Long Day's Journey

Seek soothing rejuvenation at the ShuiQi Spa at Atlantis, The Palm.

- Kimberly Krol

IT FELT LIKE WE were living in a buddy comedy movie script. Amidst weeks of planning a trip that would span five cities, four countries and three continents in seven days, Banu Yilmaz and I were determined to find some time while in Dubai to unwind a bit; and we’d planned massages at the ShuiQi Spa at Atlantis, The Palm — three separate times.

Our first plan was to arrive in Dubai Friday night and start our Saturday morning with a spa visit; an airline change meant adjusting our arrival in the city until Saturday and pushing our spa visit back by one day, rescheduling for the next evening. Or so we thought. We arrived after our first full day of meetings and a long travel itinerary more than ready to decompress only to find out, due to a miscommunication, our rescheduled appointment had been made for the evening of the day before. It was a comedy of errors. Luckily, the staff swooped in to assist in rescheduling — again. Three hours later, we returned to finally indulge in our massages.