Never go to Dubai!

I wasn't surprised to read about the hundred odd people who fell violently sick when traveling from Dubai to the U.S. Just a couple of weeks back, I was forced to transit at Dubai Airport after my Air France flight was delayed and I missed the connecting flight to Muscat on my way back to Karachi. Although it was the largest passenger plane (A380), I didn't enjoy the flight because of the inefficiency of the staff. I had no choice but to endure the very cold air from the nozzles above, as no one could change the direction of the nozzle (or even turn it off). The food too wasn't anything to write home about.

I knew of course that Dubai Airport is probably the worst managed airport in the world, and every Emirates flight has to fly for twenty minutes at least over the airport before being given clearance to land. This time my plane circled overhead for half an hour and finally landed, so I only had forty minutes before I could board the connecting Emirates flight to Karachi. 

I stopped running and jogging twenty years ago, so I wonder why I didn't have a heart attack running for forty minutes to the departure gate which (due to the intense love of the government of UAE for Pakistanis) is at the very end of the airport and you can't get there in the fancy train they have but have to run if you don't have enough time. Even though I could see from the illuminated boards that the gate had been closed, I didn't stop running. I got there at the exact time the plane was supposed to take off, but they took pity on me and allowed me to board.

So my advice to everyone I know is: never transit at Dubai Airport, avoid it like the plague. Above all, never go to Dubai unless you are forced to do so at gunpoint!