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.