of time as it takes to get from Atlanta or Washington, DC to Seattle or Portland.  (I know, because I’ve been on both of those flights.)  It’s about half of the time it takes to fly from Portland to Amsterdam, which I’ve also done a couple times now.  Really, 5 hours is not that bad… unless you’re with someone isn’t mentally prepared for a five-hour flight.  So, yeah, my wife “knew” it was 5 hours, but I just don’t think she realized that meant being in your seat for 5 hours.  I suggested we get a magazine or something before we took off, but she said she didn’t need or want one.  After a couple hours, I think she might have been regretting that decision.

Since we had the row, she was able to stretch out a little and doze a bit; that was OK.  And, for the first time apparently, she got to see a mountain with snow on the top.  I wasn’t ready for that; I was sure she would have seen one somewhere, but she says no.  We were above the clouds much of the time and there wasn’t a lot to see (yet another reason to have a magazine), but there was a break in the cover when we were passing over some mountains in southern Turkey.  My wife looked down, saw the white topped mountains and asked me if that was snow.  Then she asked again, just to be sure that I was sure.  And then she was very excited.

When we reached Dubai, it was after midnight and the outside temperature was still over 90 at the airport. We landed at the smaller of the two airports, which is still pretty big, and made our way through immigration and customs without any issue.  We had a moment or two of delay in locating our ride, as the Arabic man had a bit of an accent, and his pronunciation of her name is not anything I can even approximate.  But we got hooked up, and took a 30 minute ride into the city and got to our hotel.

In case you’re keeping track, my arrival in Dubai was almost exactly 24 hours (by local times) from my arrival in Kiev.  So, two days, two major world cities, and both times I arrive in the middle of the night.

My wife and I have split up. Yup, after four days of living together, we have gone our separate ways… For the day, that is. My wife is off to Abu Dhabi for a pre-packaged tour of the city; I elected to skip it because it was going to be in Russian and that didn’t seem like a fun way to spent the afternoon. So I’ve got a few free hours now, and I’ll try to get caught up on my posts.

I will start by turning the clock back a few days and finish up with Kiev and the trip to Dubai. As I had already posted, the ridiculously small transfer window I had between flights in Amsterdam got even ridiculouslier smaller when my flight was late arriving. Once I got everything squared away to actually get to Kiev, and knew that my wife knew I was going to be very late, I was able find a somewhat comfortable chair and grabbed a couple hours of sleep, intermixed with some reading and wandering around. An unplanned 11 hour layover is not a great way to start a vacation, just in case anyone was curious.

The flight into Kiev wasn’t overly crowded, and we got in just after midnight. Getting through passport control was no problem, but my bag was a slight issue. It wasn’t on the plane with me, although KLM had told me that it would be. In fact, my bag got to Kiev about 5 hours before me. Apparently another carrier had a flight between the one I missed and the one I was rebooked on, and the efficient handlers at Schipol airport put it on that one. After standing around watching the carousel for a half hour, I went over to Lost & Found and was told it was in the storage room. Finally, bag claimed, I cleared customs (nothing to declare), and at last got to see my wife again.

My wife had gotten us a room at the traveler’s hotel at the main Kiev train station (she was surprised when I told her we didn’t have those in the US), and there’s a bus that regularly goes between the airport and the train station. It was an uneventful trip, and it was just really nice to sit and touch my wife again.

Our room at the hotel had separate beds, because apparently they just don’t have double beds. (It makes sense — you only have to buy one size of sheets.) They also have some “dorm” rooms, for single travelers who don’t want to spring for a full room. There’s a shared bathroom and shower, which was on the clean side of grotty, and a “kitchen” with an electric kettle and a not very cold shared fridge. It’s the place where you stay for convenience, not ambience.

We were up the next morning at nine. Actually we were up before then, but if not, we would have been up at nine. As I had mentioned in my previous posts about my time in Kiev, there’s a church right across from the station and, as it happened, just outside our window. At nine there was some sustained bell ringing — a couple minutes at least — and if we had slept thought that (which, for me, could have actually happened), there was a companion ringing of the bells after about 20 minutes. Yes, apparently that church is an alarm clock, complete with built-in snooze.

Most of the day in Kiev, such as it was, was very uneventful. I’m sure I would have had much more to say if I’d arrived on schedule and had nearly to days to play.  However, I was able to get in touch with my friend Vova, and he was able to join my wife and me for a small snack and some conversation before we had to head off to the other Kiev airport. (Vova was the friend who helped me get word to my wife about my delay, so I was quite happy to see him and thank him in person.) After spending a couple pleasant hours, we collected our bags and grabbed one of the shuttles to Zhulyany airport.

