Kon’nichiwa Tokyo!

We took a quick getaway between Christmas and New Years to Tokyo. I’d not been to Japan yet. I think my hesitation was mostly because of my unfamiliarity with Japanese food and the limited times I tried it I wasn’t overly fond of what I tried. Nevertheless, it was long overdue for me to get over it. There are many aspects of the Japanese culture that are very appealing to me, like they are very orderly, respectful, polite, helpful, and they follow the rules. Japan is a very safe country and it’s very clean, even with it being very difficult to find trash bins around the city. It appears it’s less of an eat “on the run” society and take away is taken home to eat.

First impressions of Tokyo, a city of 14 million people, are it’s busy but not necessarily always overwhelmingly busy. There are orderly queues for everything. The transportation system is impressively vast and very efficient. Pleasant music plays when trains arrive and depart, everyone waits for others to get off before embarking. People aren’t talking on their phones on the trains and there are signs everywhere telling people to have their phones on silent. The signage is in both Japanese and English as are the announcements which made it very easy to get around. There does seem to be a heads in the phone culture though; I guess it’s a way to pass the time while commuting. For most of our stay we commuted on the JR line and at most of the stations you’ll find shops or a shopping mall attached to it. It was quite amazing to see all the variety of things you could actually buy at a train station. 

With five days here, it feels like we only have time to barely scratch the surface of what Tokyo has to offer.

Punta (de) Mita

Getting a warm sunny vacation in as our local weather turns dreary has become a thing. It benefits the mind, body, and soul. Punta de Mita and Punta Mita were the destinations this year, a return to Punta de Mita after four years. Landing in warm Puerto Vallarta after our direct flight raised the spirits quickly even though we were a bit delayed. We rented a car through Gecko car rentals, a great outfit, and after our airport pick up and smooth check in we were on the road to Punta de Mita. We split our stay at two places with our first at the W Punta de Mita. We stayed there on our last trip and really loved the resort and the beach. The resort is a mix of beach with a tropical forest feel on the property inland. This stay we decided to splurge and opted for the all-inclusive package. We had never tried all-inclusive before. I’m pretty sure we ended up eating and drinking more as a result. The food at the restaurants was amazing; they had a few themed evenings and brought in a local chef on a couple nights with his own tasting menu. Cool thing it was included in our package so we got to sample some amazing food that isn’t normally on the menu. We even got to meet the chef. 

We stayed in a gorgeous, large ocean view suite with a large deck with a plunge pool. Off the shower, outside was a private hot tub and we spent time enjoying both. The resort has been undergoing a renovation. The reconfigured the adult pool to include loungers and a lot of other seating; that didn’t exist last time. They also redid the lobby. They are adding another restaurant which wasn’t done yet and added some new suites and we got the opportunity to tour through one. The newly built suites are amazing and have a completely different vibe to them as the existing suites. The new ones are more earthy toned with natural wood features while the existing fit more of the general W vibe, eclectic and bright. I think their plan is to update the existing suites as well so we may need to go back to check it out or stay in one of the new suites instead. The resort wasn’t overly busy considering a large wedding party was staying there. We were always able to find loungers by the pool. We mostly stayed at the resort for this part because everything was included, but we did head up to San Pancho one afternoon to meet up with a former coworker and his girlfriend who happened to be there at the same time. We did a walking tour of the quaint town, which had a bit of a hippy feel to it, and caught up over drinks at one of the local restaurants. 

Our second location was just a bit further north in the gated community of Punta Mita. Here we stayed at the beautiful St. Regis, also recently renovated. We stayed in a large, well appointed villa with ocean view. Our room had a large shower with soaker tub as well as an outdoor shower which we ended up using mostly instead because we don’t often get that luxury. Our room was well located to the pool, beach, and restaurants. Again it didn’t feel overly busy when we arrived mid week, but we noticed it start getting a bit busier towards the weekend likely because American Thanksgiving was the following week. Even still it wasn’t bad and we always found a spot by the pool or beach. The water here was a bit calmer as the beach was situated in a volcanic rock cove. The beach was still very nice sand but as you got towards the water it became rockier so water shoes were helpful. It was great for swimming. While the resort is right on the ocean, the beach area accessibility is limited due to the volcanic rock. There is a great surfing spot and we saw several surfers catching some good waves each day, making it look so easy that it inspired Z to give it a try. Turns out it’s not that easy especially when you don’t surf often. 

We tried a couple of the restaurants on site and discovered that if you didn’t quite like the menu at one restaurant you could order off another restaurant’s end and still have it delivered where you were eating. That worked well for me when we had dinner at the beach seafood restaurant one evening. Every night at the St. Regis hotels they serve champagne at 6pm and they have a sabrage ceremony and often they will have guests volunteer to sabre the bottle. I convinced Z to give it a try. He wanted to do it but was being a bit shy but he came around and had a great experience. He did it perfectly and as a souvenir he was given the cork. We also partook in a cooking class with one of the sous chefs from the buffet restaurant. We participated with a family from Quebec and made fajitas.  We made the salads and guacamole from scratch and got to form and fry the fajitas too. That part is a bit tricky; I’ll stick to premade ones back home. 

Having a car made it a lot easier to also meet up with Z’s extended family; a cousin who lives there and his parents who spend their winters in Puerto Vallarta. We met up at a lovely Italian restaurant in Bucerias, a half hour drive south. After a delicious meal and a great time catching up, we wandered through the town a bit as never of us had been there before. Since our resort wasn’t too far from Punta Mita town, one night we ventured out for dinner at a quaint restaurant called Tacos & Papas. Located at the end of side road really off the beaten track we questioned ourselves briefly walking along the dirt road trying to find it but when you turn into the property it has a great outdoor seating area and cool vibe. Turns out the owner has a close to local connection with his daughter living on the island. The tacos were so amazing we were kicking ourselves we hadn’t tried them earlier in our stay. Next time. We had wanted to try out a place for ice cream but we were unable to find it and instead stumbled upon a churros stand making them fresh. We couldn’t resist and it was a nice treat to cap the evening off. We also decided to check out a different beach from our resort and drove ourselves to Playa Careyeros, a beautiful white sand beach that stretched for miles with turquoise warm water. This beach is quite secluded found off a dirt road filled with pot holes making getting there a bit tricky. The swimming is supposed to be incredible here, only thing though was there were jelly fish washed up on the shore which means there were more of them in the tempting turquoise water, so swimming was out. We still hung out at the beach for a while at a restaurant called El Barracuda enjoying a couple drinks in their beach loungers. 

