One of the reasons a freelance journalist chooses an hotel in which to stay is its closeness to the location he is reporting on. In my case the Dubai International Boat show.
I was told it was a ten minute walk away and indeed so it could be!
But nothing in Dubai is what it seems to be! Twixt hotel and venue there are some 470 building sites. Sorry, correct that, since I started typing, another one has sprung up, make that 471!
Each has deep, trench like excavations filled with equipment and hundreds of cheaply imported labourers and each has erected what they call pedestrian access areas.
These are long, meandering walkways designed to keep you safe and extend the walking distance you would normally require by at least 800%. There is no guide to show you how to get where you are going and there is no point in learning a route through the maze because tomorrow it will change.
Clearly the quickest way is to climb to the top of the nearest hotel tower block spread your cape and fling yourself off to glide swiftly down into the show ground.
The alternative is to take a taxi, with the traffic and road works the 10 minute walk is just an hour away by taxi.
We flew to Dubai with Emirates Airlines aboard their Airbus A380 and stayed at the Media One Hotel