After packing up and saying goodbye to life in Mozambique, my wife and I headed off in two different directions, before making our way to North America. She headed first Johannesburg, South Africa and then on to Bangkok, Thailand. I on the other-hand took advantage of a long layover in Dubai.
It all started when I landed in Dubai at 11:45 pm on a Thursday night. There I was alone by the baggage carousel, watching everyone else retrieve their luggage. After noticing that the majority of the people who were on my flight have had no problem picking up theirs, I begin to frantically pace back and forth from one baggage carousel to another. I was sure that South African Airlines had somehow lost up my luggage, thus potentially ruining my chance to see Dubai. After an additional 45 minute wait, I then noticed that I was the ONLY person still waiting for my bag. Just as I was about to go to the lost luggage counter, my bag slowly made it was down the the conveyor belt. I high-tailed it out of there and quickly made my way past customs. I was hoping that my friend, who was scheduled to pick me up upon arrival, hadn’t left yet because of my luggage situation.
The pick up went down without a glitch. In fact we “picked” up right where we left off 3 years prior. We discussed our days as colleagues at Singapore International School in Vietnam and how much we have or haven’t changed since 2013.. My friend, having worked in Dubai for 3 years, was keen to show me around.
For those who don’t know Dubai is a ridiculously luxurious city, in the scorching hot dessert. With only 24 hours to make the most of it, I began shuffling in and out of 100 degree desert, heat and into the air conditioned cars and buildings. I visited the largest mall in the world and caught a glimpse of the consumerism that puts this country on the opposite end of the spectrum from the one I was just residing in. (Mozambique)
The “Largest Mall in the World” has an aquarium inside of it, one I’m told that you can dive with the sharks. It’s full of all the name brand fashion designers and loads of little spoiled kids bumping into you while playing some version of Angry Birds on their phone. It was something so mind-blowingly different from Mozambique, the former African home and well documented “4th World Country.”
My first look at Dubai was to the Burj Dubai, the world’s first 6 star hotel. Here I am pictured with it.
We later saw the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa Then hit up the pub for some happy hour specials and a catch up session with three teachers that I used to work with back in Vietnam. While taking advantage of Dubai’s fairly inexpensive spirits, I noticed the bar playing ESPN and recapping the 2015 NBA Finals.
Watching the Cleveland Cavilers game replay reminded me that I will soon be returning home, to northeast Ohio. The game made me excited for my upcoming journey to the United States. At that moment, the wheels started turning. If you would have told me the end of this story at the beginning, I would have called bullshit. Having said that, watching that game in a city that literally smells like money, defies logic, and exceeds limits, allowed me to dream up something huge even by Dubai standards.
Noticing that Cleveland won the game, forcing a Game 6, I immediately got online to find out when the next game would be. As fortune would have it, the next game was to take place in Cleveland, Ohio on the day I was expected to touch down in the US!!
The next morning I woke up with a hangover but my dream still in tact. I caught a taxi at 5:30 in the morning and witnessed a glorious sunrise over the desert. At that moment, I made up my mind. I WAS GOING TO THE 2015 NBA Finals, no matter what!
I boarded the plane and prepared for the 19 hour journey home. Logged online and against the will and advice of two flight attendances and the person sitting beside me, I purchased two tickets ( for a price that we’ll never speak of again)…I had one final obstacle keeping me from spontaneously dropping in on NBA Finals. In fact that obstacle almost deterred me from the entire state of Ohio. It was a 1 hour and 15 minute layover in Boston, Massachusetts. Not sure how to handle this, I began to hedge my bets. I had contact in Boston and made arrangements with them, just in case. Then I drank a lot of wine, passed out and hoped for the best.
When I awoke, I found out that we were running late. A 30 minute delay is expected, they say… I also found out that my connecting flight was going to be on the opposite side of the airport! So, I think to myself, now I’m down to 55 minutes and I need to go through Customs, Immigration, EXIT the International Terminal and make my way across the entire airport to the Domestic Terminal. I began to make friends with the people around me and they agreed to let me get off the plane first. (Everyone likes a success story). Racing through Logan International Airport in Boston, with 2 years worth of luggage, is no easy feat. I paused for a second at immigration to reflect on how absurd this was. “No turning back now.” I muttered to myself.
I was five minutes late when they paged me over the loudspeaker informing me it was last call. I rounded the corner, completely out of breath and probably looking like a crazy person. JET BLUE was nice enough to hold the plane for me for so that I could make my connection and complete the journey from my colleagues couch in Dubai, to Game 6 of the NBA Finals in Cleveland between the LeBron James led Cleveland Cavaliers and Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors.
When you’re in a city like Dubai and you see how many of the people live, the idea of something being impossible quickly becomes erased. Yeah, everything seems to come with a price, but limitations in Dubai are meant to be pushed. Perhaps it’s that mentality that makes one believe that they could wake up on a couch in Dubai, cross the Atlantic Ocean, order NBA Finals tickets while in the SKY, (Thanks to the free in flight WiFi on Air Emirates) and surprise your Mom with Game 6 tickets the moment you land in the US just in time for tip off.
So, that’s exactly what I did.
LeBron James at the foul line. Game 6 on the NBA finals. Cleveland Cavilers v.s The Golden State Warriors . (Let’s blame the poor photo quality on the “jet-lag” 🙂
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