Before you panic and start digging through my site, no, there was no posting for “Dubai, Day 1” nor one for “Kiev, Once I Finally Got There.”  Maybe I’ll need to backfill a little.  But it is day two for us — which is actually our first full day here. It’s not quite over yet, so maybe there will be a part two to this.

Part one, though, was the beach.  This hotel — as do a few others here in Dubai — offers shuttle buses to a couple locations around the city, including a large public beach.  It is Jumeira Beach, and it is definitely set up for the tourists. Don’t get me wrong — it’s still a pretty decent place — but it is crowded (mostly with vacationing Russians, it seems) and the vendors there know they’ve got you captive.

It wasn’t a bad time, though.  We rented an umbrella and a couple towels, and as long as the breeze was up, being on the beach (in the shade) was actually pretty OK.  Once the breeze abated, that’s when you remembered that the still air is about a billion degrees.  That’s when you hit the water, which was great.

Honestly, if it wasn’t for the water — the Persian Gulf — I would have been hating the morning.  However, the temperature was great.  Standing out up to my neck was nigh perfect.  My wife loved the water too, which made me curious:  she always seems to be cold (except when we are out in the desert heat), and I would definitely call the water temperature a “tepid warm.”  Maybe she just doesn’t like air when it’s that temperature.

A couple hours there and we’ve had enough sun, surf and sand… although it seems like the sand might be sticking around a little while longer.  Even though I’ve showered off a couple times (once before leaving the beach, and again when back at the hotel), I’m still finding little bits grit here and there. I’d say I’ll probably get it all by the time I get back to Portland, but since we’re doing the safari thing tomorrow evening, I’ll be getting a fresh dose of sand to deal with.

So, I’ve got a little to write, but not because of good things. My connection in Amsterdam was tight — 50 minutes. The travel engines have given me this connection in the past, but having been through Amsterdam airport, I was wary. I even sent an email to Delta asking if fifty minutes was really enough time, and they said, sure, that’s the minimum they need.

So I booked the flight with the fifty minute connection. Bad, bad idea.

The flight out of Portland got off late and got into Amsterdam even later — 20 minutes late. After taxiing forever, I got off my 8:30 arrival at 9:00. And — of course — my connection was on the other side of the airport.

After rushing across the airport and going through the security screening again, I arrived at the departure gate 5 minutes after they closed the doors. So, yeah.

I’ve gotten rebooked on the next flight to Kiev, but that’s not until 8:00 pm tonight; it will get into Kiev just after midnight (local time).

I’ve sent texts to my wife which hopefully made sense. I also sent a message to my developer friend in Kiev — which I hope that he will see — asking him to call my wife and explain things. But now I’m just stuck here for the next 9 hours.

As I said, major suckage…

Quick update:  I got online again — lucky for me I have both a laptop and tablet with me on this trip, because Schipol limits your wifi connections — and was able to see a message from my friend.  He got in touch with my wife, so I can sure that she knows what is going on.  (We communicate OK, but sometimes you want to be extra sure.)  My flight is just a couple hours away, so I will get to Kiev, but I really hate that I’ve lost a full day with my wife.

If any Delta people read this blog, I hope that you feel really, really bad.  (And I haven’t even mentioned the issue with the flight from Portland, other than its late departure.  So far, this has not been a great start to my vacation…)

Still here in Portland, but won’t be for too much longer. Boarding will kick off in about a half hour, and then there will be a lot of waiting around because this Portland to Amsterdam flight is always full, and then I’m on my way. Once again I’m hoping to get some sleep on the plane, and I might have a better chance this time. I got up about an hour and a half early today, and I have a good notion why. But that may work in my favor for a change, instead of just making me groggy during an afternoon meeting.

I still have a touch of the sniffles, but overall I feel pretty good. Hopefully being in a flying metal tube for the next ten hours won’t re-embolden the germs.

I checked the weather, and oy. The lows for the week will be in the 80s, and I didn’t see a high temperature for the coming week below 102. I am starting to think that my photos for this trip will be interesting things in my hotel room and stuff I see out the window.

In looking ahead, I might not have a post until I get to Dubai. Although I’ll be in Kiev for a day, I don’t think the place where we’re staying has wifi. We will be staying at the “traveler’s inn” at the train station in Kiev. It’s mostly for people who need a place to sleep between trains (so prices are by the hour, kind of), but anyone can usually get a room there. My wife has used this place many times, but this will be a first for me. In Dubai we have a more Western hotel, so then it will be advantage James.

So, my next post may be in a couple days, but it will probably seem sooner, since I’ll be 12 hours in the future at that point.

Wouldn’t you know it?  You spend months planning a trip — including a couple months re-planning when your original destination goes all crazy and shooty — and what happens the Sunday before you are supposed to leave?  You get that scratchiness in your throat, like you were eating sandpaper again for some reason.  You think, “huh,” suck down a couple Ricola, and try to get some rest.  But is that the end of it?  Noooo.  Next comes the sneezing and the mucus and the “hell no, I’m going to be sick now.”  But you’re actually sort of sick.

