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I have been going through a long list of items trying to remember what I need to bring with me on this trip. First thing I did was check on my accounts and that all my credit cards are functioning, if you don’t use it for a long time and then suddenly use it causes havoc with the credit card companies. Then there is packing for the weather, its cold and raining a bit in the Bay Area so I have to be prepared for that. I have made a list and I have happily started packing, unlike my usually lazy self I have gotten an early start so I won’t be too caught up at the last minute and I won’t have that feeling that I forgot something. I have to make sure that I am prepared for a long 16 hour flight with a large amount of entertainment.Â
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- Winter Clothes
- Jackets
- Shirts
- Under Clothing
- Phone Charger
- Cash
- Passport
- New Music
- Anime
- TV Series
- iPod Touch
- Laptop
- Canon 40D and three lenses, maybe four!Â
- Bathroom items
- Book
- And a few other things to keep in mind!Â
I’m talking off on a airplane, that song seems to be stuck in my head. I’m heading to San Francisco for a few weeks to hang out with my friends. A few people who now live in Chicago, NY, and San Diego will be in California for the next three weeks. So it will be nice to catch up with everyone and take some time off. Its raining right now but I hope the weather will get a little bit better, even though it will be very cold. For some reason I’m really looking for playing American Football in the rain, and for some bbqs. I have got a few things to take care of while I’m there, and hopefully I won’t gain too much weight, I tend to love those steak houses. First thing I need to do is update my iPod music list, and get a cut & shave.
Recently with the GulfRun event and working on a few things there we spent about a week in Bahrain. I had my mobile on roaming while I was there, I tried to keep calls to minimum to keep costs down. We even used walkie talkies when we are walking around on the track or close by because we are usually just locating each other. And as usually Zain charges an arm and a leg even though its the same company in Bahrain, whats funny is that Gulf countries with Zain get a better deal then what we do in Kuwait until recently with the free incoming calls which should have been done a long time ago. During the time we were there we had a choice between Zain and Batelco for network choices even though you get charge the same for international roaming. Whenever I’m on Zain network I always get a busy tone calling any number so I switched to Batelco and my calls & texts went through perfectly every time which is very odd, so whenever you go to Bahrain choose the Batelco network because its the same thing that happened to all other people who were roaming.
Link: Flickr
I was recently checking for flights to San Francisco in December, just to see what pricing has been like. Some prices were within the normal range and some were insane. I was checking Business Class seats for the times in mind on Emirates Airlines, British Airways, and Lufthansa.
KWT to SFO:
Business Class:
- Emirates: 2612 KWD (New Direct Flight from Dubai to San Francisco)
- British Airways: 2975 KWD
- Lufthansa: 1862 KWD
Been busy for the past couple of days in Dubai with meetings, and I think I wanted to strangle half the people on the road. The damn place was so packed with cars its insane, there is a huge amount of traffic and it could turn a 15 min trip to a 1 hour trip. The hardest part about this whole trip was maintaining the diet, which was basically shot from the first day of meetings. I’m going to try to make it up now that I’m back in Kuwait. I was happy with the progress I made I want going to stick to it. One of the annoying parts about the ISP here is that Flickr for some reason is still blocked.
The behemoth of a terminal has at last been open after so many years of being built. Not that Dubai Airport wasn’t a long walk to get out of it, I think they made it even bigger. I have no clue how far the walkway is going to be to immigrations, all I know is that in the old terminal my feet ached after that long walk.
With 16.1 million Sq.ft it can handle a lot more planes, and easily handle the Airbus A380 (The Double Decker). I just hope it won’t be as confusing Heathrows’ Terminal 5 when it opened, but I haven’t heard anything bad yet so I’m assuming things are going smoothly. Now all Emirates Airlines flights landing in Dubai will be landing in Terminal 3.
