End of Ramadan

Last Saturday I flew in the cockpit of a rival company’s 767ER into and out of Kabul to observe the inflight procedures and problems. The aircraft left at 0740 and because it was an international flight, I had to be there at 0540. It was a very early wake up! The trip was excellent in that I could see why the northern route into Kabul was far superior to the southern one due to heavy military flights from one of their airfields. The biggest hurdle of the trip was Ramadan AGAIN! I didn’t eat on the way up and knew I had four and a half hours in the Kabul Airport to get something to eat. The airport only broke the rules enough to get me a Diet Coke!

With all the mountains in the Kabul area, it is a day VFR airport only. Even with the GPS working and programmed perfectly, the mountains can be extremely dangerous. The biggest problem I foresee is the engine failure during takeoff and getting above them. To add to that problem is that the elevation of Kabul is 5800 feet. So much for density altitude helping!

On Sunday night I had dinner with MR from Atlanta. It was really good to catch up on life with him as we really haven’t had a lot of one on one time since his embarking on a career with one of the major corporations. We had dinner at his hotel, the Meridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort, which overlooked both the Palm Jumeirah and the Burj Al Arab. It was a very nice atmosphere on the outside decks with the evening temperature perfect. I was disturbed to hear how low Lake Lanier is. I guess the extra two billion gallons of water released by “mistake” last year is coming back to haunt the Corps of Engineers.

The official announcement was made Wednesday that Ramadan would be over on Friday. I’ve been waiting for that announcement since it all started. I couldn’t wait for the economy to get back to “normal.” However, I then found out at the office that at the end of Ramadan there is an additional two day holiday where the stores still stay closed which is called Eid. So knowing that it would be a very long weekend with cabs very hard to obtain and underground cabs charging double, I rented a car! Driving here is very similar to playing Whirlyball in Atlanta. The rules for driving here are very simple: Tractor trailers trump; Cement trucks are close behind; SUVs are to be respected; after that – all cars are fair game! For the first time in my life I took out as much insurance as I could get on this vehicle. Just let someone else worry about all the dings.

The pilots decided today to give a reception for the flight attendants and management later this month so K, B, and I drove to Ajman today to try to find some bids on this reception. Some of you may be surprised, but the Russian hotel up there gave us a great offer, may even be one we can’t refuse. The hotel is right on the water with two nice pools in addition. It is right next door to the Kempinski Hotel, where I originally wanted to go. Once again, the ONLY place to buy a drink in the UAE is in a hotel!

Before any questions are asked in the comment section, yes the Hole in the Wall was open and I did take advantage of it.