We had booked an Emirates stopover package with our flights. The two day stopover package included: being met off the plane, transfer to hotel, hotel room including breakfast, and a liason contact from Arabian Adventures, a subsidery of Emirates who manage the Dubai stopover. Our liason proved very helpful in resolving our accomodation issues later in the day.
We arrived slightly early just after five am having had breakfast on the plane . We docked at the new A380 Hub, opened in Jan 2013. It was like arriving on another planet. There were few people arround at that time and we followed signs and took 'travelators' for about a km, then arrived a huge lift that dropped a floor within an atrium with a huge waterfall. We crossed the atrium to enter an electric train that wisked us at speed to the main Emirates terminal 3. All this process happened automatically, following voice instructions on the lift and train. In terminal 3 we were met by an Arabian Adventures woman who gave us a map to navigate to baggage and their transfer desk. We checked in at the Arabian Adventures transfer desk and waited to be organised into minivans with groups of other stopover travellers. Although first to arrive we were one of the last leave; by good fortune we were placed in our own car and dropped directly at our hotel - a pleasant trip at speed in a late model Volvo station wagon.
We checked in at the hotel and were in bed soon after seven am. We had booked a two bedroom apartment at the five star Grand Millennium so that we could get what sleep we needed after our longhaul flights from New Zealand. We planned to sleep until 11 am, but Susan and I were woken by construction noise about nine am. Allan investigated to find that the hotel was building a nightclub between the twin towers, between the eighth and nines floor - we were on the sixth floor. Drawing the curtains in the girls room revealed a storage cavity crawling with workers. Thankfully, the girls slept through until woken at eleven, by which time with the help of our Arabian Adventures liaison Allan had organised a similar room on the 15th floor that would be available later that afternoon. So we decided to visit the nearby Mall of the Emirates for a few hours before our scheduled pick-up for our Arabian Adventures Dune Safari at four pm. Taxi fairs are very cheep due to the cost of petrol, around NZ$0.17 per litre.
Back to the hotel and a swim for the girls before our Dune Safari. We shared our transport with Sue and Shirley; two Brit teachers and great company. The Dune Safari is well worth the cost. We had a great time; highlights were the 45 min ride over the dunes and the BBQ - the food was surprisingly excellent. The drive back to Dubai was a struggle to stay awake and 10min from the hotel traffic stopped for 30 min for an accident.
Collapsed into bed after a very long day.