The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire - a story of travel half-way around: from the US to Dubai to Kenya to-Dubai to India to Dubai to the US in just 31 days, with the Bahamas thrown in for spice.

Part I – Leaving the upstart American colonies behind on January 25, 2015

You’ll see over the next month or so that the photos I present are taken in daylight.  Do I have a flash?  Yes, but perhaps it’s only needed for indoor shots because the sun is said to never set on the Empire.

We depart from Washington DC, a minor town in the upstart colony, on Sunday at 10 in the morning, in daylight, land in Dubai at 8 in the morning on Monday, in daylight, depart a couple of hours later, in daylight, and alight in Kenya at 3 in the afternoon on the same day, still in daylight.  How is this possible?  You would think that the sun should have set sometime during our 20 hours in transit.  Does the sun ever set on the Empire?

 

Did you know that what is today the United Arab Emirates, and hence its largest city Dubai, was administered by Great Britain until 1971 when it was granted independence?   The curious should see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_Emirates.   Can the Queen afford to shop in Dubai?  Can we?  We will see.

But I digress.  Before we begin our trip over the Atlantic we high tail it from Connecticut to Maryland to visit our daughter and her family and their dogs before the snow can trap us in the frozen north.  But they are gone, except for the dogs!   She and Dave are in the Bahamas – the British Empire strikes again – and the grandkids are in NJ playing hooky.  Of course, our travel is entirely in daylight, but do we have a choice in the Empire?

While sitting around ruminating on what lies ahead I did our online check-in today (Saturday) and saw that Emirates airlines has new checked baggage restrictions.  We have our tiny carry-ons with our personal possessions, but of course, as usual, we have our four big donated bags stuffed to the gills with all kinds of things given to us for the widows of Kasavai and their children.  We know that each weighs exactly 50 pounds, the absolute maximum allowed, but Emirates recently changed the maximum linear dimensions of bags that can be checked for free.  None can now have a total of length, width, and height of more than 59 inches (it used to be 62 inches).  We have two bags that measure 30x21x11 – that’s 62 total inches - and one that measures 29x21x11 inches – that’s 61 total inches.

 

PANIC!  What are we to do?

 

Leave three of the four bags home?  No.

 

Pay a fee that’s more than the value of the bags and their contents?   No. 

Read the fine print on the airline website?  Yes.

 

The old 62 inch limit still applies for tickets purchased before November 15, 2014, as ours were.  We are saved and ready for the next minor crisis.  We are off to the hotel near Dulles airport where we will stay for a night before we leave our car for a month and make our way into the Empire.

See you there.

Terry and Sandy