There are many walking trails within the gated community in which the St. Regis is located, along with many other hotels and places to stay. The Four Seasons is nearby and one morning we decided to go for a walk to find the “tale of a whale”, a golf hole situated on an island that is only accessible during low tide. To get there we had to walk on the course and got stopped by a worker who said we shouldn’t be  walking on the golf cart path. We told him we why we were there and kept on walking despite him preferring us not being there. When we got to the tale of a whale another security guard started grilling us and telling us we were not allowed to be there. I was very uncomfortable at this point but Z really wanted to get a picture so he sort of ignored the security guard. There was a group of golfers who caught on quickly to the situation and told the security guard that we were guests of theirs to try and lighten the situation a bit. Not entirely sure the security guard understood but we hustled out of there soon as the golfers tee’d off and as in my typical fashion I was annoyed the whole way back on the walk because I thought something bad was going to happen to us for effectively trespassing. In the end, nothing did happen, but still… We had an incredible time just relaxing and soaking up warm sunshine, meeting up with friends and family, and enjoying the delicious food. Until next time!

To travel is to live… life is good. 

US Open

Going to the US Open has long been on the bucket list for me. It's a sport I'm terrible at, but really enjoy watching. The athleticism of the players is astounding and getting to see them play live is an experience I'll cherish. 

When we originally purchased our tickets, we didn't know which players we'd actually see. The weekend we were there, we knew would be the Round of 16 so at least we knew the likelihood of some of the top players making it that far was fairly high. To better our chances of seeing a variety of matches we bought day tickets to the Arthur Ashe stadium which guaranteed your seats in that stadium but also allowed you to drop into the other stadiums for opening seating. Our original plan was to go for a one day session, but after some further research we decided to buy a couple other sessions including a night session at Arthur Ashe (which ended up being a very good bet) and another day session at the Louis Armstrong stadium. 

The US Open is held in Queens at Flushing Meadows. This was about a 45 minute subway train ride away but also involved about a 15 minute walk from our second hotel, Le Meridien Fifth Avenue, to get on the right train so we only had to take one instead of changing. We wanted the most direct train because we figured changing trains would probably mean that the closer we got to Queens, the more packed the train would be. We were right even for the direct train; by the time we arrived at Flushing Meadows we were pretty much packed like sardines in a can, or in this case, a train. 

The tournament is very well organized and the staff very nice and helpful. We read about very strict security protocol and what you can and cannot bring into the tournament. We followed the rules to a tee (surprising!!) and found security a bit more relaxed than we read about. There is plenty to do and see on the grounds outside of the stadiums and even if you don't have tickets to the main stadium matches, you can watch them on gigantic TV screens outside. 

I think we got so lucky with the passes we bought and got to see some of the world's top ranking players without realizing beforehand that we'd see them. We saw Iga Swiatek - world's #1 woman, play in two separate matches; Americans Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton - in Ben's match we witness him serve the US Open's new record for fastest serve at 149mph and he did it TWICE! We watched a women's double match featuring Canada's Layla Fernadez and her partner Taylor Townsend win. We also saw Taylor Townsend in another match playing singles. But the absolute treat was having tickets to the evening session Sunday night. At the time we bought the tickets we had no clue who would be featured at this main event match. We only finally figured out who might possibly play two days before and we got really excited. Love him or hate him, Sunday night's main evening match featured Novak Djokovic vs Borna Gogo. Djokovic's skill, his precision, and his grit is astonishing. His play is calculated, his ball placement is almost always precise, and he has a way of digging deep to win the point even if it looks like he's going to loose it. There's a reason he is the world's #1 men's player and has won 24 grand slam titles. Watching this match was by far the highlight of the entire tournament and trip for me! What an absolute treat! 

This trip did not disappoint. We packed in a lot, more than originally planned, but we wanted to make the most of the opportunity. The city that never sleeps has again created lasting memories! 

To travel is to live... life is good! 

NYC featuring the US Open

The train dropped us right at Penn Station in Manhattan and from there we had a 10ish minute walk to our hotel. NYC is as busy a city as ever and with the US Open in town felt just that bit more busy with people. Thankfully the weather was good and the walk wasn't so bad; we probably got to our hotel faster walking than had we attempted to take a taxi. We split our time in NYC between two hotels with the first being Pulse Marriott Vacation Club. In true NYC fashion, our room was cozy (aka tiny) but honestly provided all we needed for our stay. We arrived later in the afternoon and after checking into our hotel, we decided to go exploring on foot a bit before we had dinner. We found ourselves ending up at a quaint wine bar during happy hour... oops! When one finds oneself at a wine bar during happy hour, what does one do? Allows the bartender to make your wine selection after a quick explanation of your tastes and you end up drinking some very enjoyable French wine and are happy you tried something new!

As we continued our walking exploration we came upon a store devoted entirely to Harry Potter and of course had to check it out before ending up at Times Square, because what is a visit to NYC without strolling through Times Square. Someone had researched that one of the best pizza joints in NYC is Joe's Pizza and seeing the line up stretch all the way down the block when we got there, the anticipation (and impatience) started to build. After about a half hour of inching slowly forward we got pizza slices and admittedly it was really worth it. Some pretty darn good pizza! 

We had a few days in NYC to explore before our sports weekend started. Oh yeah, not only were we going to the US Open, but we decided that while we were there we'd see what other NYC sports events were happening and found out the NY Mets were playing - turns out baseball for me is also a big snooze fest in person as it is on TV, and NYFC were also playing in Yankee Stadium - how cool is that? It so happened that NYFC were playing our hometown team so there was no excuse not to go and cheer on the visiting team decked out in our jerseys. We also saw two other people decked out in the same jerseys which was pretty cool to know we weren't the only ones cheering on the visitors. Our home/visiting team won the match!! Our initial plan had been only to catch the US Open, but when we learned these other games were on, we thought, when else would we ever have this opportunity? 

NYC has so much to offer, food, sights, and shows to name a few. We walked the city a lot and explored some of the very distinct neighbourhoods. It seems like each neighbourhood in NYC has a park where people meet up or just go to sit outside. We stopped in one by NY University after grabbing some takeout and found ourselves being entertained by a jazz quartet. What a wonderful lunch! We found the lego store on 5th Avenue which was really cool and we found, but didn't go inside, an ice cream museum. We made our way down to the 9/11 Memorial site; they've done a beautiful job with the grounds and while the line up far too long to go into the museum, we walked the grounds and took a moment to reflect at the two memorial pools. It was a bit of a sobering experience going there. And what is a trip to NYC without a walk through Central Park? 

