Sapphire86:



296k... Emirates.com

akinswaggs:


Can i get your details please, need some assistance, or if you can contact via my sig

Sapphire86:


PM me and we will take it from there.

Sapphire86:


296k... Emirates.com

GIDIBANKZ:


Tnx but is that 296k going & returning ticket money

Sapphire86:

Emmmm..... yes

samee72:


Thanks, will definately holla at you when I arrive, as for my health hmmm, all I have to say is God is in control

lightparadox:
Happy birthday.

Sapphire86:
..... (cont'd)

Woke up very early because I’d like to get to the dining room early. Breakfast is served from 7 – 10:30am; I noticed that I am the ONLY black and a female at that in the hotel and when I arrived the Cinnamon Room (the name for their dining room) some days back at around 9am or so, people were just staring at me. I felt very uncomfortable, so I decided to head to the Cinnamon room early and leave early. Of course, I wouldn’t have done so if I had company but what can I do? I said I was going to leave the hotel by 10am to go to Deira City Centre (DCC) for shopping but ended up leaving by 11am because the spirit of sleep was operating heavily in my life. Today was metro day; I decided to take the metro to DCC and return by cab due to shopping bags. Metro experience was really, really nice; it was my 3rd time on a train and 2nd in Dubai; I mostly travel by cabs (London never jam me yet). I really don’t know how to explain the metro system in Dubai other than it was timely, effective and costs less. 6 Dirhams got me to DCC within 2 minutes of getting my ticket; now I know I’m gonna ‘metro’ a lot these next few days.


Finally, I’m entering DCC and in my mind I was like ‘viola, my old friend’ and as expected, the whole mall was on sales! I don’t know how they were going to make profits, but I know that revenue would skyrocket. People were on ground ready to take advantage of the discounts, but the mall wasn’t crowded like Balogun market during Christmas period. Malls are everywhere so it wasn’t like there was any particular reason for everyone to camped at the same place that’s why Ikeja City Mall is always a no-no for me during weekends, festive periods and public holidays. I can’t endure traffic to enter mall, pray to locate parking spot and wander aimlessly at the mall because there is nothing exciting going on. Upon my ascent with the escalator, I found my Etisalat store and in my mind, I was like ‘today na today, I’m getting my sim’ but I was in for a surprise. I asked the man who was in charge of ticketing about the sim and he asked if I had my passport, to which I responded ‘yes’. Just when he was about printing my ticket number, I asked him the cost of a sim and he said ‘105 Dirhams’ and as a prudent person I sharply calculated the cost of a sim, airtime and data and estimated to be at least $50, I decided it wasn’t worth it. Anybody that urgently needs to reach me can contact me on my WhatsApp. I would rather use that $50 to shop for clothes (lol).

MissJoy29:

Did you travel alone to Dubai?

Sapphire86:


Yes ma

MissJoy29:

I don't think I can travel to such exotic place without company. I won't really enjoy it. I'm very adventurous and I love travelling. But it's more fun if I'm on the trip with someone or going to meet the person.

You try sha.

Sapphire86:


True but if I have to wait to go with someone, the wait go long. 90% of the time I have travelled out, I have been alone.

Sapphire86:



296k... Emirates.com

Sapphire86:


True but if I have to wait to go with someone, the wait go long. 90% of the time I have travelled out, I have been alone.

Sapphire86:


PM me and we will take it from there.

Sapphire86:
I woke up that certain Wednesday feeling ‘oh, the day has finally come’. I was still running up and down doing last minute packing, attending to a dozen issues while trying to remember a dozen more still undone. I am not one for last minute rush, but this time was different – delays here and there with the visa and ticket both finally coming through less than 48 hours before departure.

I called for an Uber (while silently praying for safe arrival to the airport because I have been hearing stories about Uber & Taxify drivers lately) and 30 minutes later (even though the app said 11 mins) I was on my way to the airport. Traffic was terrible; this was the first journey-to-the-airport traffic I have ever experienced, and it got to a point that I was like ‘ah, ah, have my village people followed me to the airport?’ Finally, we reach the airport though I was a bit pissed with the Uber driver because 1., he deliberately took a longer route with traffic when we started the journey (maybe he wanted my trip fare to be deliberately high) and 2., he didn’t know any shortcuts! We were just stuck in traffic; one thing about commercial bus drivers is that they would always find another way when they sight traffic ahead except if there is truly no way out. But this Uber driver just sat there because even if we got to the airport 3 hours later, it really wasn’t his concern!

Got to the airport an hour plus later and then it hit me that I was back at the Nigerian Airport! First, it was the policemen unnecessarily hailing me before I realized that they wanted me to part with money; then it was unknown personality who came, held my bag & ‘offered’ to help me carry it. I’m like ‘emm, no, thank you’ and in my mind, I’m like ‘my hands don’t look broken; I ain’t parting with no naira, dollar or even cent’. I thought ‘oh, the harassment has ended’ forgetting that I was STILL at the Nigerian airport.