Link: Gizmodo
It seems Emirates Airlines have already gotten their hands on their A380, I wonder which city they will be flying to with this behemoth. The pictures they have sent out are pretty funny, and the first class cabin seems comfortbale but why is everyone sitting sideways in it? Business class seems really interesting. I can’t help but laugh when looking at the pictures, the plane is impressive but the people just look too funny
The Good: (This is Going to Be Short)
It has probably the best aquarium I have seen yet, with a very interesting combination of fishes. The main attraction of this hotel is its aquarium, every person should see if they get the chance. Aquaventure is very entertaining water park, you get a few major slides, the rapids around the whole of aquaventure which you can continually float in with doughnuts.
The Bad:
I think one quote sums up the whole experience. “Its a Las Vegas Hotel without the Las Vegas Service” The hotel really feels like its unfinished, the quality is lacking, and the service is chaotic. You can hear through the walls easily, and it is the same in the shower. The room furniture feels mediocre in comparison to the price you are paying for the room. This is considered the soft opening of the hotel and they were understaffed and opened too much too fast, the official opening is Dec 2008.
And The Ugly:
They weren’t ready for this huge amount of people, in one night 400 people checking in, 800 checking out. Soft opening does not mean 1500 rooms are occupied, only 30% to 50% of the hotel should be in use. There is no familiarity with the staff, they really don’t know you because it is really huge. It is chaotic and they are very disorganized, they are trying to pass this hotel as a luxury hotel but the quality of the rooms feels like it was patched together, some of them have some very nice views but still it isn’t worth the high cost they are charging. I would rather stay at any of the hotels in Jumeirah then stay for a long period at Atlantis.
Hotel services is nothing short of non-existent during that period. Room services would take a minimum of 1.5 hours up to 6 hours, and these are events that took place with us and other people. They are charging HUGE amounts for room service such as 70 KD for some cookies, (melted) ice cream, fruits, and orange juice which was just insane. Internet charges are astronomical and the its wireless, but the wireless signal is very weak. They charge 3.6 KD for 1 hour of use, and 75 KD for 1 week of usage. They are trying to charge the hotel guest everything possible which is insane. You can get the top BMW/Mercedes from any hotel in Jumeriah for 200 AED an hour, but from Atlantis with a driver who isn’t familiar with Dubai you have to pay 375 AED an hour.
This hotel is catering to the masses and not to the individual. It is worth to visit it for a day or two max, not more or you will loose your voice from shouting so much as I did. Even the bellman would take 1 to 2 hours to get to your room. I don’t blame the staff themselves, and I feel sorry for them but every one was extremely frustrated and they weren’t ready for all the hotel guests and opening the hotel to the public.
Then there is the roads on the Palms which lead to Atlantis, there is a security detail closer to the main underwater entrance. Instead being a 10-15 min trip, it is a 45 min to 1 hour and 20 minute trip due to the idiocy of Atlantis and Nakheel security. It was driving me nuts, made it a horrible time to leave or enter the hotel, there is always that delay.
We did enjoy ourselves but it was because of the company and not the hotel. We were extremely flustered from them, and we get into huge arguments with the staff throughout the day and the lack of service was just appalling.
Its always nice to disconnect when going on a vacation, and towards the last minute I was running around finishing stuff and making sure that I had the medicine that I needed. Went to Dubai for a few very fun days and stayed at the Atlantis, and that experience is one hell of a story. The first day and a half of Eid was with the family and the rest was in Dubai. Practically everyone was in Dubai and we just kept saying hello to people on the plane and at the hotel. I remember now why I don’t like traveling during Eid, and in Dubai the traffic was insane.
While being away for a bit, I would walk around with my camera all the time. There was this one town not too far away, and so I decided to walk around there later in the afternoon. I just stood on the main street snapping pictures, and I came to the realization that Scooters were the number one selling machine in Italy. There were so many types of scooters and Momo helmets.
Women, Men, Children, and Elderly people were all riding scooters. Some were carrying briefcases, kids, bags, even dogs and cats. There was one scooter equiped to carry gas cylinders in the front and back, I couldn’t believe how many were zipping by and always people looking for scooter parking. And these people were really skilled at it, I saw this one girl hold her bag, talk on the phone, smoke a cigarette and ride the scooter all at one time, it was nothign short of insane but its still a skill. There is something I do love about these towns and their liveliness.
