Terminal 3

Today, I had a chance to volunteer for Dubai International Airport to help test the new Terminal 3 in Dubai. They sent an email a few weeks ago and I responded that I'd be available. I showed up at 10:30 and was given my script. I was Jorge Torres on a 12:30 flight to Frankfurt. I was invited to use the Business Class check-in which got me a pass into the Business Class lounge. Went through passport control where I was taken in back because I had overstayed my visa. Then after realizing there were no computers back there to complete the simulation, the immigration staff "let me go". Went through security, where I had the most thorough checking of my handbag ever! "What's this??" the security woman inquired with great curiosity over my teeny tiny fold up umbrella. "An umbrella," I answered. "Open it," she requested with amazement. At the check in gate, we actually boarded a plane. No pilots, but there was a flight crew to check us on board.

I met a guy in the waiting area who had on a Milwaukee Panthers tee-shirt and was carrying a retro-look Harley Davidson motorcycle helmet. I asked him if he was from Milwaukee. No, he is Arab, but he went to college in Milwaukee. He loves it there and is planning to send his daughter there for university. He was wearing his Georgio Armani jeans, Harley biker boots, the Panthers tee-shirt, and carrying a motorcycle helmet. Guess he picked up a lot of Milwaukee when lived there. He moved back to the Middle East in 1990, but travels back to Milwaukee frequently to visit his friends. Luckily for him, he got his US citizenship when he was a student. Otherwise, traveling back to the US for most Arabs is a pain in the ass.

Impressions? The terminal is HUGE!! Really, really huge. The business class lounge is HUGE and spacious and lovely. The baggage claim area is HUGE and probably should have a few more moving walkways. The terminal is a long giant tube that has been squashed into an oblong. I think I've heard that the opening of this terminal will triple the passenger capacity in Dubai. Yeah for us who live near the flight path. It's expected to open in late September or early October. I think that it will be dedicated to Emirates Airlines. So, you'll need to book on Emirates to fly through there. If you do, you'll be pretty impressed.

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Fride Update - it's fixed. Well, it was for 24 hours and then I noticed late on Thursday night that it wasn't working again. This time, it was well and truly dead it seemed - not even the inside light was working. I was stomping around and cursing the inefficiency of the labor force here. And also grateful that I hadn't gone out to the grocery store to re-stock. While on the phone with Russell and grousing about it he asked, "Have you checked the circuit breaker?" Ahhh - good idea. That was it! Yeah! I was saved an embarassing call to the repairman.