Last day in Dubai

We got up bright and early (8:30am) and headed to Dubai Mall (I think I know the way to Dubai from Abu Dhabi better than say... the way to Jinnah Terminal, Karachi from my house :P).

I LOVE DUBAI MALL!!! Saw the Burj Khalifa, took lots of pictures and met up with my Princeton roomie who happened to be in Dubai :) (she's a jet-setter consultant, so I was lucky she happened to be in town that weekend). May, Il, Rana and I went to Bloomingdales and got our make-up done by the saleswomen) and took more pictures (we're girly girls when we're all together :)) and then I had Cinnabon (they really need to open a franchise in Pakistan).

Spent the night at Alex's apartment (Al-Ghoslan at the Greens...) and the next day (Sunday morning), I took a taxi to terminal 3.

Meanwhile, mommy dearest had called to let me know that a cyclone was brewing in Karachi and there could be delays. Anyway, I checked in, got my boarding pass and headed towards dutyfree. Flight delayed to 11:00am... no worries, I thought, I don't have to be back at work till Monday and continued browsing through the shops.

Finally boarded the plane. I had a window seat (thanks daddy) blocked by two young men. After exchanging a few awkward glances, we realized we'd been in the same school until O'Levels and then proceeded to exchange our entire life histories. One of them owns a gold shop in Saddar and the other guy was on his way back after completing his undergrad from Australia. He amused me with his experiences managing a gas station in Australia :P

I watched "How to Train Your Dragon" and an hour and a half later, we were in Karachi, the landing gear was down and I could see patches of green and pools of water (courtesy, Cyclone Phet).

But... THE PLANE DIDN'T LAND and we basically swooped really low and circled back up into the air... Our Pakistani brethren had already gotten up to get their luggage from the racks and sat down back in their seats. 15 minutes later, the captain announced that we were heading BACK TO DUBAI because it was too dangerous to land... I mean, :O :O :O?

So, another hour and a half later, we were basically back in Dubai (no food on the flight and the passengers were getting cranky). I felt particularly sorry for the people who had come from Toronto and London and basically waited 2 days for a connecting flight to Karachi... becharay.

Back at the airport, I surfed the internet, spent my last $200 on almonds and chocolate for Mr. F and perfume for mommy. They gave us food at Burger King but I didn't have an appetite... (like, I wanna go home already!). Finally, the flight departed at 11:30pm and I landed in Karachi around 1:20am... So, 3 flights in a day and lots of fatigue... but my ceramic flower pots from IKEA survived the trip :)