Fahim and I are talking about going to Dubai in May to do some shopping. You know, new cellphone for him, new digital camera for me, plus who knows what else will come up. What we're looking for doesn't exist in Sri Lanka, or is very expensive, comparitively speaking, and since his sister and brand new niece (born in December), as well as a 2 year old niece and brother in law live there, it just kinda makes sense.
So. Now. Not that I'm expecting any takers on this, but I thought I'd ask anyway. Anyone want to meet up there and become real, live Jatraqueros and Jatraqueras? (Did I spell that right? Did I? Did I?)
[ October 26, 2006, 09:30 PM: Message edited by: quidscribis ]
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
May's a little soon after the wedding. But I'll check ticket prices when I get home, anyway. I don't think my passport expires 'til 2006...
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Um, please don't be cruel and get my hopes up. Are you serious? You're actually considering it?
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
quids, I will seriously check ticket prices when I get home. Or you can check 'em now if you're dealing with your insomnia. MSP International airport.
I really don't expect to be able to afford it. But sometimes they have amazing deals, ya know? I went to Amsterdam on a whim once because the ticket was only $435. It would have to be nearer the end of May to work out, and I probably wouldn't be able to do anything too pricy while I was there. I'd love to do something like that... but if I can't, I'm totally serious about coming and seeing you in 2006. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Yippee!!!!
What I have found out about Dubai is that nationals of Israel cannot visit. I can get a tourist visa free of charge. Sri Lanka is not listed on anything I've found thus far, so I have no idea how Fahim will get in. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Lowest price through Travelocity is $1470 USD. A little out of your range, I'm guessing. Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
Yeah, that's probably not going to happen. But thanks for checking. It was nice to dream for a minute or three.
If it wasn't for my motorcycle I'd do it. Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
My aunt and uncle live in Dubai. I've always wanted to visit but never had the means.
If I were solvent, I'd totally be there.
Some day, maybe I'll be solvent enough to do things like that on a whim.
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Maybe if I knew exactly where Dubai was I could try and figure out if I'm close... Posted by newfoundlogic (Member # 3907) on :
Dubai is the capital of the United Arab Emirates which is the peninsula located on the Eastern border of Saudi Arabia in the Pesian Gulf. They don't like Jews.
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Oh.
Sorry quid. Maybe if you come to Israel, instead!
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
I wouldn't say "they don't like Jews." There are issues with Israeli citizens getting in, but the people there are generally more westernized than other arab nations. There are a lot of European and American businesses based there because it's more liberal than its neighbors. Yes, it's regrettable that Israelis are bureaucratically discriminated against, but you can't say that the residents "don't like Jews."
Posted by newfoundlogic (Member # 3907) on :
Well I'm sure the term they would prefer is "Zionist," but I'm confident that I'm unwelcome in any country that does ban by law, citizens of the State of Israel.
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
I can't go back to the Middle East until a couple of things happen: 1) I've gone back to New Zealand, and 2) I've obtained a document from the Jordanian government officially excusing me from military service. Neither of these things will happen by May.
But if you have relatives in Dubai and will be going back there later on, it's possible I could arrange to be in the Middle East at the same time. I have family in Jordan and the West Bank who I would like to visit, and I wouldn't mind ducking out to Dubai to see the craziness there for myself.
So start another one of these threads each time you go there, okay? Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
quote:Some day, maybe I'll be solvent enough to do things like that on a whim.
I'm sure that your obstacles will dissolve before you Annie.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
I sure hope so
Most of my obstacles, however, are of my own making.
I'm trying to think of another chemistry pun. It's not coming.
[ March 02, 2005, 06:15 PM: Message edited by: Annie ]
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Raia, I already suspected you were out by virtue of them not letting Israeli nationals in the country. I mean, I didn't know for a fact that you had Israreli citizenship, I just suspected. And I would love to go to Israel - I've wanted to go there for forever. But it's not feasible this time, unfortunately.
Twinky - you're from Jordan? This gets more interesting . . . Um, I am confused, though. Jordan isn't a part of the UAE, so how does military service in Jordan directly affect you visiting Dubai? Or perhaps its more of a list of things that have to get done in general? None of my business, but now I'm just getting so curious . . .
Annie, it's a lot of money to get there, and beyond most people's means, so don't worry about it.
Twinky & Annie, it seems likely that we'll go again - his sister and family have been in Dubai for a few years already and love it there. I'll post another thread like this every time I go. It would be nice if we can, at some point, make it work.
Edit to add: Eljay, I already knew about your lust for a motorbike. So that isn't surprising. I'm glad you considered going at any rate. That made my day. Cuz you're the coolest!
