Middle East 2024 - Day 6 - 12/4/2024 - Dubai

Brad was gifted status at our hotel by a friend, which meant that we got a couple of additional perks, including complementary breakfast. Interestingly, the breakfast menu was à la carte. After breakfast we took an Uber to the Burj Khalifa, which has to be entered via the Dubai Mall for tourists. We eventually found our way there for our 10a reservation for At the Top SKY - the second highest observation deck, on the 148th floor (and correspondingly second most expensive package). It felt a little bougie to wait in a lounge area instead of the general line and get stickers labeled with "Premium", but it did make for a more comfortable experience; I also appreciated the complementary water and juice in the lounge at the top. The view was nice, though some of it felt kinda empty perhaps due to the desert landscape; I wonder if it would have been more meaningful if I was from the area or knew more about the surroundings. Nevertheless this was my favorite activity that we did in Dubai. I'll also note that the observation deck on the 124th/125th floors also had good views, and the windows there seemed bigger and amenable to better pictures (we didn't spend much time there because we were on the way down).

Our next destination was the Google office in Dubai Internet City. On the way in search of the nearby Dubai Metro station we walked by the Dubai Fountain, which looked like a bigger cousin of the Bellagio fountain; the shows only happen at night, so we didn't get to see it in action. The swanky downtown area was quite a contrast to the old city that we had walked around the night before. It took us a while to find our way to the metro station, but we eventually got there and bought 2 one-way tickets (16 AED, or $4.36 USD, total). We took the Red Line down to DIC, then walked about 20 minutes over to the Google office. Unfortunately, the workers had the day off for UAE National Day (which was a couple of days before, but Google gives 3 days off for it), so the cafe was closed. We had been counting on this for lunch so we were pretty hungry (and in Brad's case hangry) by this time. We looked around for a bit and had some snacks and drinks from a microkitchen in order to hold us over until we could get a proper meal. We then took an Uber over to the Nakheel Mall on Palm Jumeirah (an artificial archipelago in the shape of an encircled palm tree) to grab a bite in the mini food court.

After eating we took the Palm Monorail one stop to the end at the Atlantis hotel. From there we walked along the boardwalk to the Atlantis The Royal hotel and then hailed an Uber back to our hotel. I should mention that we were not allowed to walk up to the Atlantis The Royal lobby, but instead had to have the driver pick us up at the gate. Back at the hotel we played a game of Kingdomino 7x7 (which I won 128-97) before heading down to dinner at the CBar in the hotel.

--

Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 5 - 12/3/2024 - To Dubai

In contrast to the previous days I was forced to get up early this morning - I had a 10a flight to Dubai on flydubai. After a quick breakfast at the hotel I took an Uber to the airport to catch the 1h10m flight, which ran on time. I found it notable that the Dubai/UAE immigration officials give tourists a SIM card with 10 GB of free data upon entry.

 

Brad's flight from Dallas was due to arrive at noon at DXB, 15 minutes before mine. He got in slightly earlier than that and we coordinated meeting up - his flight landed at terminal 3, while mine was at terminal 2. He had used credit card points to update his round trip flights to business class on Emirates, which he was excited about. Because of the upgrade, he got the fast track through immigration and came over to my terminal to meet me. There was a bit of confusion about meeting at departures vs arrivals, but we eventually worked it out. From there we took an Uber to our hotel, the Hyatt Centric Jumeirah.

After settling into our room, we headed out on a walkabout. Our first stop was the Jumeirah Mosque a short walk away, but we just missed the end of visiting hours at 3p. We continued north to the Etihad Museum to look around there for a bit. This continued the tradition of museums I had visited Qatar, but on a lower level: visually interesting building (though to a lesser degree than the Qatari museums), but uninteresting subject matter (the least engaging so far). As the museum was dedicated to the formation of the United Arab Emirates as a country, I did learn that "Etihad" means "union" or "unity"; so "Etihad Airways" is essentially "United Airlines" (except with significantly better service 😅).

