Short Vacation - Dubai

I had a long flight to India in the back of a...767? Seating was 2-4-2 and I'm pretty sure it wasn't a 47. In any case, in the back the middle rows were empty. Move on them if you see that, you can stretch out across 4 seats. I didn't catch onto that until it got bright in the morning and I saw a few people stretched out and sleeping while I was struggling to sleep in two seats on the side.

I think if you're laying out flat, maybe the FAs will be less likely to wake you up to feed you. Seems like they were serving something every 2-3 hours.
 
Oh and make sure to stand up and block the aisle as soon as the aircraft is parked at the gate. Nobody has any connecting flights to rush to and you'll get off the airplane much faster.
 
steingar said:
I have to admit, I never would have put the words "Dubai" and "vacation" together in a sentence that short.
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Lol, well it’s certainly not a destination at the top of our “international dream vacations” list, but if everything is covered by my company except her airfare, we might as well take advantage of it. Might have a trip to Argentina coming up in mid-2018, too.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Lol, well it’s certainly not a destination at the top of our “international dream vacations” list, but if everything is covered by my company except her airfare, we might as well take advantage of it. Might have a trip to Argentina coming up in mid-2018, too.
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Now Argentina is a vacation. Buenos Aires is a world class city and quite real. Cheap too with great hotels, clubs and tapas. I went several times over the years always promising to explore the Patagonia region but never did until last year. Going back in a couple of weeks for more fishing. It’s like the American west from 50+ years ago. Argentinian Steak dinner for 2, bottle of Malbec, 30$ with tip at unofficial exchange rate. Great lodges to visit. Do make that trip.


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Bill Watson said:
Now Argentina is a vacation. Buenos Aires is a world class city and quite real. Cheap too with great hotels, clubs and tapas. I went several times over the years always promising to explore the Patagonia region but never did until last year. Going back in a couple of weeks for more fishing. It’s like the American west from 50+ years ago. Argentinian Steak dinner for 2, bottle of Malbec, 30$ with tip at unofficial exchange rate. Great lodges to visit. Do make that trip.


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Well, we’d have to make the trek to Buenos Aires ourselves, we’d be half a country away in Neuquen (13hrs by ground travel). Either way, it ought to be a great trip if I’m able to work my way into it.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Well, we’d have to make the trek to Buenos Aires ourselves, we’d be half a country away in Neuquen (13hrs by ground travel). Either way, it ought to be a great trip if I’m able to work my way into it.
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Even better! Drive west to the Andes and northern Patagonia (4-5 hours). We’re going to San Martin de Los Andes for some spring time fly fishing, horseback riding, touring and dining. There’s skiing in the winter. If you like the outdoors, it’s great!


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Bill Watson said:
30$ with tip at unofficial exchange rate.
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Ahh tipping in Dubai - now this is an interesting one...

Most restaurants will add a 10 to 15% service charge to the bill. However, this is generally NOT paid out to the waiters.

So if you want to tip the waiter, it's customary to tip 10% to 15% - which would mostly go the the waiters. But not always - it depends on who the waiters are. If a restaurant wait staff is mostly European or Russian, the waiters will get the tips. If it's majority Indian - they likely won't - if they get anything it's from a shared pool. If it's Filipino - it's 50/50 whether they'll get it or not.

If you feel you got particularly good service and want to tip the waiter, ask them if they'll get it personally, or if the restaurant will get it, or if they have to share (in which case the restaurant managers get most of it).

I generally just leave 10% because it feels just weird not to tip at all, but I've asked a few times when it was exceptional service, and the tips were almost never directly given to my actual waiter.

tl;dr -> Tip 10% to 15%. No more.
 
deonb said:
Ahh tipping in Dubai - now this is an interesting one...

Most restaurants will add a 10 to 15% service charge to the bill. However, this is generally NOT paid out to the waiters.

So if you want to tip the waiter, it's customary to tip 10% to 15% - which would mostly go the the waiters. But not always - it depends on who the waiters are. If a restaurant wait staff is mostly European or Russian, the waiters will get the tips. If it's majority Indian - they likely won't - if they get anything it's from a shared pool. If it's Filipino - it's 50/50 whether they'll get it or not.

If you feel you got particularly good service and want to tip the waiter, ask them if they'll get it personally, or if the restaurant will get it, or if they have to share (in which case the restaurant managers get most of it).

I generally just leave 10% because it feels just weird not to tip at all, but I've asked a few times when it was exceptional service, and the tips were almost never directly given to my actual waiter.

tl;dr -> Tip 10% to 15%. No more.
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Interesting. Most of the places I go to don't have a method of putting a tip on the credit card. I just kinda assumed tipping wasn't a thing there, similar to many European places. Maybe I'll hand a bit of cash to the waiter next time.
 
Yeah, my wife had read about the tipping being pretty low. Even for hotel staff, like a bellboy/concierge. The article she read mentioned that "pocket change" was usually sufficient. I'd be ****ed if someone bothered to hand me $0.28 and some pocket lint as a tip!
 
Timbeck2 said:
Drink a lot. Get up every hour and touch every seat on the way to the bathroom so that you wake up everyone in the aisle seats trying to sleep. If you have to stand in line, make sure your butt is close proximity to someone's face at all times. Hang out in the small open areas of the plane and talk loudly to everyone else. Get something out of the overhead bin at least once every hour and make sure your bag is at the back so you'll have to move everyone else's stuff around to get to it. ;)
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Walk up and down the aisle crop dusting everyone.

Hang out in the galley, FAs love that.

Yeah second on informing the FA you're a pilot and available if the crew gets food poisoning.
 
Just thought I'd update the thread with a few pics. We had a great time and got to see a ton of things while we were there. We were able to do the safari Land Cruiser tour, the Burj Kalifa and fountains, as well as the mall aquarium. We ended up eating at some fantastic restaurants, mostl by the marina, the Souk Matinad Jumirah, and by the fountains. I'll probably be going back in 6 months or less, but wife won't be going along on that one. The flight on Emirates went surprisingly well for coach seats. It wasn't too bad and the route back over the North Pole was unique for me. Thanks all for the great suggestions as we were able to pack a lot in over 5 days even with me working most every morning until mid afternoon.

The fountains are powered by pumps that my company manufacturers, which was a neat tie-in. I had to represent the Sooners while at Kite Beach, and my wife was having a blast with or without me!

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