Part 3 of my Big Trip begins:  today I flew from the Maldives to Dubai to board the MSC cruise ship “Lirica”.  I’m not actually a huge cruising fan though embarking on my 3rd cruise this year might give that impression.  It’s just such a convenient way to see so many different places in one trip.  My flight to/from Sri Lanka/Maldives transits thru Dubai and I felt it was necessary to stop in Dubai to break up the hellacious flight home.  It took me 30+ hours to get to SL from Palm Springs and I did not want to repeat that on the return.  Besides, it’d be criminal to pass thru Dubai and not stop to check it out.  And while I’m here, why not see whatever’s nearby?  I might not pass this way again.  I looked into traveling to Abu Dhabi, Oman, Bahrain, etc on my own but it got expensive and complicated with visas and not being able to fly directly from certain countries to others.  Then I found this cruise: 4 countries, transport, accommodation, and all my food for far less money and far more safely than I could manage on my own.  A no-brainer as they say.

And so I woke up at 5am this morning to pack my still damp bathing suit into my luggage, have my last outdoor shower for the foreseeable future, and prepare to leave my little island resort Malahini Kuda Bandos.  3 days was a perfect stay: long enough to feel as relaxed as a wet noodle without becoming stir crazy.  I was kicking myself at 5:30a for not realizing there was no Nescafé in my tea tray, thinking I’d have to suffer a caffeine-free morning but the resort actually had the full buffet open 1.25 hours early for the 5 of us who had an early departure.  That’s pretty good service for such a reasonable resort!

8 minutes in the speedboat brought us to Male airport.  Still amazed that boats dock at an airport!  Of course at 7a there was no line at all for Immigration or Security (most flights leave in the evening for Europe) which left left me 2 hours to peruse the tackiest souvenirs ever assembled in a Duty-Free shopping zone.  My Emirates flight was easily only 10% full.  Everyone had a row to themselves and they have the best entertainment system anywhere!  So I stretched out over my 3 seats and enjoyed 1.5 movies.

Landing in Dubai was like coming back to civilization.  A mass of humanity at immigration from every point on the globe.  High-rises and a lot of traffic on the freeway to the port.  I’d been ushered in the taxi line-up directly to the pink cabs – the taxis driven by women for only women or families.  Sexual discrimination does exist here but they face it with empowerment.  

From the little I’ve seen Dubai is a city of growth.  Skyscrapers everywhere, building cranes creating more.  In the center of the hazy skyline is the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, which I will visit tomorrow.  Today I’m going to check out the ship, have too much to eat at the lunch buffet and probably a glass of wine or two; meet some fellow passengers at dinner, and have a good night’s sleep.