Brad's colleague had recommended that he visit the Gold Souk, so we headed in that direction. We took an Uber to a Nepalese restaurant that Brad had picked out in the old city area, but left because he wasn't feeling the vibe. After a bit of wandering around we eventually settled on a South-Asian-ish place that was honestly almost certainly worse than the initial place we passed on; I say that not only because I found my paneer masala too spicy.

Following the suggestion of the concierge at the hotel, we walked to the Dubai Creek and took one of the abra ferries across to the Spice Souk / Old Souk (this cost 1 AED / UAD Dirham, or about 27 cents; good thing we took out some cash). During the walk through the market we were hounded by merchants trying to catch our attention - something neither of us is ever in the mood for. We continued on to the Gold Souk for a very quick look around. This souk expedition was not something either of us was particularly interested in, so Brad decided to downgrade other recommendations he had received. From there we took an Uber back to the hotel.

On the subject of Ubers... At least two of the UberX's that we ordered so far in Dubai were Lexus cars - not something that we would have expected.

--

Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 4 - 12/2/2024 - Touring Doha

My main plan for the day was a reservation for a 4.5 hour shared guided tour of Doha, which was due to start at 3p. That was later than I would have liked, but the other options with all the items that I wanted were for private tours (or way earlier than I wanted), and I didn't want to be 1-on-1 with a guide for that long.

Another lazy morning saw me skip breakfast at the hotel. I tried to make up for it a little by doing a brief treadmill run in the fitness center. Interestingly, I forgot that the hotel has it reserved for women on Monday morning until 12:30p; but this only cost me about 6 minutes of waiting. After the run I cleaned up, started some laundry (there was a combined washer/dryer in the room), then went down to the Indian restaurant in the hotel for a late lunch. I was only able to get through about half of the palak paneer - I also didn't enjoy it that much, probably because my stomach wasn't ready for it at the time - but I decided to box up the remainder anyway.

The tour driver, Ali, didn't roll up to the hotel until about 3:45p (I had a WhatsApp exchange with both the tour operator and him a little beforehand, so I knew to expect him to be late). He was in an SUV with 4 other clients already, so I had to pop in the third row with minimal leg room. Besides that, though, he was very friendly and knowledgeable about all things Doha/Qatar. The other 4 tour guests were also in town for the F1 race (2 from Manchester, 2 from Northern Ireland), and also friendly.

We first headed to Katara Cultural Village, where we got out and Ali led us on a brief walkabout. Next he drove us through a section of Pearl Island (a man-made island with swanky hotels and residences), and then back down to the Corniche just south of West Bay where we took a half hour cruise in the Doha Bay / Persian Gulf on a "traditional" dhow boat. Lastly, he took us to Souq Waqif, a large open marketplace that gave me vibes of a better version of a Moroccan medina. The two from Manchester stayed there to end their tour, and I was last to be dropped off around 8:30p.

I was pleased that I saved the palak paneer from lunch, as I didn't have to worry about dinner. The room had a microwave and flatware that made warming it up pretty easy. It also had a dishwasher to make for easy clean-up (of all 3 items 😅); though I had to buy the dishwasher soap (as I had the laundry soap) from the front desk. Speaking of the laundry, I was disappointed that the dryer didn't work very well (which I probably should have expected from a combo unit).

--

Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 3 - 12/1/2024 - Qatar Grand Prix

This was a very lazy morning, given how late I got back to the hotel the night before. I slept through breakfast (which closed at 10) and gave up on any sightseeing plans. The only thing of note from the morning and early afternoon was that it was kinda cool to hear the Muslim call to prayer echo out over the city a couple of times.

I had a late lunch at the Thai restaurant in the hotel before heading out to the track. I wore pants this time around, as the shorts from the day before were not the best idea when the temperature dropped from the low 70s (Fahrenheit) to the mid 60s during the evening/night, along with the constant breeze; I brought along a thin hoodie again, though I probably would have been better off with my puff jacket. And If I was thinking ahead before the trip, I would have packed my long sleeve Mercedes t-shirt, instead of (or in addition to) the two short sleeve ones.

