Walking Home

The train fare in Dubai is 3 AED per ride (approximately 36 pesos) within a single zone. If you travel across zones, an additional 2 AED is added per zone. Commuters use reloadable *Nol cards to pay for their fare. To use the train or bus service, the card must have a minimum balance of 7.50 AED. Unfortunately, I forgot about this important detail one day.

I commute to work every day at Dubai International Airport, which is in the same zone as my flat, so the train ride costs only 3 AED. On that forgetful day, I failed to reload my Nol card. Thankfully, my remaining balance was around 10.40 AED, which was enough to get me to work. After the ride, I had 7.40 AED left, but as you may recall from the first paragraph, that was insufficient for entering the train station.

Later, when it was time to go home, I realized I didn't have enough balance on my card to ride the train. Now, you might suggest, "Why not just load your card at the station? I'm sure there's a loading booth or something like that." If you thought that, you're absolutely right. However, to load the card, I needed money, and that's where my forgetfulness struck again because I had not brought any.

Faced with this dilemma, I had only two options to get home. The first was to beg someone for spare change to load my card, and the second was to walk the four-and-a-half kilometers home. Judging by the title of this post, you probably have a pretty good idea of which option I chose. I'm quite antisocial, to my own detriment.

And so, I embarked on a one-and-a-half-hour walk back home...

While walking, I began to appreciate the beauty of Dubai even more, prompting me to take a few photos.

Normal people in their cars on the way to where they have to be. It was early morning and I'm coming home from the night shift.

No to jaywalking.

The iconic Clock Tower roundabout in Deira, Dubai.

I'm almost there. Our apartment building is located at Muraqqabat Road.

Here I finally reach home. Time for an elevator mirror selfie.

In the future, I'm actually planning to go on a proper photo walk, unlike this unplanned one resulting from my own foolishness.