I did my check-in and made my way to immigration and it was there I was reminded that I was still in Nigeria. First immigration officer was nice but wanted a tip and in my mind I’m like ‘why should I give you money because I am travelling; don’t you know how much dollar is?’ The second immigration officer was where the issue was. He checks my passport because it’s a new passport and sees no stamp, immediately starts harassing me (it was a new passport but not my first time travelling). Then he goes ‘let me just stamp for you because if I send you down there, they will harass you, but you MUST give me something’. Now, the difference between the first & second immigration officer was that the first asked nicely for a tip, this one flat out demanded a BRIBE. Is there a law that says new passport holders cannot travel? How will the passport stop being new if it is not used in travelling out? Well, since I didn’t ‘tip’ the first officer though he asked nicely, I refused to BRIBE him. True to his word, he sent me and my passport down to the association-of-immigration-officers corner thinking he has dealt with me. The lady he sent my passport to asked me for my visa, checked with my passport, asked for my travel allowance and when she saw I was legit, she gave me my passport and asked me to go and get stamped. As I left, my eyes and that of the second immigration officer met and he could see my victory stare and smile.

.... to be continued

Sapphire86:
I thought the immigration at the airport had undergone reformation some years back, but I guess they are now back to their ‘business as usual’ mode of operation. Only in Nigerian airport do immigration officers harass Nigerians and ask for tip/bribe. In the few countries I have been to, not one immigration officer has ever asked for money not even those in other African countries. Clearly, it is a Nigerian thing!


Honestly, my opinion of workers (both immigration officers & airline staff) at the airport is that they probably are angry or jealous when they see fellow Nigerians escaping sorry leaving the country. I stand to be corrected but that’s how I feel. Now, I know that Nigerians are angry naturally – angry at their choice of a president, angry prices are skyrocketing but salary is stagnant or even nose-diving, angry at traffic, angry at the economy, you name it! We are angry! But they are polite to foreigners and even celebrities, but they will just be squeezing face and acting drama for regular folks. I don’t have time for their drama, I simply just have a discussion (long or short) with their Maker (God).


Finally, I board my Emirates flight to DXB and issa breeze. The cabin crew were nice and white (lol) I wonder why no African heck even Nigerian was on board; maybe they are on American route . Usually, my observation of cabin crew ladies was that they were HOTTTT and YOUNG. Now, these crew members were not ugly, but you could see that they were veterans in the game. Where were all the young and short-skirted ladies? Maybe they are still in Emirates Aviation Academy! I am not gay or bi but it always amused me how those young cabin crew would strut around the plane attending to passengers, very eager to please. Or maybe they were assigned to the first and business class cabins (oh Lord, bless me na), only time would tell. I always observe the uniform of the cabin crew of airlines and I must say Emirates does it for me. Their uniform from their head to their shoes with their bright red lipstick is always on point. Heck, their uniform makes me want to be part of the Emirates crew but then I know that I would eventually roll my eyes at some passengers so why start something only to get written up?


Flight EK 782 to DXB was great; the cabin crew served and served from an hour after take-off till 30 minutes before landing but Business & First class was from sitting down to 30 minutes before landing (oh Lord, I need an upgrade). It was really flowing; Pepsi to red wine, juice to champagne; food to biscuits. The aroma of the food woke me (yes, it was that strong and that nice)! I ate with a ‘last supper’ appetite while still applying decorum (of course). The entertainment was on point; though was a bit disappointed because Wedding Party 2 ‘narrowly missed’ the list of movies shown; I thought the movie cost would be taken from my flight ticket (pleaseee, I had heard about the mixed reviews and I was not about to waste 2.5k for that could-be disappointment). I guess the reviews must be correct if the movie hype didn’t last long the way the first one did!

Landed in DXB; journey was smooth, but the landing was smoother. It was my 2nd time at the Dubai Airport and things had certainly changed! The airport was like a beautiful 5-star hotel; I am not exaggerating or acting like someone straight out of the village but if you know how the airport of my birth country looks like, you will appreciate the beauty and grandeur of the Dubai International Airport. It is beautiful, elegant, classy and looks like Arab money on a mission. The immigration officers were polite but not friendly (at least the one who checked me in wasn’t but since I wasn’t stressed, why should I care? He’s done his job, now it’s my turn to do mine which is turn up). Changing money at the airport was just an unavoidable evil – expensive but necessary; the beauty was that I wasn’t changing ALL at the airport (I know their tricks & tariffs so I wasn’t falling for it). This is where I give credit to O.R. Tambo Airport Johannesburg, their rates were much friendlier. The lady the Travelex booth in Dubai Airport was like ‘oh, why not change $200? If you don’t finish spending it, you can change it back at the same rate when you come back’. In my mind I was like ‘I wasn’t sent to come and guarantee your May salary after charging 15 AED for $100’. It’s very hard to bring Dirham back to the airport because Dubai has everything that will enable you spend and even spend on credit. This wasn’t my first time in Dubai so let nobody come and give me fairy tales.

.... to be continued. Thanks to everyone reading and following

NONNYG:
Yeah, UAE is already hot & this will run till sept/Oct, meanwhile I strongly recommend you do it yourself, 14 days visa is around $150 USD or little above, then go to wakanow/travestart to buy cheap (promo) ticket or directly from the airline, use booking.com to reserve a hotel. Try to use airline that lands in either terminal 1 or 3, cos these are the terminals that has access to metro station, then you buy a metro card there, I think 19aed can't remember the exact amount & it's come with balance. With that you will use metro to continue your journey (very cheap).

P.S__ book a hotel closer to metro station it will save your a lot of cash/stress.