I decided to try the reverse of the metro route that I had taken back to the hotel the previous night, though giving myself plenty of time in case there were any issues. I walked to the DECC metro station and took the train to Lusail QNB, then the shuttle to the track. This went much smoother than taking the Uber the day before. It took almost as long (a little under 1.5 hours), but there were no significant delays at any point. They gave away free water at the shuttle stop, just as they did on the grounds at the track. I got to the track around 5p, a couple of hours before race start. I mostly stayed at my seat watching pre-race activities while killing the time. I do want to give a shout-out to the track for the best bathrooms that I've experienced so far at a race (not that they were spectacular, but much better than port-a-potties), though that may be because this was my first time in the main grandstands.

The race turned out to be a huge disappointment for Lewis. First a slow start that dropped him a couple of places, which turned out to be a false start that later yielded a 5 second penalty, then he was lacking pace, then a puncture that dropped him out of the points. George did better to finish 4th, though he had a mix of bad and good fortune. Max won the race, as he has done for all three races that I've seen in person so far - it's infuriating how good he is.

I didn't hang round too much longer after the podium celebration, leaving the stands around 9:15. The journey home was much more efficient this time around, I suspect because many people were staying for the Maroon 5 concert. I was on a bus headed to the metro station by 9:50, and made it to the DECC station by 10:40. I was hungry, so I stopped by the food court at the City Center Doha Mall for a quick bite (a veggie "philly" sandwich) before heading back to the hotel. It turned out that I could have gone to one of the hotel restaurants, which was open until 11:30, but I didn't know that at the time. In any case, I was back in my room by 11:35.

--

Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 2 - 11/30/2024 - Doha museums + quali

Today was the first time since I met Fran that we had been apart on her birthday. Fortunately, I later found out that her family and friends surprised her with a small gathering, which somewhat made up for my absence. It was kinda cool that they watched on TV some of the event that I was attending.

Anyway, today I did a bit of sightseeing before heading to the racetrack. I had a decent night of rest before getting complementary breakfast at the hotel about 30 minutes before it closed at 10a. The breakfast buffet was at their Thai restaurant, so there were a couple of “interesting” additions (e.g., noodles) to the standard fare; nevertheless, some decent options, even for a vegetarian.

Right after breakfast I took an Uber to the National Museum of Qatar. The exhibit there was a path through the complete history of Qatar, all the way from the geological formation of the peninsula to modern culture. It was visually catching and fairly well done, though I wouldn’t say that I found the subject matter riveting. I would also add that the last part begins to border on national propaganda, which is fine I guess. The building itself (with a design inspired by the desert rose) was quite striking.

After that museum I walked over to the Museum of Islamic Art, situated right on Doha Bay. On the way I made a short detour to Flag Plaza to find the US and Nigerian flags. The Islamic museum was less interesting to me, though it was also well done and a nice building. I finished up there around 2p, then took an Uber back to the hotel. I also want to point out that things seem to be fairly cheap here, perhaps due to a favorable exchange rate. The 15-20 minute Uber rides were the equivalent of about $8 or less, and a small bottle of water at a convenience store was 1 QAR, or 30 cents.

After some poor time management at the hotel, I decided to skip a late lunch and head for the Lusail International Circuit a little after 3:15p, hoping to make it in time for the 5p sprint race. What ordinarily might be a 25 minute drive was obviously going to take longer due to race traffic. However, we ended up making a bunch of detours (some forced by traffic cops,  couple perhaps due to the driver’s impatience), and didn’t get to the drop-off until about 4:45p. I did make it to my seat right before they began the formation lap at 5p.

 

The sprint race was fine in terms of performance; George Russell started 2nd and finished 3rd while Lewis Hamilton went from 7th to 6th. The car noise from the main grandstand was louder than at the previous races I had been to, probably because I was closer and the location is somewhat more enclosed than my previous seats. They later gave out ear plugs, but I didn’t feel a need to use them. After the sprint I want for a bit of a walkabout to check out the grounds and find some appealing food. The food lines were pretty long, especially at places that might have decent veggie options (like pizza). There was a mix of classic fast foods and some ethnic options, though seemingly less “Middle Eastern” fare than I would have expected. I ended up waiting about 45 minutes for a couple of veggie bao, and missed most of the F2 sprint race. With more time to kill I waited another 45 minutes for a slice of NY style cheese pizza, which was better than I expected.

