We left Phoenix the Saturday after Thanksgiving, driving to LA to catch a direct flight to Dubai on Monday, November 27th. I purchased the plane tickets, not thinking about the Thanksgiving weekend traffic. Once I realized my error, we decided on Saturday, and drive as far as San Bernardino and then driving in early to LA early Sunday morning. We thought this would avoid the holiday traffic into LA. This was true for the first few hundred miles, but the 100 miles took us 3 hours. But we did manage to aavoid all the traffic on Sunday by leaving very early. The hotel has an early check-in, so that worked out.
Checking in on Monday proved to be a klong process. We waited in line at Emeritus for over an hour, before we could check in our bags.
Between driving over, the traffic and the Emeritus checkin, we decided to fly to London and change planes there going forward. That would give us the added advantage of staying in London a few days!
But after the drive, and the check-in everything else went smoothly until the cab ride from the airport. Because we arrived at a heavy traffic time in Dubai (and COP 28 was also going on at the same time), Julianna arranged for a service to meet us at the airport gate, usher us through passport control and customs, collected our luggage and delivered it to a waiting cab.
The driver got lost on the way to Julianna’s villa, but what service, to have a gulf cart take you from the gate, skipping all the lines at passport control, having someone else retrieve your luggage and take it to the cab. Definitely a great way to travel!
Photos belowe Leaving LA (left) Arriving Dubai (middle) Lizzie (right)
Lizzie is Lottie and Louis sister.