One of the highlights of this amazing trip was meeting up with Z's cousin and her husband who live there. We met up at a fabulous Greek restaurant and had a great evening filled with food, drinks, great conversations and many laughs. After dinner we walked towards the Metropolitan Opera House and Lincoln Centre for Performing Arts all the while getting a local's take on the city, it's history and architecture. 

I had never been to the Statue of Liberty, but we didn't want to take a tour because it didn't quite fit our schedule. Instead we took the free ferry to Staten Island which goes by the Statue of Liberty and turned around and came right back. We weren't the only ones with this idea as half the people on our ride over did the same thing as us; got off and immediately ran to catch the return ferry. Not much, if anything is free in NYC. 

Of course when in NYC you have to take in a Broadway, or off Broadway show... there are so many to choose from so we took in two!! Neither of us had seen either and when we booked, both were supposed to star some actually known famous people. Our first show was the musical Funny Girl staring Lea Michele (from Glee fame) and the night we choose was her last performance as the show was also closing in a week. We arrived to find out that Lea Michele wasn't performing that night after all but the show was fabulous regardless and the lead was amazing in her performance. Our second show was a comedy, not musical, The Cottage staring Eric McCormick (from Will & Grace fame), and directed by Jason Alexander (from Seinfeld). The show was absolutely hilarious and we were in stitches laughing throughout the entire performance even without Eric McCormick performing that evening. Strike two... but it didn't matter, we enjoyed both shows immensely. And besides we'd at least get to see one or more of the top ranked tennis players play at the US Open, right? 

Brotherly Love and the Big Apple

What sounds like an odd title for a book was actually a very fun trip outside of the time I spend being sick. For a long time now we've wanted to experience the US Open tennis tournament in New York. Perhaps our impromptu day at Roland Garros many years ago wet the appetite but perhaps it also is a bit more within reach than many of the other major tennis tournaments. We had a really steller deal from Marriott and one of their New York properties qualified for it, so we decided no time like 2023 to make this experience a reality. Of course, if we were going to fly all the way to New York, why not make the most of it and see if we fit in somewhere else nearby that we hadn't been to before. Enter the City of Brotherly Love (aka Philadelphia). 

This trip started out in Philadelphia. We arrived later in the evening and by which time it was already dark. We were staying in the city centre and our taxi driver assured us that we were in a safe area now; apparently that wasn't always the case but the city really invested a lot in cleaning up the area. Thankfully our taxi driver was right and we felt pretty safe walking around. That first evening we tried to get in to the oldest pub in Philly, McGillin's Olde Ale House, whose beer taps have been flowing since 1860 only questionably stopping during prohibition, but found that Saturday nights turns the place into more of a bar with cover charge and all. Not entirely interested in being in a packed, loud atmosphere our first night we decided to skip and found a shawarma food truck instead, I think meant to cater to those bar patrons once they stumble out of McGillin's, and grabbed ourselves some very tasty wraps which we ate while walking the streets of Philadelphia exploring. What stood out very quickly, particularly for a weekend night, was that driving loud obnoxiously "souped up” cars and motorbikes around the street is the thing to do with the noise reverberating from the buildings into the wee early morning. We did end up having dinner at McGillin's Sunday where I tried my first ever Philley cheese steak, because when in Philley, why wouldn't you?  

Our hotel, The Notary, is situated in the historic old city hall annex building where residents used to go to get documents notarized, hence the name. The building dates back to 1926 and was designed in the classical revival style. There is a nostalgic feel to the hotel with a certain charm. It is located right across the street of the current city hall, and steps from the convention centre, so very well located. The Notary pays homage to its history through its 1920s decor. There are display cases with men's top hats from various historic periods and another display depicting the evolution of the typewriter on its ground floor corridor by its restaurant. The modern day city hall is world's largest free standing masonry building and is an architectural marvel. The clock tower features a clock face on each side measuring 26 feet in diameter. Its location is geometrically centre to four other squares within the city centre and the city hall courtyard provides access through to each of these other squares. 

Philadelphia has a rich history and is known as the birth place of American democracy. We had a couple days here and explored as much as we could given I came down with something that knocked me out for half a day and lingered on keeping my energy levels low. While still taking great care of me and making sure I was good to be alone, Z also took advantage of the time I was down to find himself a barbershop open on a Sunday. It would seem like this has become a thing, Z getting a haircut while we're travelling. He came back looking quite fine with his meticulously clean cut and a cool story about his experience.

We explored old town Philadelphia with a walking tour that highlighted the significance of the city during the American revolution and the eventual signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. We stopped in to see the Liberty Bell, and learned about various people that contributed to the birth of democracy and the significance of William Penn as founder of the city. A lot of the buildings have a European architectural style to them with large Roman columns and intricate details. 

Philadelphia has a vibrant food scene so we booked ourselves a food tour and it ended up only being four of us and the guide. The tour started in the famous Reading Terminal market with a sweet apple pastry which was super delicious and quite filling so we couldn't finish it all without spoiling our appetite for the rest of the tour. We had five stops in totalling including a Malaysian restaurant in Philadelphia's Chinatown, and an Irish Pub before heading back to Reading Terminal market to sample a cheesesteak pretzel rollup from Miller's Twist. This Amish style pretzel was the best pretzel I've ever tasted, it was soft and just melted in your mouth. Had it not been our second to last stop I would have been able to devour an entire pretzel on my own, but being pretty stuffed Z and I shared one. Our tour was capped off with a stop in at Famous 4th Street Cookie Company, also in the market, for a choice of whatever cookie we desired. This was the best store bought cookie every and tasted just every bit like homemade. I choose a peanut butter cookie and it was soft, chewy and tasted sweet and salty all at the same time. Z, never able to resist a chocolate chip cookie, opted for that one without any regret. Reading Terminal market is a great place to stop in for a bit to eat at any of the numerous food ventures, it has a fresh fruit, vegetable and foods shop within as well as many other shops selling a variety of goods. I had to stop myself from spending too much time in the honey shop. We did come back the morning of our departure day to grab some food for lunch and couldn't resist stopping at Beiler's Doughnuts to try one of their very unique donuts.  