The next event of significance was F1 qualifying for the main race at 9p. George did well to qualify 2nd (later promoted to 1st after a penalty on Max Verstappen) while Lewis was down in 6th. I hung around for interviews after quali, attempting to avoid the mad rush to leave; I’m not sure this was the best idea. I began heading out a bit after 10:30, and found that there was no taxi or Uber service - only shuttles to the Lusail QNB metro station (next to the Lusail Stadium). The line for the shuttles was long, and I didn’t board one until around midnight. Once we got to the station I decided to try the metro route back, instead of trying for an Uber or taxi - they were strongly pointing everyone in that direction, as they were apparently running the trains later than normal. This actually ended up being fine, as I took the train (which I think only cost 2 QAR) to DECC and walked 20 minutes back to the hotel. I was back in my room around 1:15a.

--

Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Days 0/1 - 11/28-9/2024 - To Doha

This trip was organized around the last two Formula 1 races of the season, in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. These would be my third and fourth races in person, and the last time seeing my guy Lewis Hamilton competing in a Mercedes car. I’ll probably keep the posts on the short side; but at least I’ll write, unlike my recent trip with my and Fran’s moms to Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Las Vegas.

I took a flight the night of Thanksgiving directly from JFK to Hamad International Airport (DOH) in Doha. The Qatar Airways flight left a few minutes earlier than the planned 9:30p departure, and arrived almost 12.5 hours later just about on time about a quarter to 6p the next day. The flight was fine, save for the rumbling in my stomach (which I placated once on the ground) the last hour or two. I considered upgrading to business class when I checked in, but the additional $2800 was more than I could justify. It turned out that I would have been there with Busta Rhymes, who happened to be on the flight.They served two meals and a snack, though I couldn’t stomach much of the second meal due to the previously mentioned condition. Even though I have ordinarily preferred window, aisle seats for long flights are my new thing so I have easy access to the toilet.

After deplaning it took an hour or so to get through immigration. As a US citizen I was charged a 76 Qatari Riyal / QAR ($21 USD) entry fee, which I think was new as of a couple of months ago. I was in no mood to navigate the longer public transport route, so I took a taxi to my hotel, the Centara West Bay. I also checked Uber, but it was unavailable - I later found out that they only drop off at the airport. I also tried to set up Careem, but the phone number verification didn’t work.

The hotel room was well appointed, though perhaps not the (affordable) five stars promised. It was probably nicer a few years ago when the hotel was built, but there was some wear and tear apparent (including water damage on the bathroom door).

--

Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Antarctica 2023-4 - Days 13-6 - 1/7-10/2024 - Journey home

I’ll combine the remaining days of the trip, as there was not much in terms of activity.

Days 13 and 14 were for sailing back across the Drake Passage toward Ushuaia. Even though the sea was choppier on the return voyage, I didn’t have any issues with seasickness this time around. Day 13 had about 3 meter swells, while Day 14 had 4-5 meter swells. The wind speed on the second day of the crossing reached 50-60 knots, high enough that they closed the outside decks of the ship.

Inside, the days were scheduled with talks and activities, though we skipped out on most of them. The subjects of the talks/activities that I did attend included: the geology of Antarctica, the Antarctic treaty, knot tying, our ship (Ocean Endeavor), orcas (aka killer whales), and a fundraising auction. The auction raised funds for WWF and the Citizen Science charity; notable items up for auction included: driving the ship for 20 minutes, delivering the morning wake-up announcement, the ship’s Antarctica flag for the voyage, and the expedition nautical chart (with additional artwork). The flag and chart each fetched about $800-$900. There was a captain’s farewell event, during which they also presented some employee-of-the-month awards. The executive chef also provided some fun statistics about the amount of food that was consumed during our 1877 (later adjusted to 1927) nautical mile voyage; I don’t remember any specific amounts, but most things mentioned were in the hundreds of kilograms.

