April Tidbits

I've learned you don't read books with black covers at the pool when the weather heats up in Dubai unless you want blisters on your fingers. Summer arrived in Dubai today (April 27) as the mercury had climbed to 41C when I left work at 1pm (that's 106F for you folks in the mother country).

Bought some tickets online for the cricket match this week (Australia v. Pakistan). I think something was wrong with the website and I got away without paying a 'çonveinence charge.' Or could it be they don't use service charges here? Take that TicketMaster!

I had an interesting and expensive experience with the IRS this April 15th. I did wait til the last minute to file my taxes--had them all ready to go electronically. But when I went to hit 'send', I was rudely told that I can't file electronically from Dubai--has to be mailed. Well, this was a problem, since I also owed taxes. No Problem, I will just go to the IRS pay site and pay the tax and mail in the paper work. NOOOO...you must register first to use the IRS site and that takes 6-10 business days. But, I can use another site where they take credit cards and charge a 'convenience fee.' (I'm detecting a theme here). So anyway, cost me a little extra but at least I won't be apprehended at the border next time home.

Speaking of which, while I was waiting on my flight to London I availed myself of the Crown Room travel services and booked my trip for July (with a stop in Portugal-Spain...anyone up for a 8-9 day motorcylce tour?) on the way home. I had tried to book the passage on my laptop but Orbitz wasn't taking my payment. So I walked over to the desk and asked the receptionist if they could book the flights. And she did--and actually wound up a couple hundred dollars cheaper (though I do have to ride Air France for a couple legs...yuck). Of course, I was charged a $35 service charge for making the woman do her job. Since I had saved a little bit overall, I didn't gripe too much.

Met a lady named Yummy this week. She works at Dubai Duty Free at the airport. Also at the airport, I saw an Emerati woman in a full Abaya, face covered, typing on her laptop and wearing Chuck Taylor's...sometimes this place is a but surreal.