The other must do when in the city is to visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art famous for the movie scene where Rocky runs up the stairs and jumps up and down while throwing his fists triumphantly in the air at the top. Obviously the thing to do is to repeat that scene; there are even "Rocky feet" imprinted at the top and a statue below where you can get your picture taken for a donation fee.

All in all it was a good visit, but after our 3 days there felt we'd experienced enough and were ready to move on to our main event. We had booked a train to New York which took us just under 2 hours. 

It's a Wrap - UAE and Maldives

As with all our travel adventures, eventually we must come home. Our return however wasn't exactly straight and boring; a further small adventure still awaited us. A couple days before our departure from Maldives, Z was reading the news and read about a strike planned for London's Heathrow airport. Why this caught our eye or was of any significance to us, it because we were flying home through London. The strike was to start 2 days before our arrival and last for a full 10 days. Of course, this created some uncertainty for us and made me wonder if we should look into redirecting our way home. As we read more about it, it appeared to be concentrated more specifically at a particular terminal at Heathrow, and thankfully we were not scheduled to land or fly out of that terminal. Rather than waste our last precious time in Maldives or even Abu Dhabi (part of our return route), we decided to stay the course and see what happens when we get to London. If anything our flight could be delayed, or cancelled and we get home later than expected. 

So after spending another day in Abu Dhabi, we boarded our 7 hour flight direct to London. We arrived mid afternoon and weren't quite sure what to expect after deplaning. We were pleasantly surprised to see at our arrival terminal that with our passport we could get through immigration electronically just by scanning our passport; no need to queue to see an immigration officer. How fantastic!! We breezed through immigration with such ease. Next test was to see how long it would take for our luggage to arrive and here too we were pleasantly surprised when our luggage showed up on the carousel after only about a 10 minute wait. On arrival, we felt no impact from the ongoing strike. We quickly jumped into a taxi and made our way to the hotel. We had purchased tickets to go see a show that evening, so we didn't have much time before we needed to head out for dinner. Heathrow is located quite far from the city centre and so we caught an Uber to the train station and took a 45 minute train ride to the London Bridge area. Z found a cool pub along the River Thames called The Horniman which is located in a former tea warehouse. We had a great dinner before heading to the show Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre. This was a fantastic, funny, and interactive show, at least interactive for the folks who bought floor standing only tickets and needed to move around as the show progressed and needed to elevate the different stage components. This was a great way to spend our time in London and to cap off such an amazing and memorable trip. And any of my concerns about the strike impact were wasted energy in the end because everything was smooth sailing for our departure as well.... now was it because it was so darn early in the morning and not a lot of flights were leaving, or was it because the terminal we flew out of was not impacted, I'll never know. But what I do know is that I should listen to Z more who is regularly saying "worry less my dear, enjoy the moment!"

This trip was certainly one for the trips of a lifetime record books. We got to both explore two new countries in a part of the world that neither of us had really travelled to before. We were so impressed by the sights, the food, the higher standard of most everything, and all the unique first-time ever experiences. Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as developed as they both are, are beautiful in their own right. Each skyscraper has unique architectural features and with many that leave you awestruck with its design and/or height. There is definitely luxury and money here, that's quite obvious. It is such a melting pot of people and while it is in many ways a tolerant society, there are strict laws that you want to be aware of and I'd say outside of purely tourist areas and "international" beaches, it's best to dress more on the conservative side. 

The sheer magnitude of the beauty of Maldives is so incredibly hard to describe with words. It brought such joy, contentment, and peace to me. The picturesque scenery was such a great environment for me to reflect and think...and it really reinforced that the beach is my happy place where I best can collect my thoughts. 

On this trip, we flew over 35,000 kms on 8 different flights. We got to experience Etihad Airlines for the first time and have to say were quite impressed with their in flight service; very hospitable and gracious flight attendants. We booked this trip on points and used those points to fly business class. The seats were quite spacious as was the surrounding space and we experienced for the first time lay-flat pods that had privacy sliding doors; that provided an extra little bit of comfort when trying to sleep and not being disrupted by people walking up and down the aisle. Our flights were all mostly on time, no major delays and everything was quite efficient particularly on the Etihad flights.

As I reflect on how blessed we are to travel and explore the world through our own eyes, I came across some beautiful quotes that ring so true to how I feel:

"Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport" (author unknown). We've been extremely fortunate to write a lot of stories. And "once the travel bug bites, there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life" (Michael Palin).

To travel is to live.... life is good. 

Maldives - The sunny side of life

The Republic of Maldives is an archipelagic state in South Asia in the Indian Ocean consisting of over 1100 coral islands situated within 26 atolls. The country is considered the lowest country in the world with the average natural ground situated only 1.5 metres above sea level and is at high risk of being submerged by raising sea levels. With current climate changes, it is being estimated that by 2100 Maldives could be inhabitable. Tourism is the main economic industry for the country. 

Getting to Maldives took us on a 4 hour overnight flight from Abu Dhabi to Male, the capital city. Each of the 160 resorts are located on individual islands within the atolls affording more privacy and a more luxurious experience for tourists. The population of each resort island consists of resort workers and the tourists visiting; no locals live on the islands. Depending on the distance the resort island is from Male, you'll either need to arrange for boat or seaplane transportation. With so many options of which resort to stay at, it can be difficult to decide. We ended up choosing the W Maldives, not only because it's part of our preferred hotel family, but because the house reef around the W is reported to be the best in all of Maldives. Considering this bucket list trip was in part chosen because we wanted to experience staying in an over the water villa, having the best house reef sealed the deal. 

