October 2nd-the Greatest day on Earth!

My stay in Portugal came to an end on October 2nd, the greatest day on earth! I left Dona's house around 9:30 (Thursday) to travel by car to the train station, to travel by train for an hour to the metro station, to travel by metro for 30 minutes to the airport. While at the metro, I missed to trains to to the airport because I couldn't figure out what side to be on...once on the right side I was like...DUH. The airport was just lovely. I was patted down and wanded by the lady security guard...my sandals had metal latches on them. Celebrate good times, come on! Rushed to my gate...starving and thirsty...to only find that our plane was going to be an hour late. So, I bought a bottle of juice and Lays potato chips from the vending machine guy...it was around 6 Euros...which is like $12. Finally got on a plane to fly to Paris...the pilot was a woman. I say that because it's cool...my first woman pilot. She did well. I figured my way through the CDG (Paris) airport to the Emirates check in desk to find out I had to wait until 1 hour before the plane left to check in (stand-by tickets). So, I bought myself a Snickers bar, Evian water and a French Cosmo.

The Snickers bar was a bit bigger than ours...but in two pieces. Loved it. I sung "Happy Birthday" to myself-aloud-but people started staring and security started walking towards me, so I stopped. I found that the women's toilets in the Paris Airport do not have toilet seats...and I got to pee right next to a nun. Seriously, can a birthday get better than that? You probably think not...but...OH YES IT CAN! I was finally able to check in with the airlines and I got a First class seat. HELLO! It was so lovely...I got slippers, a real pillow, a real blanket, a seat from heaven, all the movies I could watch (I watched Maid of Honor and What Happens in Vegas), hot towels-3 times, fresh juice in a real glass-not in those plastic paper cups. AND...they waited on you hand and foot. For dinner...I had grilled prawns on a lemongrass stick, eggplant ravioli, fresh bread...now...if you keep in mind that they laid a table cloth out, gave you fresh butter, salt & pepper grinders and cold silverware...it was like a million times greater than economy seats. I haven't even started talking about the seat.... it laid back almost like a bed...so lovely. I was happy to arrive in Dubai...but sad to leave first class. OH, Happy Birthday!

My day of travel finally ended at 6:30 am (Friday) Dubai time. Ahhh, the opportunity of a lifetime.