Day D11: Over and Out

The party last night was a killer and so was the hangover. Dubai is not for the faint of heart. I heard many stories of how they kept going until 5am and while I could have too, unfortunately it was the final day of this trip and a late night red-eye flight the next day. So I managed to get a lot of sleep then woke up nice and later for a fitness class, i.e. hangover cure.

The coach was very inspiring. She was actually visiting from Canada and a guest coach so we had a lot to talk about. She probably had no idea that simply by running this class and doing her thing, she would come to inspire many people. The class is definitely no joke. None of them are. It meant high intensity running on the treadmills combined with nonstop bootcamp work on the floor.

She said many memorable quotes. One was "I fucking hate running. But you can't get good at the things you don't like if you avoid them." This was 100% on point.

She also said, "If you don't like running, drop it down to a jog. But one thing you don't do in my room is pull out your phone while everyone else here is working hard." This was directed to my neighbor actually. He would constantly jump the rails on the treadmill and walk it down then start getting out his phone.

Perhaps the best quote was, "Smile! You're alive! You didn't die! You're at Barry's. Now everybody does 30 seconds of devil's press whether you like it or not."

I thanked the coach for all her inspirational quotes and she said, "Yeah I saw you laughing when I said we all didn't die." That about sums it up.

It did, however, need a couple hours to recover from that. After a bit more last minute shopping it was then time for a nap before packing up and heading for the airport. The Airbnb with the host Alison felt a lot more comfortable than the other one and the choice to move was justified. She had several cats, a couple of dogs. She also had lots of people helping around the house. It was really hard to say goodbye to everyone as well as pat the animals before leaving. At that point I simply didn't want to leave.

So at the very last minute, reluctantly, I made my way to the metro. It was absolutely slam packed, mostly with Indians. It's a good thing that I was traveling light but even with a couple small bags they barely fit inside the metro and others were kind enough to help. It was a sardine can for 5 stations then gradually people started filtering out. Eventually I made it to the airport and whisked right through.

The guys are the check in counter asked, "So how is everything in Canada? Have you had your election yet to get rid of Trudeau?"

I said, "Not yet, but I wish it will happen as soon as possible. All he wants to do is drag it out."

They said, "Yeah and he makes everyone pay tax for nothing. But what about the new guy? I heard he's a lot better."

I said, "We'll see, I think so. But paying tax is a waste regardless. You get nothing for it. At least here in Dubai there is no personal income tax and the 9% corporate tax you actually get something for it."

They were positively beaming at that point. Well it's a fact. It's why I left Canada over 20 years. You're paying all this tax and you get nothing for it. It's a constant scam to draw in immigrants and promise them with a new life while delivering what falls far short.

I then simply walked through AI immigration.

There's not much to say after that. The flight landed in Kunming China for a transfer. While there, my immediate first reaction was wow, these people are so uptight. Why are they all staring at me wearing masks and treating me like some criminal?

Indeed while trying to figure out the transfer process, I asked a guy for help near the domestic flight check in desk. Since I was out of it, I had forgotten that they gave me two boarding passes in Dubai. He saw the boarding pass and realized I wouldn't need to line up in the massive queue like everyone else. He then glared at me and asked, "Where did you get that boarding pass?" I said, "They gave it to me in Dubai" then he scowled and said, "Go through security check over there."

And I did so and they took a lot more items that whisked right through the first security check in Dubai.

This was just the beginning. Now about a week later as I write this, it feels like the trip and Dubai never even happened. Thankfully there is a record here that it did.

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