[ March 02, 2005, 08:43 PM: Message edited by: quidscribis ]
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
quids, if the ticket had been around half of what it was, I so would have done it. That was the range I had in my mind when I said I'd look at tickets. But really, vacation time is a bigger concern this year. If I was going to go, I'd want to spend a significant chunk of time, not just a long weekend, and with the wedding and my Hawaii trip already on this year's time off ledger, it would be hard to justify another full week off in the first half of the year.
Maybe next time. If other people can make it too, bonus.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote: I wouldn't say "they don't like Jews." There are issues with Israeli citizens getting in, but the people there are generally more westernized than other arab nations. There are a lot of European and American businesses based there because it's more liberal than its neighbors. Yes, it's regrettable that Israelis are bureaucratically discriminated against, but you can't say that the residents "don't like Jews."
I have an IRL friend who moved from the US to Nigeria. When it got bad there, they spent a year in UAR. She is an American Christian, and quite familiar with Orthodox Jews (she taught at the HS I attended for a number of years).
She and I discussed whether it would be safe for me to visit (mostly theoretically). She was quite sure that it would not be. (I am a fourth generation American citizen, although my last name is quite Jewish.)
That was almost 10 years ago. I can't imagine things are better now.
Posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan (Member # 5626) on :
If you're a student, you can get a ticket from New York to Dubai for around $780 on StudentUniverse .
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
I'm 9 years past being a student.
I think it would be so cool, though, if someone else does manage to go and meet quids. Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
quote:you're from Jordan?
Nope. But I do have family there, as well as in the West Bank, and if I go to the Middle East it will be to visit them. Dubai would sort of be a bonus trip either before or after the family visiting.
quote: This gets more interesting . . . Um, I am confused, though. Jordan isn't a part of the UAE, so how does military service in Jordan directly affect you visiting Dubai?
Because when I go to the Middle East I will definitely have to stop in Jordan. Not only do I want to visit my family, they'd never forgive me if I didn't.
I'm not technically under any obligation to do military service, because I'm Canadian and don't have a Jordanian passport, but a friend of mine in a similar situation visited Jordan for the first time maybe seven or eight years ago and for a while they wouldn't let him leave because they claimed he had to do military service. Basically I don't want to take that risk, especially since there are papers you can get to formally excuse you from it.
Since you seem curious, my family tree goes something like this:
My grandmother on my mother's side was Greek; my grandfather on my mother's side was Palestinian. My mother was born in Jaffa, which was in Palestine when she was born but is in Israel now. Her family lived in Bethlehem for a while as well but after 1948 they mostly lived in Amman, Jordan, and got Jordanian citizenship and passports.
My father's family is entirely Kiwi unless you go back pretty far.
They met in Switzerland and ultimately wound up in Canada, where they had me. So I'm Canadian, but I also have New Zealand citizenship (and now a NZ passport). I don't *think* I ever had a Jordanian passport, but we did live in Amman for a year when I was six so I can't completely rule it out.
Posted by Allegra (Member # 6773) on :
Quid: Do women in Sri Lanka wear saris? I am going to wear one for prom. Either one my great aunt brough back from India, or this one . I was just wondering what hair style most women wear with saris on a special occasion.
(sorry to be so off topic, but I didn't want to start a new thread)
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Allegra, you're wearing a sari to prom? I think that's the coolest thing ever. I want pictures of you in it. (I also want it, but that's beside the point... )
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Allegra: yes, women wear saris here. They also wear shalwaars and western clothing. But saris are so commonly worn here that they don't make distinctions about specific ways of doing hair to go with a sari. Go with any kind of hair do that you like and it would be fine. That's a nice sari. I bet it'll look great. And at a prom! That's so cool!
Raia, can you get saris where you are? It doesn't strike me as the sort of thing you can get there. But if you really want one, I could get you one here. There are even instructions on the internet about how to put one on. I'd have to know your size, though. And address. And things like preferred color, type of style, that sort of thing. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Twinky - that's quite the interesting background. Wow! And yes, of course it makes sense, what with having family in the neighborhood. The next time I make it back to anywhere in North America, I'm pretty much under obligation to visit certain places where there are clumps of relatives. If I don't . . . well, it just wouldn't be pretty.
I also understand what you're saying about military service. It's probably best just to eliminate any problems before they cause major hassles and inconveniences.
Eljay - yeah, I hear ya. Thanks for considering it anyway. Maybe the next one after this will be Singapore. That, we've heard, is the best place in south Asia to go for prices on electronics, and we'd both like to go there. But Dubai is more important right now, especially in light of nieces. (SingaporeCon!!!!)
