Well, we’re sitting in the fairly unimpressive Air France lounge waiting to board our flight to Atlanta. We leave here at 10pm and land in the US at 6 am. 8 hours on the clock; 16 hours in the air. I suspect this will be a very long night. 😉
Our drive back from RAK was fairly uneventful. I did manage to take the slightly more scenic E-11, which hugs the coastline. However, do to the ongoing haze / sandstorm… not a lot was visible. The lack of GPS once again was marginally problematic… I actually almost drove right through Dubai and into Abu Dhabi! Luckily, we figured this out and re-routed ourself back into the center of town.
Having some time to kill, we went back to the shopping district for lunch and to walk around a bit. Then we headed to the airport, refueling and washing (because I think they told me to at Hertz!) the rental car en route. After another “scenic circle” of the airport, we found the rental car drop-off location. Mission accomplished!
The duty free shopping at Dubai’s airport is ok but not great. After the Dubai Mall and hearing stories from folks, we sort of expected more. Fortunately, we had nothing to buy and no room in our little carry-on bags had we wanted to do so! Perhaps smaller suitcases would work for Greece’s austerity plan? 😉
I was tempted by the Millenium Millionaire raffle deal. For $278, you get a 1 in 5000 chance of winning a million dollars. I didn’t buy a ticket, but I think the risk/reward is actually pretty good. I can’t think of too many other ways to turn that little capital (at that level of risk) into $1MM US. Hmmm, maybe next time… 
Bye for now… we’re off to our gate!