Day 13 had a “plant based” dinner to promote Intrepid’s sustainable practices; I use the quotes because: (1) it was a vegetarian dinner, not a vegan one (as I expect the term plant-based to mean); (2) they still had the option to order the standard grilled chicken or fish that was available every dinner. In all, I think the dinner menu was reasonable for the clientele on board; I just have issues with the use of the term “plant based” to describe it.

On Day 14 we settled our shipboard accounts, which included all onboard purchases and gratuity for the ship and expedition crews (they automatically added a suggested amount, which we did not change). We also each got $50 credits for the late boarding and missing dinner the first night of the expedition. We also tagged our luggage with ribbons (organized by bus color) and set them out for pickup before 11pm.

We were originally supposed to be on the pink bus which went directly to the airport, but we changed to the green bus which went to a luggage storage location (a bar that they had rented for the morning/afternoon) since we had plenty of time before our 1:15pm flight. We disembarked around 9am, took the bus the short ride to storage, and stowed our luggage there for a couple of hours. We walked with Liz, Michelle, Diane, and Kayla to a cafe on the main street for breakfast. We made a couple more stops (cafe, pharmacy, chocolate shop) on the way back to storage, where we picked up our luggage and five of us (Diane’s flight was later that night) took a couple of Ubers to the airport.

I somehow didn’t get dinged for overweight luggage, but Michelle did. This caused her to have to wait in the incredibly slow payment line while the rest of us (minus Liz, who waited for her) went through security. It all worked out, though, and she made the flight with us. Liz and Kayla were on later flights. Seating on the Aerolineas Argentina flight was a little weird. The first class section had economy seats, but was half empty - they seemed to only fill at most the window and aisle seats of each set of 3. Fran and I each had a side of row 3 to ourselves; though we had initially selected seats in row 1 at purchase time. We also saw something like 15 or 20 other people from our expedition on the same flight out. And there was another Intrepid couple on our same flight from Buenos Aires to JFK. We had about 5.5 hours between the flights, which were once again in separate airports. We shared a taxi with Michelle from AEP to EZE. The check-in line for Delta was really long, but we had plenty of time and no cause for stress. The flights today were better than the other way a couple of weeks ago in terms of pelvic discomfort. I suspect that the 2 weeks of antibiotics might be helping, but another big factor is less anxiety/stress on the return. I’ll also give a shout-out once again to the Global Entry facial recognition system that made immigration a breeze. The exit process in Buenos Aires also used facial recognition, but it didn’t go quite as smoothly (especially since I scanned the wrong boarding pass barcode, but also because it required taking off my glasses to work). As an aside, we didn’t get Argentina stamps in our passports because I guess everything is going digital.

In closing, I’ll add a few thoughts about the trip overall. I can easily say that this was my favorite trip that I’ve taken over the last 6 years with Fran, and likely also my favorite of my lifetime; though there may be a bit of recency bias there, and I definitely struggle to remember all my past trips. And I say this even with the anxiety and discomfort caused by my pelvic condition. The landscape was more spectacular than anything I’ve seen before. And the excursions were (mostly) great, even though I’m not normally one for the cold. I particularly enjoyed getting close to the whales, and the seals and penguins were also fun to see. It was also good to have Fran to push me to do a couple of things, like day paddling, that I normally would not have done on my own.

When we were at port in Ushuaia, I noticed a couple of fancier looking ships alongside. That got me wondering how much, if at all, the experience would have been improved on a new ship - the Ocean Endeavor is about 40 years old. Besides creature comforts (the other ships had rooms with balconies, and fancier looking terraces), the newer ships would pollute less than the Ocean Endeavor (which seems to release a lot of sooty smoke) does. Intrepid claims to operate carbon neutral, so hopefully they have high quality carbon offsets to balance the ship’s emissions. Nevertheless, I can’t say that I have any regrets about the trip, and would highly recommend Antarctica and Intrepid to anyone interested.

--

My favorite pictures from the trip can be found here.