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Well, we didn't go to Dubai last year, or this year, or any year... yet. But we are, once again, seriously considering going there soon. Perhaps September.
Unfortunatley, Travelocity no longer gives flight information for flights originating outside of the US, so I'm having difficulty finding info on how much the flight would cost us. If anyone has any ideas on other websites I can use, please let me know!
When we go, it'll likely be for 3 or 5 days - Fahim wouldn't likely be able to get much more time off work than that, and we're mainly going to visit his sister and buy new electronic toys.
So. Anyone in? For DubaiCon? I'm still not real... Posted by Nell Gwyn (Member # 8291) on :
Try Kayak.com - it's much more comprehensive than Travelocity anyway.
Alas, Dubai is out of my price range at the moment, but it's definitely on my Will See Someday list. Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
Wow, plane tickets to Dubai are expensive!
I was about to say I was glad you were back, but I looked at your recent posts, and apparently you've been around, we've just been in different threads.
So Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
*giggle*
It's still not feisable for me. I'd still love to. It was fun rereading this thread.
My current pipe dream is to quit my job and sell my house sometime before I'm 40 (which would be in the next 7 years) and spend a year traveling the world. If it happens, I'll be stopping by. . . Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
From here, it's only about $250 US through www.cheapoair.com, so really really cheap for us. Thanks, Nell! I'll check out kayak.
Hi blacwolve! I've been around. You've been around? We need to bump into each other more often, then. Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
Wow, I was totally thrown by this thread! I didn't notice at first that it was old. So I was thinking when ElJay spoke of a wedding that she and twinky were engaged and I hadn't heard. Then Annie posted and I thought she was back from Japan already. Next newfoundlogic posted and made my heart skip a beat. Then I looked at the dates. :cries:
Anyway, I hope Dubaicon is a success. I don't think I can make it, unfortunately. I'm still hoping someday to take quid up on her very generous offer to host visiting hatrackers in Sri Lanka, though. Sounds like a wonderful place! Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
ElJay - I debated resurrecting the Chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate!!! thread, too. That was a fun read. *sigh* Meeem oh reeees!!!! *giggles*
Posted by Nell Gwyn (Member # 8291) on :
I have the same dream, ElJay, minus the house-selling part as I don't own one. You know, you could always just rent it out for a year rather than selling it. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
The offer for LankaCon stands.
I know what you mean, Tatiana, about reading newfoundlogic's posts... But...
Hey, it's not that I'm actually expecting that anyone will meet us in Dubai. I'm just throwing this out there on the off-chance. This is a pretty remote area of the world for most Jatraqueros. Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
quids, I was going to resurrect that thread too. . . 'cause I found a new type of chocolate with chilis in it that's way hotter than the ones I sent you before. E-mail me your new address and I'll send you some.
Nell, I know I could rent it, but then I couldn't afford to take a year off work and travel the world. I bought at a great time, and have enough equity that I could sell, put most of the money in short term investments, use about $20,000 to have a really great year (with a $5,000 round-the-world airfare, visiting predominantly places where the US dollar goes far) and have enough cash on hand when I get home to support myself until I get a new job and still have a downpayment on a new place. Plus I'd probably do it in a gap year before moving to a new city, so it makes sense to sell. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
OOooooooh! Eljay, honey! Now that's an offer that I'd be crazy to refuse! Okay! Email on its way!
Posted by Nell Gwyn (Member # 8291) on :
Oh my. You've clearly thought about this a lot! And it sounds like a great plan too.
My plan so far consists of saving up a Ton of Money and making a Very Long List of places to visit that will likely include every country on the planet...so it's not nearly as precise or practical as yours. But I've also been drooling over the BUNAC program, which I might incorporate into this trip idea.
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
*grin* I haven't thought that much about it, actually, just kinda realized that I had this option and that it would be really cool. There are lots of places online that specialize in around the world air fares, and they're really quite reasonable. Some of them are cheaper than a round trip to Austraila alone. I'd get a more expensive one, though, so I can pick specific destinations and visit quid. Every country on the planet would be a lot for one trip. Here's a checklist, you can check off where you've been and they'll mark off the countries on a map for you. You can register and they'll save your list, so you can keep turing countries red until you've got them all. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Gee, I've been to, uh, *counts on fingers and toes* six. Yeah, didn't really need the toes for that... Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
They don't count Hong Kong separately from China, so they just gave me a huge huge land mass covered. Posted by Nell Gwyn (Member # 8291) on :
Oh, I know it wouldn't really be doable for one trip, but that's what my overzealous, unrealistic self would want to do. No doubt I'd have to be much more selective with my actual route, but I'd still want to hit a good number of places. (Can you imagine the ticket price if I were actually going to every country, island-hopping through the South Pacific and all? I'm sure it'd be outrageously expensive, plus I'd only get a day or so in each country if I were to visit them all in a year. )
I've played with the world66 site before, but so far my travels are clustered mostly just on western Europe, so all the blank space on the map is a little discouraging because I know I won't be able to mark any more off for a good long while.
