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Old 15 Dec 18, 06:46 PM  
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WileyCoyote
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The Decadent Dibber in Dubai. Day 5. Not Travel Day ! Holiday Inn and Dubai Festival Mall

Yesterday is ...HERE

Thursday 22 November

We had received a letter yesterday advising us to be in reception at 7.15 for our ride to the airport

Alarms were set and i was up at 6 to take in the final beautiful sunrise.




We finished up the cases



and headed to the lounge for a very quiet breakfast and to say goodbye to all the team who had looked after us so well.



Gonna miss this club lounge for sure

the car was bang on time and whisking us off the airport - we felt quite sorry to be leaving as another couple of days to relax probably would have made this the perfect length stay. ... Ahem, we might regret those sentiments

Passing all buildings and space age metro stations again , definitely a sci fi feel to it here.




All too soon pitching up here



We were momentarily confused by the departure board which showed the flight as cancelled , but then said 2.00 which i took to mean as delayed by 2 hours

No definitely cancelled as were handed this ...



There was confusion a plenty - a few people getting v stressed as they had work commitments the next day and quite a lot of loud exchanges about why were weren’t being offered alternative flights - put bluntly, they were all full.

there was also a comedic moment about compensation discussions with claims being made the flight was delayed till tomorrow when the letter clearly states it was cancelled.

Andy spent so long in a hot debate about the latter that we missed the call out for a mini bus to take us to a nearby hotel.

It was all a bit fractious and not terribly well organised, After walking half way round the airport to meet the second mini bus which was “just coming”, the rep finally gave up and dispatched us in taxis to the Holday Inn advising us that a room and meals had been sorted. In the meantime Andy had managed to re arrange our pick up and contact our house sitter to stay on an extra day

I am not sure where all the other passengers were as in the end there didnt seem that many of us .. none of the people we spoke to had received an email or text ... obvs not or we would have stayed on at the Waldorf !

The holiday inn was very close and were expecting us as they came out with glasses of fruit juice which was very welcome. They hadn’t been told about meals but we weren’t that bothered as we would just keep receipts.




The room was ok .




It was annoying that there was construction work going on which in the end ruled out any chance of an afternoon nap as they were banging away all day.

Andy decided to chill in the room while I headed to the pool for a bit.





I got chatting to a lady who was a frequent visitor and she told me about the Mall and light show so that was something for us to do later.

i had a few hours reading , napping and swimming
i mean where else do you get swim and see Ikea at the same time.



Andy joined me and then we decided to get some lunch as had a message to say we could now eat for free at the hotel.



it was quiet and the end of lunch service - the food looked nice but was barely luke warm which was disappointing.




A rather sporty large group joined the tables near us



i didnt take any pics as i dont think it can be nice being a “ celeb” and people papping you while you are just trying to eat. We saw them several times in the hotel and the Mall

We had a quick look around the Mall but didnt really have shopping heads on. It was pretty impressive though

The


So need to do my shopping in one of these !


Hard Rock .. Next to M&S. This really appealed to me as ironic juxtaposition !



It was mid afternoon now so we thought maybe a quick sleep would be a good idea , the prospect of a 2 am flight was really starting to become unappealing and I wasn’t sure if i could stay awake till 11 let alone 2

Andy did manage a nap but I couldn’t sleep and in the end got up and had a shower and read for a bit.

We got changed into our travel clothes and went for dinner. Which was basically the same as lunch but colder and poorer selection. Deeply unimpressive food I have to say.




We made a quick dash back to the Mall as the light shows were on the hour and half hour so we just made the 7.30 show, sitting out on the steps at the back of the Mall

The show is a mix of lasers, holograms, fireworks and music and was really very good. Longer and better than the ones we had seen at the Burj Khalifa.



We nipped in to the supermarket on the way back to pick up sweets for home.



I was struck by the egg aisle for some reason





I was flagging by this point and couldn’t even be tempted in to Ikea - just a quick glance at the menu to see if they do the meatballs here



Which they do not

Toys r us alive and well in the UAE




We had been told to be in reception for the mini buses to take us to reception so pitched up in good time.



But Travel day is in the next instalment so you will have to wait and see how that went

It’s just HERE

Edited at 12:04 PM.
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Old 15 Dec 18, 07:29 PM  
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Melbatb
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It is so frustrating when these things happen - you just want to get home!

What a shame the food was so disappointing - not a fan of lukewarm food!

I hope the flights home went better on travel day + 1! At least you can claim for the cancelled flight!
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Old 15 Dec 18, 09:27 PM  
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lottiesmum0
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What a shame that the food was disappointing- I wish you had taken pics If the cricketers!
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Old 15 Dec 18, 10:43 PM  
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CrispyA
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Oh no! Delays are not what you need and it’s a shame the food wasn’t great. Really hop3 the rest of the journey home went more smoothly . . .
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Old 16 Dec 18, 09:54 AM  
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WileyCoyote
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Originally Posted by Melbatb View Post
It is so frustrating when these things happen - you just want to get home!

What a shame the food was so disappointing - not a fan of lukewarm food!

I hope the flights home went better on travel day + 1! At least you can claim for the cancelled flight!
Yeah I mean it was always going to be hard competing with the Waldorf food but for it to be barely warm was poor.
In fairness to Virgin they have already paid up the compensation and made it very easy.

Originally Posted by lottiesmum0 View Post
What a shame that the food was disappointing- I wish you had taken pics If the cricketers!
Lol Andy said the same.

Originally Posted by CrispyA View Post
Oh no! Delays are not what you need and it’s a shame the food wasn’t great. Really hop3 the rest of the journey home went more smoothly . . .
In all the times we have travelled we have never hit a cancellation so this was new territory for us. At least we didn’t have the stress of jobs or kids to worry about. It was nice to have another day of sunshine but by the end we were just impatient to be on our way .
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Old 17 Dec 18, 04:40 PM  
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neilhd
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Bit of a mare, but at least you got to see a few extra things with "Virgin Atlantis" paying.
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Old 19 Dec 18, 09:04 AM  
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WileyCoyote
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Originally Posted by neilhd View Post
Bit of a mare, but at least you got to see a few extra things with "Virgin Atlantis" paying.
Lol, yeah the typo was funny.
Once we’d got settled it was fine. Just the new flight t8me was a pain !
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Old 21 Dec 18, 12:11 AM  
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Fuellady
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Oh dear, what a pain being delayed. Still, it seeems you tried to make the best of it by heading to the mall for a while and seeing the light show.

Yuck! to lukewarm food. It looks nice in the pics too. At least Virgin took care of your hotel and food, when we were delayed recently we got zip!
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Old 22 Dec 18, 04:52 PM  
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WileyCoyote
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Originally Posted by Fuellady View Post
Oh dear, what a pain being delayed. Still, it seeems you tried to make the best of it by heading to the mall for a while and seeing the light show.

Yuck! to lukewarm food. It looks nice in the pics too. At least Virgin took care of your hotel and food, when we were delayed recently we got zip!
Food today was a big letdown after all that had gone before.
I think it was ok for an unplanned day. We were just itching to get on our way by the end though.
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Old 27 Dec 18, 11:34 AM  
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Oh no, what a nightmare for you! On the last day you just want to get home don’t you?
The hotel certainly isn’t in the same league as the Waldorf, such a shame you couldn’t stay on there. Ouch a 2am flight sounds very unappealing ☹️
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