The W is located in the North Ari Atoll on Fesdu Island and is a 20-25 minute seaplane flight away from Male. While we paid for the flight, all the actual arrangements were made by the hotel including having someone meet us upon arrival in Male, transporting us to the float plane terminal and getting us checked in and on our flight. It was quite a hands on experience. Getting to the W meant my first experience flying in a seaplane which was pretty cool, but very noisy especially at take off and landing. We flew Trans Maldivian Airways, which has the world's largest seaplane fleet and they use Canadian made DHC aircraft. The plane fit 18 passengers and had a crew of 3; the pilots flew bare footed. Flying over many of the different island was neat to see as well because you could really see how they are each formed with a coral reef; some uninhabited islands you could see were shallowy submerged yet you could still see the full island given the depth of the ocean. The flight was quite smooth and we arrived around 10am. Thankfully our villa was already ready for us when we arrived and after a brief orientation ride around the island in a golf cart, we had pretty much had a full day to enjoy ourselves. The tide was going out, but was still high enough for us to get out quickly for a snorkel after getting to our room. The villa had direct water access via a ladder off the very large outdoor deck. We got into the water as quickly as possible and found the snorkelling here to be some of the best snorkelling we've ever experienced. We saw a huge variety of different tropical fish including: regal angel fish, yellow tall wrasse, bullethead parrot fish, grouper, nemo, and one of my favourites - the moorish idol which always seemed to swim in a pair. We found a black moray eel feasting from inside a coral crevasse just in front of our villa. We also saw turtles, and my first ever black tip reef shark while snorkelling. There were many different variety of coral species as well like brain coral, finger coral, and staghorn coral which often had purple or pinkish tips to name a few. The marine ecosystem around the W resort looked like it was is pretty descent condition with the coral looking fairly healthy. The clams we saw were some of the largest clams I've ever encountered and their "lips" were usually purple. I saw a baby octopus from our deck swim by our villa one morning and for a brief second it attached itself to coral and began to change colour before swimming off. The water was always a comfortably warm temperature and so incredibly crystal clear that you could always see the sea life clearly even when not actually in the water. There was such an abundance of marine life including large schools of tiny fish that would look like a large dark spot in the ocean. We also spotted a sting ray from our deck one afternoon. This all made us feel like we were in our own private tropical aquarium. The only thing we needed to concern ourselves with were the tides. At low tide we could not snorkel because the coral was exposed and there was not enough clearance, but at high tide it became our ocean's playground. 

Not only is the snorkelling absolutely mind-blowing amazing, the diving in Maldives is incredible. Z decided that of all places, this would be the place to do a refresher course at the house reef. From there he then completed three other dives. --> Z here, yes! Before arriving I knew that I wanted to make a couple dives happen so I booked the refresher dive and one additional dive the next day. The W has a great dive centre called "Down Under" that made the entire diving experience super easy. I lucked out and got a dedicated dive instructor for my refresher, which started off with a written multiple choice test I was not expecting! I passed both and enjoyed a great first dive around the house reef with several more fish varieties and a hidden "W" under water which was a nice surprise. The next day, all my equipment was set up on the W dive boat and we were off to an area called Hohola Thila where I completed dive #2 and got to see shrimp, more colourful fish including large bat fish that would swim right up close to your mask! On this dive trip I met a couple from Hong Kong, and learned that the wife used to live in Coquitlam so it was fun exchanging stories as there were not many Canadians to be found in the Maldives (or so we thought). Turns out this couple had 10 (!) dives scheduled on their trip which made me rethink my plans. I was in a pristine dive location after all. I ended up booking two more dives in the following days (the cost per dive is very reasonable as they take a boat out with several people every morning) and was very glad I did. I ended up diving with manta rays, eagle rays, black eel, octopus, reef shark, so many more fish and as a bonus after one of our dives, a pod of spinner dolphins made an appearance alongside our boat.

The W resort is a heart shaped island that has a selection of over the water and beach front villas. There are 4 restaurant options each with its own theme. Each morning we ate at Kitchen, the buffet restaurant which offers a large selection of different ethnic foods and includes a large variety of tropical fruits and fresh squeezed juices. We ate at Fish, the seafood restaurant situated over the water that also serves non seafood dishes. In the evening they turn lights on the deck that point in the water and around 8pm a bunch of reef sharks can be seen around this area. One evening we even saw a string ray. Fire is another restaurant that caters mostly to land based meat dishes and is situated right on one of the beaches. On our second evening we attended their Earth Hour all you can eat BBQ dinner that featured a selection of grilled to your preference sirloin, lamb, lobster, tuna, and prawns along with a large selection of sides and salads. The dessert stand had too many delicious options to choose from that made it very difficult to choose. Everything we ate was of high quality and tasted superb. We didn't get around to eating at Kada, the restaurant that features mostly Maldivian cuisine because all the cuisine is seafood based and didn't appeal to me. The restaurant itself though has a cool vibe with picnic tables for seating under large tropical trees that if you look up you'll see are filled with fruit bats. Most of the time these bats were just hanging around, but we did get to witness a couple fly one morning and noticed their very large wingspans; wingspans can get up to 1.7 m. The resort also has a descent sized pool, called Wet, that is surrounded by the pool bar. In this same area you'll find board games, a ping pong table, a pool table and fitness gym. Also on the island is an over the water spa, their dive centre and Ouch - the medical clinic.... that one of us had to visit one day to have some itchy spots on her leg checked out. It's not a big island and probably takes no more than 10 minutes to walk around the entirely. As you come off the jetty where the seaplane parks, you enter the Living Room aka the check out area and where the talent team is available to help with any questions, requests or excursion bookings you need to make. Lastly there is a small gift shop right behind the Living Room where you can buy a variety of overpriced souvenirs to commemorate your trip. 

We stayed in villa 232 on the ocean side. About half of the villas are ocean side with the other half lagoon side. While both are incredibly wonderful to stay in, we discovered the ocean side villas have the house reef right in front while the lagoon side villas don't have much reef right in front. Having direct access to the reef was important to us. The villa is quite large with a king sized bed set up facing the water. Just a couple steps down from the bed is the sitting area featuring a comfortable lounger couch and a porthole in the floor so you can see the ocean below; it was really neat to look through there and see fish swimming around. The entire side facing the ocean is either window or windowed doors opening to the very large private deck that had 2 sun loungers, a table with two chairs, a covered round large cushioned seating area, a private infinity pool, an outdoor shower, and of course a ladder leading to the ocean playground below. Off to the side of the sleeping and seating area is the bathroom which features a separate soaker tub set beside a large window, a walk in shower, double sinks, and separate toilet room. The bed was super comfy and I think we both had some of our best sleeps of the trip here. The sound of the waves crashing into the villa stilts was quite soothing for me and also help with great sleep. There's no better sight for me in the morning that waking up and seeing the vast ocean in front of me. Making this even more special was being able to walk out on the deck and pier over the edge and clearly see all the fish swimming around. Being out in the middle of the Indian Ocean also meant very little light pollution making it ideal conditions for star gazing. During our trip Mars was also clearly visible each evening and it so happened that the parade of planets was occurred so we managed to catch a glimpse of Venus, with Uranus hidden behind it, Jupiter unfortunately was always hidden behind clouds on the horizon and was never visible. 

