I Have a stamp in my passport!

These are the pods on the airplane
Here's hubby
Fresh fish presentation....so many kinds and big ones too!
This is the spice area....almost anything you can think of.

We made it! Yes we did! Quite a tiring adventure I must say.
First the plane didn't leave until 10PM, 2 hours past Hubby's bedtime. Then we were off and it was such a relief to finally have this leg of the journey started. We were very pampered and the "pods" on the plane were comfortable. Lots of movies to watch and music to listen to along with being able to use your computure but not the net of course. So 9 hours to Amsterdam. We arrived there just at sunrise. It was just like Minnesota, except the grass was green. There were canals everywhere and it was very clean there. What amazed me was that the airport runway ran OVER the freeways. That was strange, but I can see the use for it. Utilizes space. The Amsterdam airport was clean and clutter free. Not much going one there and the language was interesting to say the least. Sounded more German. Everyone was nice and many languages were spoken from the airport personnel to the people on the plane. We were on the plane ready to go to Dubai when it was annouced that there was a damaged door that needed to be repaired. We waited....with champagne passed to the passengers. It was determined that the door couldn't be repaired while on the plane so we were moved to another plane. 2 hours later we took off for Dubai. 8 hours later we landed in Dubai around 2:30am. I will say that for all this traveling I slept about 2 hours and I was beat. We were shuttled for about 5 miles to the main airport (huge airport) entrance. We walked into the airport and walked a ways to the Passort Control area. There had to be about 50 check stands open and 150 people in each row waiting to get their passports stamped. I HAVE A STAMP IN MY PASSPORT! That took about 45 mintues to get through a line. Then we were on to get our luggage. No problem, the suitcases were neatly grouped on the floor waiting for the owners to claim them. We grabbed a cart and lo' and behold a guy came running waving his arms to help us...for a price of course.....with 7 suitcases and 2 carrys on apiece it was appreciated. Then out into the cab area and there had to be about a 1000 people waiting to pick up their relatives! We had a short wait for a van to arrive. The people are very nice but you don't stare and you don't point! Those are insults. It was a 25 minute ride to the apartment and we arrived about 5 am. We crawled into bed and slept until 2:30pm. That was different for me, I can't sleep during the daytime. They were jackhammering upstairs (remodeling) and we slept through it amazingly enough and I'm a light sleeper! We unpacked, then went to the store. You don't go shopping in the afternoon....no no no....wait until 8 am on a Friday, then go get groceries. The stores have some American products, but not all of what we were looking for. Brazilian and Australian beef and the pork is kept in a separate room in the back of the store. Lots of chicken and as you can see from the pictures.... fish...lots of fresh fish. It's been a real ordeal to get used to the time change. I mean we could be sitting on the couch and we'd fall asleep instantly. We went to bed at 11 pm one night and I woke up at 2, stayed up until 5 and then slept until 9. It's crazy, but slowly I'm getting used to it and my sleep patterns are getting better. Now Paul...he can sleep anywhere, any time! Wish that were me.