Jazeera Airways

It took me one hour to get from to the airport, all major roads were closed due to the Economical Arab Summit. unfortunately there were no detour signs marking alternative routes to the airport although, Al Watan Daily published yesterday that roads will be closed from 15:00 to 21:00. I headed to the airport at 14:00 to discover the roads were already closed. After a long detour, I ended up in Juleib next to the cargo terminal. I checked in at 15:00 sharp and waited for my flight to board at 16:15. No calls mentioning my flight on the PA by 14:30, I checked the screen and discovered the flight was canceled. I quickly headed to the Jazeera counter and did not conceal my frustration regarding the situation. The explanation I got that, was that none of the passenger made it. After fussing for 15 minutes, they promised  to correct he situation. The best they could come up with was a flight at 19:30 and they would give 3 seat for my comfort. I turned down the offer, the officer in charge was courteous and promised an upgrade. 10 minutes later they called me up to pick up a Jazeera Plus ticket with Pearl Lunge access, the least they could do given the wait I will have to endure. nevertheless  I would like to commend Al Jazeera for their professional approach and swift resolution and believe me, it does pay to complain.

Oman Trip 2005

My last trip to Dibba was to attend the HOG Middleast event, I had to commute back and forth from Dubai totaling 800km in 3 days. The trip to Dibba and fourth in a car was quite dull, car travelling is dull and sensational, someone in a Porsche or a Ferrari might disagree, however dive me a motorcycle any time, 2 wheels rule! 4 wheels suck. Luckily I have done the trip to Oman – Khorfakan – Dibba  - Dubai in 2005 and for this occasion I have unearthed some pictures from this trip.

Dubai a personal view

Its been 10 years I have been travelling back and the forth to Dubai. It seems that the country has managed to over engineer itself to the point its gotten plain ugly and lost its identity in the process. I have nothing against progress and technology, however not to the extent that the city looks like Gotham City. A concrete jungle, with toll points and laser cameras with infrared community, I has an eerie feeling of Big Brother watching you or worse yet  in Guantanamo Bay as CCD cameras are all over the place. In the past 3 days during my stay I enjoyed Dibba, but the day and a half in Dubai was a nightmare which made me think of Beirut traffic as paradise in comparison. Real Estate prices are beyond ridiculous and are already taking a tumble, talks of government budget deficits and a bid from Abu Dhabi to buy Dubai is on the table. Lots of companies are shutting down and moving to neighboring Bahrain and Egypt. The economical crunch is beginning to be felt as realtors are dropping prices, landlords are dropping rents, but no customers in sight.

Will this mean the end of construction and beginning of the financial destruction? Will Dubai end up a ghost town?

Destination Fujairah

Telephone rings, wass up? Not much, feeling better? I guess! Well get on a plane and come to Fujairah for the HOG Rally tomorrow, we are a having tons of fun. Let me think it over. 3 Minutes later what the heck, booked the tickets, rented a car and I am on my way to the HOG Rally in Emirates. Accommodation is at the JAL Hotel, distance is 160km from Dubai, I will stay there till Sunday. Shame I don't have my Blitzy with me.

6000km Bike Trip Kuwait-Lebanon

Welcome to BMW airways, NOT! Planning has started for the big road trip, destinations are mapped the objective is to have FUN for 20 days, 8 bikes crossing 4 countries, KSA - Jordan - Syria and finally Lebanon. We are planning to cover 6,000km over a period of 3 weeks out of which 3,600km of point to point driving and an additional 1,400km of cruising. So many things to take care of Leave Request, Visas, Bike, Luggage, Riding Gear etc. Beeing the only Euro-Lebanese on the team I have started the visa process to Jordan in order to get the Saudi, we will be crossing over from Salmi. I am crossing my fingers to finalise in the coming 2 weeks.

Destination Lebanon!

Now that Superbeasto is out of the way, the second challenge is around the corner. Don''t be fooled by the title, anyone can jump on a plane and head to Beirut. However not many are gonna jump on a bike and cover a 5000km journey, through Saudi, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. For this challenge I had to choose the right vehicle, my harley is out of contention, although its a touring equipped with saddlebags, it is not designed for twisties and bad road conditions. My choice fell on the venerable BMW R1150GS - 2001. I have already owned the 2006 BMW R1200 Adventure, I loved the engine, unfortunately my butt was not compatible with the seat, which left me in a love and hate dilema. I will start posting about the preparation for this trip in my coming blogs.

Space Hotel sees 2012 opening

To infinity & beyond!!! Believe it or not, booking a hotel in space may become a reality sooner rather than later, and if things go as planned, the Galactic Suite will actually be welcoming in guests sans gravity in just five short years. Folks who make the trip will be able to "see the sun rise 15 times a day and use Velcro suits to crawl around their rooms by sticking themselves to the walls," and while spas with floating water sure sounds like something we'd be interested in, the nightly fees are quite literally out of this world. How much? Try $4 million for a three-day stay -- thats including shuttling back and forth, better bring your camera, eh?

Cruising on top of the world on a Harley?

Lets not exagerate its actually 3000m above sea level, the venue is the Cedars in Lebanon, the date May 2004. So why am I blogging about it today, simply cause I recieved the scanned picture lately from the Saudi dude in the picture. I am the guy with the real Harley Gear :), sandals and an old jacket which I found at my grandma place. I will never forget the day, it was never planned. I was attending a meeting in Beirut, when I met the HOG team from Saudi, yes they do have one there and they call bike for "dabbab" not to be mistaken with Dabbabeh, although Harley are buily like a tank. Anyways the result was this unforgettable scenery viewed from a bike perspective.

Dibba the new russian destination

OK so today we were supposed to get on our rented harleys and head up to Khorfakan, unfortunately our host and tour operator Fadibou, did not get any confirmation on the booking, I will post more details about my HD experience. Anyways we spent the day today at Dibba located 183 KM from Dubai, wonderful drive, we went snorkling at Sandy Beach Hotel, it was a wonderful experience and we had the chance to see exotic Parrot Fish at close proximity. other fish in the neighborhood were from Russia where it seems tour operators from the old USSR are targeting the area. Specimen in Photo