I blame my coworkers.  And those people that — despite my utter lack of trying to prevent them — still get on my train in the morning AND the afternoon.  And probably that guy on Friday who was coming back from his smoke break and decided to stand right next to me in the elevator.  I couldn’t breathe then and suddenly I couldn’t breathe on Sunday night.  Don’t tell me that’s not a coincidence.

Fortunately, the throat thing only stuck around for a day, but that was long enough to set off my sinuses.  Not that they needed much to be set off.  This year’s wet-two-days, dry-two-days spring weather has really been doing a number on them.  This past weekend were some of the wet days, and now we’re in the dry part of the cycle, so a bit of a bug was the only push those ol’ sinuses needed.

But things will be OK.  I’m catching a few extra ZZZs each night — which is not as easy as it would seem when you’re trying to get everything squared away for your trip — and the congestion is just about gone.  Ah, it’s good to have a fairly robust constitution.  I think all will be well when I get on that plane.  I’m quite sure I’m not infectious or anything like that — which would be the only thing that would keep me from going.  (That, and a couple jack-booted thugs from the CDC.)  And even then I’d kind of have to think about it.

Believe it or not, it has been almost six months since I was last in Ukraine. It was so long ago, and yet, it doesn’t seem like it has been that long at all. Time just goes by way to fast.  But here we are, six months since my last trip, and I think I should see my wife again.  I think a husband should see his wife every six months or so.  I guess I’m just old fashioned that way…

With the exception of my cave-located followers, you know that there is significant unrest going on in Ukraine right now.  Unfortunately, the part of the country where this is happening is also the part of the country I would need to go through.  And for the past couple months I’ve been getting regular advisory messages from the State Department that strongly urge US citizens to defer travel to Ukraine, particularly to the eastern portion of the country.

I had started planning my trip and purchasing my travel just as things were starting to boil over in Kiev.  It was before Russia violated international treaties by sending troops into Crimea (and then lying about it for weeks) or so-called “citizen activists” stormed their first city hall.  At the time I believe that things would return to a point of stasis and I could enjoy time with my wife in her country.  Ah, I was so young and foolish then.

So after much discussion, my wife and I decided to meet in Kiev and then go on to a much safer location:  the Middle East.  OK, I’m being a little flippant; we’re actually going to the Persian Gulf — which is probably still safer than Donetsk.

Actually, it will be completely safe.  We will be visiting that metropolitan jewel of the Arabian peninsula, Dubai.  Technically I’ll be in Ukraine for two days — on day at the start and end of my travels — but the bulk of the time will be in Dubai.

This will be my first time there, and while it has never been on my list of places to see, I’m still trying to get a bit jazzed about it.  Of course, I am definitely jazzed about seeing and being with my wife again.  In some ways, this will be our honeymoon.  (Again, not the place I would have picked for it, but…)

So this trip will probably have far fewer pictures of Ukraine, and many more of the good ol’ United Arab Emirates.  Well, one of the Emirates.  Well, actually, one city in one of the Emirates.  Oh, you know what I mean.

There are two truly obnoxious words in the phrase “stay up all night:” stay up. Sure, it seems simple enough to do when you’re planning it out on paper — you catch the last flight out of Donetsk, which means you’ll only have ten hours, overnight, to hang out in the Kiev airport before you can check in and be on your way. Heck, I did 18 in Munich… only 10 in Kiev should be a snap. Yeah, well, it’s not.

However I can’t complain all that much. There was no problem with my flight to Kiev (we actually arrived a little early), and while all the goings on in Kiev took me a little longer than I would have liked, I got them done, then hopped a bus to spend a few more hours with my wife. She, her son and I had a late supper, did some window shopping and walked around, then they got a sleeping room at the train station while I grabbed the bus back to the airport. It was another sad parting, but I like to think it will make our reunion that much sweeter.

The trip into Kiev did eat up some of my layover, but I still had a few hours to kill. Fortunately, the airport has a baggage storage service, and I’d put my bags there before I saw my wife. When I got back to the airport, I left them in storage a bit longer, so I was able to wander — and even nap a little — without needing to worry about those two freakin’ suitcases. It cost all of $7, and it was so worth it.

I’m now down to my last wait in Kiev — the boarding area for my flight to Amsterdam. This will probably be my last overseas post, since I really won’t have time for much in Schiphol.

Both my wife and her son were trying (half-heatedly, I’m sure) to convince me to stay in Mariupol, but obviously that wasn’t an option. However, I did say that while there were many good things to keep me in Ukraine, I was looking forward to understanding the conversations around me again. They both found that to be very funny, but I’m sure they knew it was also true. Ah well…