This being a bucket list trip of a lifetime, we did splurge a bit on a few treats for ourselves. We enjoyed a relaxing couple's massage treatment at Spa one afternoon. The setting was incredibly beautiful with the spa situated over the water and a view of the vast ocean in front of you. It was a very tranquil and soothing atmosphere. And the biggest splurge was treating ourselves to a private island escape. One unique feature of the W resort is that besides the main island, the W also has another small secluded private island, Gaathafushi; a 10-minute speed boat ride away. We booked an afternoon lunch BBQ on Gaathafushi which meant we got the entire little secluded island to ourselves. Well actually for lunch, a private chef and one wait staff are on island as well, but they leave after lunch, and you then get the entire island to yourself. We were treated to a 4-course meal prepared on island by the private chef. We enjoyed our lunch on the sand under the palm trees shaded nicely from the sun. We started with a sashimi appetizer consisting of 4 different fish; obviously this was a Z dish, and 2 salads; a fresh burrata salad and a chicken caesar salad. We started feeling full after these 2 courses already, guess we shouldn't have had breakfast and we still had 2 more to go! The chef BBQ'd the proteins for the main on site, and our main dish was a feast in itself. Something got lost in translation when we mentioned to the staff that I don't eat fish....we were obviously not specific enough because both of our main dishes came with a half lobster, 4 prawns, and squid - all shell fish. I guess we assumed the no fish instructions would have translated to nothing from the sea, but alas that was not the case. At least there was a really tasty lemon butter sauce which really helped mask the fishy taste of the shell fish and so I tried my best to eat some of it. In addition, Z got a tuna steak while I got a sirloin steak (which is what I thought was supposed to be the substitute for the seafood). Also on the plate a large serving of grilled vegetables. Needless to say we ate as much as we could, but really couldn't finish everything and in fact asked for dessert to be delivered to our room instead so we could eat it later when we actually had room again. The island is equipped with full toilets, showers and even an area that gets set up for overnight stays which is also an option that can be booked. After our fantastic, leisurely lunch, the chef and wait staff cleaned up but not before giving us the "bat" phone in case we needed to reach the main island and then left us to enjoy a couple hours by ourselves. We brought our snorkelling gear along because we knew the island was surrounded by a reef and that it was likely more untouched than the main house reef as it was further out and only accessible if you were on Gaasthafushi. The snorkelling was incredible. We spent most of the rest of our time there in the water. This was such a neat once in a lifetime experience; a splurge yes, but it was worth it! 

This beautiful place of paradise was a long way to get to and we thought we were the only Canadians on the island but as we were boarding our seaplane to begin our journey home, Z spotted a passenger with an Air Canada luggage tag and we discovered that this family was visiting from Smithers, BC. And we thought our journey was long!!

Abu Dhabi

The drive from Al Maha to Abu Dhabi is about 2 hours, again on very well maintained multi-lane highways. There are plenty of rest stops with gas stations along the highway network. We experienced that gas prices in UAE aren’t much different than back home and this surprises me quite a bit. I assumed gas prices would be much cheaper, but as they say it’s never good to assume things. 

We stayed at the St. Regis on Saadiyat Island, a beach resort area on the Persian Gulf in Abu Dhabi. Not quite sure what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised to see how crystal clear and turquoise the water is with the beach consisting of the finest white sand my toes have ever felt. Our room was a gorgeous suite with an ocean view and a large balcony. The room was nothing like I’ve ever experienced before with a large dressing room closet, king sized bed, large bathroom with soaker tub and separate rain shower, an expansive seating area, in addition to a separate working desk outfitted with post-it notes, highlighters, pencils, and an eraser. It felt like a home away from home. We were greeted in the room with a lovely welcome plate of fruit and chocolates- thanks to all of the stays over the years at Marriott. 

After settling in, we drove out to see the  Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. This mosque was built between 1994 and 2007 and is built from natural materials chosen for long-lasting qualities, and include marble stone, gold, crystals, and ceramics. It was getting close to sundown and we thought it would be less busy, but also beautiful to see as the sun sets behind the mosque. The drive was about 15 minutes from the hotel and they have ample free parking on site. In fact underneath the mosque is a modern souk, which you have to walk through to get to the entry point of the mosque. Within the souk are many different shops including a very large and nicely decorated Tim Horton’s. We timed our visit in between prayer times; not sure if that was coincidence now or planned, but it worked out that way. We booked our tickets in advance and so it was easy entry. There is a dress code for visiting, and as a woman I needed to wear a head covering, long pants or shirts, and wear long sleeves. Another advantage of going at night is it’s a bit cooler so the dress code wasn’t as challenging than had we visited in the heat of the day. The mosque is stunningly beautiful. Starting with the elegant entry arches as you drive onto the property the make the mosque’s domes look like they are resting on the archways. We first walked the perimeter of the mosque in search of a spot to get a sunset picture with the entire mosque, but alas we didn’t quite find the spot we wanted. Nevertheless we still got some amazing photos of the mosque from the exterior. The perimeter walls are a combination of gold gates and whitewashed concrete. There are numerous entry points with security guards stationed everywhere. The mosque is massive and can hold over 40,000 worshippers in different prayers rooms , with the main prayer hall holding over 7,000. The entire architectural design and symmetry of the mosque is impressive. Four minarets stand at each corner of the building. At the entry, there are two large ponds on either side of the main entrance which reflect the mosque's columns and are illuminated at night to reflect the phases of the moon. I was in awe seeing how beautifully decorated the interior is with what appears to be hand painted floral designs on numerous columns in the main prayer hall with gold palm leaves at the top. The main prayer hall features a large intricately decorated carpet and massive ornate chandelier. We really enjoyed this visit. To finish our first day in Abu Dhabi, we enjoyed a complimentary dinner at the hotel’s buffet restaurant where they served a wide variety of different ethnic foods. 

