As I mentioned, I decided to wend my way to Singapore and the Eastern & Oriental Express train by way of Dubai in the Middle East, and Emirates Airlines.

It was lit-trally (as Rob Lowe’s character says on Parks & Recreation) thousands of dollars cheaper than taking Singapore Airlines. And a much better ride than United through Tokyo.

Emirates Airlines attendants arriving for our flight from JFK in New York.

Where we were headed.

Or, to be more precise, the United Arab Emirates.

The airplane ceiling. Kinda neat; very Arabian Nights.

A 12-hour flight made much more palatable by decent food and much better entertainment than I have on Comcast at home. Watched one crummy movie, The Chernobyl Diaries, which I thought would be innovative. Wrong.

Also skimmed through the Dark Shadows remake. As much as I was looking forward to it, it was a washout. Corny, not campy. I’ll take the original TV series any day.

Landing, and then the eight-hour layover, where I got the massage, ate dinner at midnight …

Went browsing …

Just another version of halvah?

Resisted the urge to be the first on my block with these Starbucks coffee holders.

Tried to stay away from this Haagen-Daz lounge. They even had my fave, Belgian chocolate ice cream.

Did some work, and then thankfully, time to board the next flight to Singapore. At 3:30 in the morning. Ugh; get jetlagged all over again just thinking about it.

Spending some time at Dubai airport gave me a taste of a place that I’d heard likes to do things on a grand scale. As in, biggest buildings, biggest fountains … biggest airline layover. (Just kidding about the layover.)

Next: Bowled over in Singapore.