Emirates Air...Sharia meets the profane at 36,000 feet.

This is our

 first flight on Emirates and it is not your usual passage.  It begins with the flight attendants. A demur cream half veil falls from their ruby pillbox hats and suggests the modesty of the hijab...but the rest is pure Hollywood.  The ladies are impeccably groomed. If I were to have a Shallow Susan moment I would swear each of these women just left the brow bar after first having had their hair done.  All are beautifully made up and trust me, there must be no airline union back in the United Arab Emirates that allows you to flunk out of Weight Watchers five times before your sixty-third birthday.  These ladies are young, lithe and trim.  There is no thought that I, in my dotage, might need to assist the staff in a water evacuation, which is something I certainly thought about on my last American Airlines passage across the pond, given the condition and age of that cabin flight crew.

Each young woman is extremely courteous but reserved; there is no folksy chit chat. You know how engaging some stateside flight attendants can be, "You'all are headed out to the Peach Bowl AND to see your grand baby!  Awesome!"  Not seeing any of that here.

If they have any religious qualms about role switching between servers of caviar and vodka and prayer rug role up assistants, the inscrutable ladies betray nothing.


We are flying in a brand new 777-300 and it is a beautiful plane.  Our stations are paneled in a pale burled wood and the business cabin ceiling is embedded with twinkling stars.  I would give it the best rating for personal space design with better than average storage, a twenty-four inch TV screen, frig, a tablet and a featherbed brought out after dinner to lay on your seat. Not bad for a once in a lifetime experience.

I slept about four hours and watched four first run movies from a list of over 100.  Paul said he did not sleep, so he must have been playing possum.

Dubai International Airport was very quiet for our 8PM arrival on a rain slicked runway. It is officially the busiest airport in the world, sleek and futuristic, bright and white.  We have another layover here but will link up with friends Chris and Gary when they arrive from Chicago.

So I am left here with my tea trying to figure why my font size keeps changing while my fastidious husband shaves.