Respite in Bangkok

By Gaz under Travel

I had the brainwave of making our long flight between Birmingham and Bangkok a little easier by breaking it into two 6-hour stages with an overnight stop in Dubai for 10 hours. The plan was to buy access to a business or first class lounge, take a shower, use the wifi access and maybe catch 6 or 7 hours of sleep in a comfortable recliner. As it turns out, the class divide in Dubai airport is very much alive and well – and the common riff-raff are not allowed to upgrade to a better lounge; as matter of fact they have special areas to keep us in, where sleeping is not allowed and access costs US$30 per 4 hours; there are free showers with no towels, or a 15 minute walk to the luxury showers in the airport hotel at US$32 each!!

In the end, we found reasonably comfy recliners in the waiting room near our departure gate, and used the close-by free showers, drying off with the clothes we changed out of. The 10 hour layover crawled by, but we eventually arrived in Bangkok’s giant airport with our nerves mostly intact last night. Better still, we have the same condo we stayed in for our last visit at the beginning of the year, with this view from our window. It’s great to be back!!