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
See, if you visit the US, Canada, Brazil, Russia, and China, your map can look great for only five countries! Posted by Nell Gwyn (Member # 8291) on :
Heehee...I actually just added Canada and China to do exactly that. I haven't visited either country yet, but I did have flight connections in Vancouver and Hong Kong. Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
My map looks very grey - and I thought I'd visited a lot of countries!
Oh well, all the more travel to do, I guess. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
I'm waiting to see what Fahim's map looks like. He said he was going to do this...
So*. Does this mean no takers for DubaiCon? Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
UPDATE!
We were going to go in September, but then that ended up getting cancelled just before we actually booked the tickets.
But then, the unbelievable happened.
We've actually booked tickets this time. Seriously.
Doesn't mean we're necessarily actually going to go, although everyone keeps telling me that it'll actually happen this time...
We're scheduled for November 8th to November 10th or 11th - not exactly sure. It looks like I'll finally get my new digital camera and Fahim will get his new cell phone. I'm going to see if I can do some bra shopping while we're there and/or buy underwires for me to make my own.
And maybe, just maybe, we'll do some sightseeing. While we're not playing with the two adorable nieces, that is.
Oh! And a while back, I found a friend from university in Dubai, so I need to send him an email and see about hooking up. What a bizarre little world...
So, anyone in for DubaiCon? Anyone? Anyone?
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
With that kind of notice? And the potential for you to back out at the last minute?
How could anyone say no?
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
*laughs*
Posted by Kama (Member # 3022) on :
sorry, i'm booked Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Party pooper. Posted by Magson (Member # 2300) on :
My sister lives in Dubai. She loves OSC too, but doesn't come to hatrack though. I can e-mail her and see if she'd like to meet you during your visit.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Posted by Loren (Member # 9539) on :
Hey, quid, I was actually hoping to be in your neck of the woods around Nov. 18--I got a paper accepted at a conference in Kolkata, but I wasn't able to scrounge up the funding to get there.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Cool you got your paper accepted - what on, if I may be bold enough to ask? Sorry you didn't get the funding.
Posted by Loren (Member # 9539) on :
It was a conference on food and literature, and my paper was on food as a transformative element--food and metamorphosis, basically--in world lit. (e.g., Ovid, Su Tong, Perrault).
I was able to get some funding, but not enough to cover the hefty Chicago-Kolkata flight, dang it.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Huh. That sounds interesting. Sorry it didn't work out for you to go. I haven't been to India, either, and dang it, but Fahim's already been and doesn't want to go again, and I really want to go, but not without him...
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
And as an update, it looks like we're actually going. Fahim and his parents got their visas on Sunday (I don't need one, me travelling on a Canadian passport and all).
BUT. We don't have our airline tickets yet. The travel agency people aren't too bright by my estimation and even though we're supposed to fly in 12+ hours (we actually don't know when our flight leaves as they haven't told us), they're still not ready for us to pick up. Sometime this morning, they say. Um...
And to make things more adventurous, we're flying into Sharjah and then taking a bus or something to Dubai itself.
We're almost going! We're almost going!
And assuming we go, we'll be gone for three days. No internet, but I probably won't care cuz, well, heck, I'm on vacation! Yay!!!!! And hopefully playing with a brand new digital SLR camera! Maybe!
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
Good luck!
Posted by Nell Gwyn (Member # 8291) on :
Good luck with the tickets, and have a safe (and fun and productive) trip!
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
We got our tickets!
But the whole thing is rather sad... The travel agent said they couldn't print up the tickets themselves, but Air Arabia had to print them out, and a staff person from the travel agent had to go pick them up. And they told us the tickets would be at the travel agent's by 11am. We got there at 11am, but the tickets didn't arrive until 12:07pm.
And that's when we discover that the tickets are actually e-tickets. And were printed from the Air Arabia web site. Uh huh. Yeah, that's why we had to go to the travel agent and why we had to wait over an hour for the "tickets".
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It would be nice if we can, at some point, make it work.![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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Uh huh. Yeah, that's why we had to go to the travel agent and why we had to wait over an hour for the "tickets".