On our second day, we had a relaxing morning with coffee on our patio before spending a bit of time relaxing on the beach before having brunch. We had pre-booked an afternoon behind the scenes tour of Yas Marina Circuit, where the season finale race of F1 is held. This was a really cool experience because we got to see things like the team’s on site meeting villas, the garage and pit lane, the winner’s podium, and the race control centre room. We learned a lot about the F1 weekend event itself and the surrounding theme parks and sites. Yas Island’s development was started in 2006 after Abu Dhabi learned it would be hosting the F1 season final race starting in 2009. The tour ended with our tour bus driving a lap on the actual full track length. We didn’t go nearly the speeds of the F1 cars, but our driver got up to 50km on the straightaway. The entire island has been developed in multi phases until 2028 with the purpose of turning the island into a leisure, shopping, and entertainment centre. There are several theme parks on the island as well. As part of our time in Abu Dhabi on the return portion of this trip, we stopped in at Yas Marina Circuit again where this time Z did a driving experience and got to drive an F3000 race car (looks similar to an F1 car) on the south portion of the circuit. They do the driving experience very well, stressing safety over all things. After changing into the racing gear, and a safety briefing, it was track time. They take out groups of 4-5 drivers and have 2-3 instructors paired within the drivers that lead the way. It’s loud, it’s fast, and it’s thrilling. Z had the time of his life on this bucket list experience. 

Afterwards, we walked around the area in search of a barber so Z could get his hair cut. We walked for around 10 minutes to Eithad arena which is located along the water with a nice promenade that features restaurants and some other shops. Z found a cafe/barber shop owned and operated by a young ex-pat from the UK who moved with his young family to UAE during Covid for a change in life. It was a quaint place and while Z got his hair cut, I enjoyed a very tasty flat white and admired the scenery around. We then decided to walk back to the hotel along the promenade and noticed a bunch of little kiosks set up for a night market that was running during Ramadan. Interestingly to us is that all the kiosks just had curtains covering up their little shop with merchandise sitting behind; none of it was locked up like we would expect to see back home. This really speaks to the safety aspect of UAE we were told about. UAE is a very safe country, with no need to worry about pick pockets, or theft. We didn't actually make it back to the area to see the night market, but it looked like it would have been a really good time. During our walk back to the hotel, which was about 15 minutes, I quickly discovered why we don't really see people walking about - the sun's heat gets to you quickly. The relief to this was spending the rest of the afternoon at the hotel's Wet deck (adult only pool) on the top floor of the hotel. To put things in perspective at the W, the hotel is not a sky scraper like most other buildings in UAE and only has 8 floors. 

We also did a tour of the presidential palace, Qsar Al Watan. This is a working palace, and not the residence, but worth a visit regardless. We booked an early evening tour slot just before last entry to the palace because we also wanted to see the light show they put on the exterior of the palace walls at 7pm. Again the architecture of the palace and its surrounding grounds are most impressive. The trees and shrubs are meticulously manicured. The exterior facade is made of white granite and limestone with pristine marble flooring with mosaic decorative insets. As you enter the palace, you walk into The Great Hall, a massive hall that boasts a chandelier with 350,000 pieces of crystals hanging from the dome. There are several different wings of the palace that we were able to tour, including the Spirit of Collaboration room - which is where the Arab League of Nations meet, the House of Knowledge - which boasts a large collection of historical books and manuscripts, the Presidential gift room - which as the title suggests houses a collection of various gifts given to the President by other countries. The 30 minute light show is projected on the exterior facade and tells the story of the UAE's past, present, and future aspirations. From Qasr Al Watan we made our way to the waterfront promenade called Corniche where we had supper at Forn Alaajouz; one of the many food trucks along the street. We both had manaesh with a slight twist with tomatoes on top. This capped off a very full day.

Our trip coincided with Ramadan which occurs in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is observed by Muslims as a month of fasting, prayer, and community.  We weren't quite sure how this would impact our travels, but in the end there was little impact on us. We were mostly in tourist areas and found that hotels and restaurants were operating as normal. We learned that UAE relaxed the rules slightly a year ago, but even still we tried to respect not drinking or eating in public areas during daylight. One of the hotels we stayed at in Abu Dhabi, the W Yas Island, held an Iftar dinner on our last night. Iftar is the main meal to break the fast at sunset and brings together brings families and friends. Because the hotel was hosting Iftar, and we needed to eat supper, we decided to check it out. It was held at the hotel's buffet restaurant and we found a large variety of different ethnic foods ranging from Asian, to Indian, to Middle Eastern along with a large dessert bar to choose from. It was here where we both tried camel meat for the first time. We had met a couple from Dubai at the Chicago airport as we were both waiting for our different flights and they suggested that if the opportunity arose to try both camel meat and camel milk. We tried camel milk during our desert stay in Dubai, and here we got to try the meat. It is a very tender meat that I would describe as having the consistency of beef. The flavour is not overly powerful and if I had not seen the dish was noted as camel, I would have thought I was eating beef. Overall it was a neat dining experience to see the restaurant filled with families and friends celebrating good company and good food. 

Our stay at the W Yas Island hotel was fantastic. This hotel is located right at F1 Yas Marina Circuit and straddles the race track along with marina views from its two buildings. The hotel is designed with racing in mind, the main restaurant is called the Garage, the carpeting in the hallways had a design that looked like race lines, and the hotel room number panels were also race themed. We were very lucky to be upgraded to the WOW suite, a massive one bedroom suite with a long balcony overlooking part of the race track and part of the marina. The suite was very nicely appointed, with a living room, a bar area, massive bathroom and walk-in shower, and very large bedroom with king bed. We really lucked out with this upgrade and wished we could have stayed there longer as it was a pretty stellar room. 

Next up the destination that prompted this entire trip to begin with....

Dubai

We arrived in Dubai shortly after 9pm and knowing we only had a short time here we decided to make out our way to the Dubai fountains to catch the second to last show of the evening at 10pm. Dubai wasn’t originally on the itinerary for this trip but added on the recommendation of one of our friends, so we (actually Z) managed to shift things around and got 2 days in Dubai fit in. That gave us a little taste of Dubai and we quickly decided that we’d have to come back another time because this really wasn’t enough time. The Dubai fountains are located just outside the massively large Dubai Mall and we easily found free parking at the mall. Any luxurty brand name store you can think of you’ll find here. Surprisingly we even found a Tim Horton’s and quickly found out through our explorations that Timmy’s is everywhere and some are even really nicely decorated with homages to Canadian culture. We had to try it out to see if it was authentic so we bought a pistachio cream donut. Pistachio flavour perhaps not exactly authentic, but the donut tasted very familiar. The mall features an indoor ice rink and an aquarium in addition to all its shops, cafes, and restaurants. You could easily spend hours wandering through this mall.

