UAE & India (1/10) – Make Tomorrow Today, Please

UAE & India 2015

1. Make Tomorrow Today, Please
2. Hello Tomorrow
3. Top of the World
4. Feasting Like Camel Nomads
5. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6. Saadiyat Rhymes with India
7. Fifty Shades of Brown
8. Yes They Do!
9. The End Is A New Beginning
10. UAE & India Extras

Dubai is the City of Tomorrow.  It’s both the city’s self-proclaimed tourism slogan, and where we’ll land at the end of this sixteen-hour flight.  Can’t wait!

Calmly chugging her milk.  Nah… this is not our plane.

That one is our plane.  The bigger one.

Let’s take it back.

On a bright day back in January, while waiting for our lunch at Oolong Noodles and after some awkward inquisition into my vacation plans for the year, Dr. J invited me to his wedding.  Not even aware that he was seeing anyone at the time, I stared suspiciously into his eyes.  Dr. J wasn’t a man of practical jokes.  But this had to be a prank, right?

He spent the next 30 minutes convincing me that it was for real.  He had gotten to know this girl of his dreams over the Internet, met her over the holidays and got engaged.  It took a large Cool Tea Bar drink for the reality to sink in for me.  Then I frantically texted Hong.  Having already planned a Korea-Taiwan trip later in the fall, we were both convinced that it was impossible to squeeze in an additional vacation this year.  On top of that, we were busy dealing with a 3-week old baby and had no luxury to consider anything fun.  On the other hand, both of us knew that we’d have major regrets if we missed this opportunity to travel, this chance to attend an India(n) wedding, and this honor to be invited by Dr. J.

Sparing you of the details, we made it work, and were now beginning the trip of our life.  En route to Hyderabad, India for Dr. J’s big day, we would be flying to Dubai for a stopover with a side trip to Abu Dhabi.  We’ve got an aggressive itinerary and not a whole lot of time.  Oh, and the two kids were coming with us.

A year and a half ago, we took our fourteen-month old to Singapore and Hong Kong for Cynthia’s wedding.  People thought we were nuts for bringing an infant abroad, and our parents tried really (I mean REALLY) hard to discourage us.  Well, if that was crazy, how about bringing an 8-month old plus a 2.5-year old, to an even farther place?  While Singapore had the reputation of being among the cleanest places on earth, the same can’t be said about India.  We knew that it wasn’t a smart idea, but we wanted it bad.  We made sure to book the nonrefundable flight tickets before even mentioning the trip to our parents.

Part of the excitement was that we would be flying Emirates A380.  There’s much rave about Emirates, and much rave about the Airbus A380, so we knew we were in good hands.  The aircraft was indeed impressive and the on-board amenities were superb.

Front staircase, above which is the part of the plane that any BoardingArea blogger actually cares about.

Back staircase.

Emirates logo in the hallway.

Our toddler was given some Emirates-branded toys.

Apparently the seat belt buckle tasted better than the pacifier.

But don’t be mistaken.  Nobody enjoys a long flight in economy, especially when it’s one of the world’s longest flights, and especially when little kids are involved.  More so than malaria in India and MERS in the UAE, we dreaded the parts of going to and coming back from our destinations.

We might’ve looked like this in the beginning…

But very soon it became this…

… so, Sunday, please come sooner.  Make tomorrow today.

Turn a little faster, engine!