A Quick Jaunt to the UAE
(I don't think this'll be big enough for a trip report, so I'll post the Dubai part here and the AD part in the respective Master Thread. Dan or a mod can move it if they feel it's appropriate.)
The idea for this trip began on Christmas Day, 2014 at 4am, when I received the following text from Mordy1987: "Dan just posted a glitch to Abu Dhabi, let's go Labor Day"
I sleepily responded: "ok"
Flights:
We both got up and booked outbound from JFK-AUD for 10:30 Saturday night, September 5, returning at 2:55am, Wednesday the 9th. He was nice enough to invite me for Shabbos so we could go straight to the airport. We'd have 2+ days in the UAE; it would be quick, but the wives and our respective Roshei Kollel were OK with it, especially with the impending YK to absolve us of our sins.
Shortly thereafter, we realized that ~14 hours in coach isn't worth it, not even for $350, and 2 days would be too short, so we booked the return (AA redemption) in J and F for Thursday morning, 10:55am to IAD. We still anticipated flying to AUH on our revenue tickets. That lasted until August, with the flight approaching. I was really apprehensive about even 12 hours in coach, so the week prior to the flight we accumulated some AS miles and booked J and F outbound, but on the EK A380 to DXB. What started out as a budget trip was now something very different.
Emirates Chauffeur Drive gave us a ride to our hotel.
Hotel:
We anticipated spending 2+ days in DXB, with a short stop in AUH to see the Mosque and catch our return flight. Mordy really wanted to stay on the Palm Jumeirah, so that ruled out SPG properties (which there are a ton of in DXB) and we chose the Fairmont for the first three nights (Sun, Mon, and Tues) for about $650.
The hotel is a little left-of-center in that picture. The Atlantis (which has a great water park) is visible at the top of the "tree."
Beautiful property, although the lobby has an overbearing scent, kind of like a Middle Eastern A&F. They couldn't find my upgrade certificates in the system, so they gave us a basic city-view room. I was concerned about noise from supercars flying up and down the palm all night, especially since we were on a low floor. I called Fairmont and they put my certificates in my account immediately; we went back to reception and they gave us a nice sea-view room on the 8th floor.
The views from the beach in front of the hotel, looking out to the Dubai Marina area, and from our balcony:
The hotel at night, from the beach:
Activities:
This was going to be a mostly move, move, move vacation, try to see and experience as much as we could over 3 days. Being procrastinators, neither of us really planned an itinerary ahead. We really wanted to skydive over the Palm, but that's the one thing we couldn't as it was booked for the entire month.
The first day I wanted to see the desert/Arabic side of Dubai, and Mordy wanted to go skiing in the Mall of the Emirates, so we booked a dune bashing, camel riding, see the desert type tour for the afternoon/evening and headed out to the mall. [There a dozens of such tours and they're all about the same price. It includes a buffet dinner and some shows, but we obviously can't report on the food.]
The skiing was ok. It's an experience skiing (I snowboarded) indoors, but there are only two slopes that converge to one, and it got boring pretty fast. We paid 200 AED (about $55) for 2 hours, including all gear, pants, jackets, socks, etc. You have to buy your own gloves which were a reasonable 25 AED for a fleece pair. We had a good time, and it was pretty empty so no line for the lift. But we got bored and left after about an hour and a half. Walking around the mall was pretty cool as well.
We then went back to the hotel and relaxed until the Desert Tour operators were to pick us up between 3:30 and 4. We made our way to the lobby and met a Welsh couple that would be on the tour with us. A few minutes later a Land Cruiser pulls up, we load in, and we were off. There was a German couple already in the vehicle.
After 40 minutes of driving he pulls over at a local tourist shop where they push the Arabic dress stuff on you. We haggled and bought some souvenirs before heading out to the desert. 10 more minutes of driving and they pull off the road (which was coated with sand anyway). Dozens of Land Cruisers are parked and letting air out of the tires. Our driver, Akhmed, was one of the nuttier ones, racing and trying to overtake all the other. I absolutely loved the dune bashing. The couple in the back row kept getting thrown from their seats and hitting the roof. This wasn’t timid driving over the dunes. It was full out flying and getting air on many of the jumps. Pics don’t do it justice. After 30 minutes he pulls over so we could all get some picture for 10 minutes, then we continue on to the camp where they have camels, ATVs, a flacon to hold, henna tattoos, and the meal. During the meal they have a “dude in a dress” show, and a belly dance show (not tznius at all). We were back at the hotel by about 9:45.
The Whirling Dervish, started out lame but was pretty cool (it’s a dude):
The next day we decided to start with a water park. It was a tough call between the one at the Atlantis, and Wild Wadi, which is at Jumeirah Beach right across from the Burj Al-Arab. We chose the latter, for no real reason. Our hotel concierge had 30 AED coupons, bringing the price down to 255 AED. We had a fantastic time, and there are some crazy rides, many of which have a view of the Burj. Notably, they have a huge series of “water blasters,” where you sit in a tube and you get shot up slopes that bounce around.
Taken from the stairs up to a 110foot water slide:
We then rented a car from Hertz in the Marina [returning at the airport in AUH], and went to see old Dubai, including the Spice and Gold Markets and the old port area. Pretty sketchy area, but plenty of tourists. In the Spice Market the shopkeepers ALL try way too hard to get you in their shop, very similar to the Straw Market in the Bahamas. I found it very annoying. The God Market was more enjoyable.
Then we headed over to the Dubai Mall, a huge mall (one of the biggest in the world?) which is adjacent to the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. They have an attraction called “At the Top,” which is an observation deck on the 124th floor. “At the Top Sky” is at the 148th floor, the highest observation deck in the world. We splurged on the higher one, for the heck of it. It was truly incredible, but I’m not sure it was worth the extra dough. Mordy thinks it was. It also includes a tour and some other VIP treatments. It was about 6pm and our tickets were for 7:30. We went out to watch the Bellagio-style fountains and get some pics. The timing was great as the fountains had been off for the prior 3 days as a show of solidarity with 4 UAE soldiers who dies in Yemen. We got to see the Burj in daylight and at night, and it was truly incredible. IMO, the Bellagio show is cooler.
Looking up from the 148th floor:
The fountain show from the top of the world:
That was pretty much the end of Dubai for us. We chilled the following morning before checking out and heading to Abu Dhabi. I’ll post that part in the AD master thread.
In summation: Dubai is truly incredible; I’ve never seen anything like it. There are hundreds of skyscrapers, all built very recently. It feels truly amazing there. The roads are wide with lush landscaping, true opulence everywhere. We really enjoyed, and had zero negative experiences. I like Dubai much more than AD, but Mordy liked AD more. In Dubai, the foreigners seem to outnumber the Emiratis, with local dress being the minority. There are just so many expats and tourists there.
Feel free to ask any questions or request any specific pictures, we have loads.
Sigh, 10 hours left in the air.