The Dubai fountains are practically the same as the Belliago fountains in Las Vegas. Situated on a large promenade surrounded by Dubai mall, many restaurants, and the Burj Khalifa towering in the background. The fountain’s water and lighted danced nicely to beautiful Arabic music for five minutes. Afterwards we made our way to our hotel, the JW Marriott Dubai, the tallest 5-star hotel in the city, so we could freshen up after our very long journey to get here. Our room was on the 47th floor with fantastic views of the city. Our room was very well appointed, had a very large bathroom with soaker tub and separate large shower area with a rain shower. The sleeping area was also quite large with an extra large king size bed, a seating area, desk, and lots of closet space. We were a bit hungry after freshening up and so decided to check out the Vault bar on the 72 floor of one of the hotels two towers. I ordered a signature drink called Bankrupt which came with a gold bar coaster, matching the theme of the bar. The bar had a great vibe with good music, drinks, food, and views. 

The next morning after a lovely breakfast at the hotel, we made our way back to Dubai Mall where we knew parking was free and we could access the Burj Khalifa for our sky tour, which gave us access to the 147th floor’s 360 degree view and outdoor viewing deck. Dubai is a city filled with skyscrapers wherever you look and being on the 147th floor really put into perspective how from the ground the buildings look so tall, but from up here they look so short in comparison. We learned through our tour that Burj Khalifa took 6 years to build with 12,000 workers on site daily. It is the tallest tower in the world with 168 floors and features an Armani hotel, residences, offices, and a mosque at top. 

Driving in downtown Dubai proved very interesting particularly during rush hour traffic.  Drivers are very impatient and honk practically right as the light turns green. Google maps works very well, though at times with all the skyscrapers it took a bit of time to adjust when we took a wrong turn. The multiple lanes filled with traffic sometimes made it difficult to navigate where you needed to turn off. Z is very comfortable and skilled driving around in foreign countries. At least all was metric and they drive on the right side of the road. 

From our short less than 24 hours in the hustle and bustle of Dubai city, we moved on to an overnight stay at a dessert resort in Al Maha conservation, only a 45 minute drive inland. Here we stayed in a private Bedouin suite with private outdoor plunge pool overlooking the vast desert. This desert oasis was absolutely an incredible experience with the resort nestled amongst lush palm groves, sand dunes, and with gazelle and oryx roaming freely around. It was so peaceful and tranquil here with only nature to listen to. Our stay included three optional desert adventures and we chose to do the desert nature drive upon arrival and then the camel ride to the sand dunes to watch the sunset with a glass of champagne. Both were great experiences and on the nature drive we learned a lot more about why the conservation was were it was….basically when they started drilling into the ground, instead of finding oil, they found a water table. The lands are owned by the Sheikh who also has a thing for preserving the animals and making this area a designated conservation allowed just that. Random shrubs and little flowers grow out from the sand and flourish given the water table below. The camel ride was an interesting experience in itself. I wouldn’t say it was the most pleasant experience but we made it without falling off and got to enjoy a beautiful sunset overlooking the sand dunes. The resort is an all inclusive and for supper we enjoyed a lovely 5 course meal at the hotel restaurant on their outdoor patio. We decided to skip the third excursion and instead enjoy our room the next morning before we had to depart. We had a fantastic breakfast on out outdoor deck, went for a short walk in the desert to the nearest sand dune and ended up hanging out there for a few minutes as a small sand storm whirled by.  I noticed darker clouds in the morning and thought for sure they were rain clouds; Z disagreed but soon after we returned for our walk the rain started and we experienced our first desert storm including lightning. The storm lasted on and off all morning to when we had to leave and thankfully just as we were getting picked up in a resort golf cart to be brought to the lobby, the rain stopped briefly so we could stay dry while packing into the car. The storm restarted just as we started driving again to make our way to Abu Dhabi. 

Off to United Arab Emirates

We’re knocking off a big bucket list destination this trip and it’s a long journey to get there. Our journey takes us to two new countries on the other side of the world. We booked this trip about a year ago and through that time we’ve received the occasional flight time change notice. Our flight was booked through points and when we went to check in for our flight to Chicago, the first leg of this trip we were unable to. Realizing something wasn’t right Z quickly called the airline only to find out that with the last flight change the points company forgot to issue us new tickets. Enter panic and stress mode for me…not getting to Chicago would mess up this entire adventure. After an hour on hold Z finally got confirmation that our tickets were reissued, and we were checked and all was good again.  

Early morning wake up doesn’t bother me as much when it’s to catch a flight….otherwise early mornings and I don’t get along very well. Our flight to Chicago left at 8:30am, so we had to be at the airport a couple hours prior. We were travelling during spring break and while traffic at the airport and the normal check in lines were quite busy, we breezed through security and US immigration. Our 4 hour flight was pretty uneventful with only some slight turbulence around Chicago. We had a fairly long 6 hour lay over, yet we didn’t quite feel it was enough time to head into town for sightseeing after factoring in travel time and reclearing security so we just hung out at the airport. After a fairly unorganized and chaotic boarding process we were settled into our seats for the 14 hour flight to Abu Dhabi on Etihad’s Airbus 350. We chose to redeem points for business class knowing we’d want to try and have a more comfortable sleep with the lay flat seats. It was the right choice and we both got a reasonable amount of restful sleep for an airplane. The seats even had privacy doors that when closed felt like you were in a pod. The flight crew was very hospitable and their service was top notch. 

We landed in Abu Dhabi around 7:30pm local time, got through immigration/passport control fairly quickly; they take a photo of you and scan your fingerprints. Then we passed through a security check that scanned our carry on bags. Our checked bags were already on the carousel when we got to baggage claim; very efficient and quick service. From there we wandered through the airport to find our car rental and then set out for our hour-ish drive to Dubai. We were warned about the very strict driving laws in UAE and especially the photo radar system on their roadways and that in Abu Dhabi that you’d get a ticket even if going only 1km/hour over the speed limit. Seems like the locals though may not care as much and we’re speeding passed us on numerous occasions. The highway system was first class with well paved roads, usually at least 5 lanes in either direction and with trucks required to stay in the two furthest most right hand lanes. Highway speed limit for cars ranged from 100km/hour to 140km/hour and trucks were limited to 80km/hour. A lot of the highways and other roadways are tolled which likely go to maintenance. We noticed that there was vast open desert space along that highway to Dubai and could see multiple new developments under construction with cranes dotting the sky line and it seems like every new tower is built taller that the next. The number of shopping plazas lining the highway was mind blowing. Everything just felt taller, grander, and bigger in UAE.