Emirati Hotel

Date: 5/9/2021

I was staying at a large hotel in Dubai. My stay was over and wished to check out. Initially I thought of checking out at the section which was closest to my room (the hotel had many check out points). But then there, I had an issue. When I was packing my bag which I was doing publicly, there was a stray sim card that fell from a packet which had some exclusive paintings. Don't know where the sim card came from and I wasn't even sure what I was doing with the paintings either. Worse, the paper paintings which were unframed was folded. It was embarrassing to be discovered with paintings that were folded and which weren't mine. Moreover a stray SIM card seemed like a forbidden thing in Dubai so I just threw it in the nearby bin. No one seemed to have noticed me disposing it, but I felt uncomfortable to continue there, so decided to check out at the central lobby. At the main lobby there was a crowd and few attendants. Every attendant seemed busy with other guests. It became a long wait Finally I had to be rude with one of them to get the service. He was being chased by two other female guests. When the attendant asked me why I didn't check out at the other place I mumbled something about not having the wallet with me there, which appeared to the girls as if i was short of money. They thought I was a conman. I protested and said i had my wallet inside the lunguage (my Citibank card came to mind) and as soon as I can locate my luggage the payment will be made. The girls gave me a wink - girls think conmen are sexy and I regretted sharing all the clarifications. Anyway, the attendant then said come this way and through a series of tunnels was leading us to the luggage centre. I was leading and the tunnels gradually became narrower and difficult to navigate. While we were going i could see other travellers lying in their bunkers, some sleeping others drinking. I realised this was a long corridor that snaked around a bit. Anyway, at the next tunnel, I was ushered to go in head first. It was too narrow. We were required to crawl on our stomachs which i found difficult. So I asked the attendant to go in first. The attendant went in and disappeared. It was my turn. I tried but couldn't..it was too narrow, too claustrophobic. Several attempts later I gave up. Now I was stranded. I can't go back to where we started because the tunnels we crossed were tending downhill and I was at a lower level than the starting point.