Author Topic: Aaaron's UAE TR (Read 16104 times)

lubaby · « **Reply #20 on:** September 13, 2015, 12:53:28 PM »

Quote from: Aaaron on September 13, 2015, 12:50:22 PM

Good call. But I have a feeling most members here would be using AS to book.

True. I was just clarifying.

You can only book EK through AS if the trip starts or ends in the U.S., so sometimes you need to book EK directly..

Yaalili · « **Reply #21 on:** September 13, 2015, 03:01:56 PM »

Great TR, DXB is a cool place.

D93 · « **Reply #22 on:** September 15, 2015, 01:38:12 PM »

Quote from: Aaaron on September 13, 2015, 12:35:02 PM

J:

That is not J, that is F.

Aaaron · « **Reply #23 on:** September 15, 2015, 08:58:43 PM »

Quote from: D93 on September 15, 2015, 01:38:12 PM

That is not J, that is F.

Good catch. I don't have any pics of his seat in J. I'll try to get some from him.

Proisrael · « **Reply #24 on:** September 16, 2015, 09:56:57 AM »

Looks like I got to put Dubai on the Bucket list....Great TR!

Is 3 days enough time in Dubai?

Fan of Dan · « **Reply #25 on:** September 16, 2015, 02:31:42 PM »

Nice write up. I love the way you changed around the whole trip! I just did it in coach both ways - after all that was the whole glitch! Did you take that picture of the Palm Jumeirah?

D93 · « **Reply #26 on:** September 16, 2015, 02:35:45 PM »

How much did the dune bashing cost?

Aaaron · « **Reply #27 on:** September 16, 2015, 04:45:10 PM »

Quote from: Proisrael on September 16, 2015, 09:56:57 AM

Looks like I got to put Dubai on the Bucket list....Great TR!

Is 3 days enough time in Dubai?

Thanks! Yeah, I think 3 days is more than enough. We did 2+ and saw 95% of what we wanted to, and had quite a bit of downtime.

Quote from: Fan of Dan on September 16, 2015, 02:31:42 PM

Nice write up. I love the way you changed around the whole trip! I just did it in coach both ways - after all that was the whole glitch! Did you take that picture of the Palm Jumeirah?

Sorry to hear that

And nope, that's stock image and it's much more developed now.

Quote from: D93 on September 16, 2015, 02:35:45 PM

How much did the dune bashing cost?

We paid 185 AED per person, which includes hotel pickup/dropoff, dune bashing, a dinner buffet (looked decent) which had free coke and drinks, camel riding, etc. You can get it for cheaper from groupon-like sites over there but you have to book in advance.

Yehoshua · « **Reply #28 on:** September 16, 2015, 07:46:06 PM »

Nice TR! About the water park...was it as not tznius as the belly dancer? More or less?

Aaaron · « **Reply #29 on:** September 16, 2015, 08:35:45 PM »

Quote from: Yehoshua on September 16, 2015, 07:46:06 PM

Nice TR! About the water park...was it as not tznius as the belly dancer? More or less?

More tznius because there was no shimmying

Still, there were plenty of bikinis among the "frum-suits."

Yehoshua · « **Reply #30 on:** September 16, 2015, 08:50:04 PM »

Quote from: Aaaron on September 16, 2015, 08:35:45 PM

More tznius because there was no shimmying

Still, there were plenty of bikinis among the "frum-suits."

Thanks for clarifying.

lunatic · « **Reply #31 on:** September 16, 2015, 08:51:14 PM »

Quote from: Aaaron on September 16, 2015, 08:35:45 PM

More tznius because there was no shimmying

Still, there were plenty of bikinis among the "frum-suits."

Well, here comes the fun...

Aaaron · « **Reply #32 on:** September 16, 2015, 08:52:08 PM »

Quote from: lunatic on September 16, 2015, 08:51:14 PM

Well, here comes the fun...

Theirs had shorter skirts, but pants underneath, and they had built-in head coverings. Not sure if more or less tznius than ours.

Yehoshua · « **Reply #33 on:** September 16, 2015, 08:58:49 PM »

Quote from: Aaaron on September 16, 2015, 08:52:08 PM

Theirs had shorter skirts, but pants underneath, and they had built-in head coverings. Not sure if more or less tznius than ours.

I think he's referring to those in bikinis being there, nor those in the tznius bathing suits.

lunatic · « **Reply #34 on:** September 16, 2015, 09:05:57 PM »

Quote from: Yehoshua on September 16, 2015, 08:58:49 PM

I think he's referring to those in bikinis being there, nor those in the tznius bathing suits.

Correct.... There are some on this forum that like to object to these kinds of things

Yehoshua · « **Reply #35 on:** September 16, 2015, 09:35:31 PM »

Quote from: lunatic on September 16, 2015, 09:05:57 PM

Correct.... There are some on this forum that like to object to these kinds of things

True, but this is not the place for the discussion.

lunatic · « **Reply #36 on:** September 16, 2015, 09:44:09 PM »

Quote from: Yehoshua on September 16, 2015, 09:35:31 PM

True, but this is not the place for the discussion.

+1

Aaaron · « **Reply #37 on:** September 17, 2015, 08:09:39 PM »

ABU DHABI

Day three of the trip.
We rented a car on day 2, after the water park.

We hopped in and headed out to AD:

The one on the left.

Whoops, wrong picture.

The only real attraction we were interested in was the Mosque. Ferrari World, Yas Marina, and some camel racing would have been on the list if we had time, but we weren't disappointing in missing them.

We pull up to the St. Regis Abu Dhabi, which for 13.5k/night (typically 12k, I think), it's truly incredible. There was no receptionist's area. They sit you in a gorgeous wood-panneled club room, bring you drinks, then escort you over to a huge mahogany desk (there are three different ones), where you sit down and get checked in. They offered us a suite but the only available suites had one bed. I ain't sharing.

So they gave us a nice room on the highest non-smoking floor.

The view as we pull up:

I don't have any good pictures of the interior, but it's truly beautiful. Very well done. I'll try to get some from Mordy; he was wandering around while I got us checked in.

I was wondering how they had a private beach when they were on the wrong side of the major road... The answer.

A tunnel:

There's a pool on the beach side with a swim-up bar, and a nice pool on the hotel side.

Emirates Towers, the complex next door to the SR. I'm pretty sure there's a scene in the newest fast and furious that involves these buildings:

Next up: The mosque.

Yehoshua · « **Reply #38 on:** September 17, 2015, 10:17:33 PM »

Wow, great pics of AD!

Aaaron · « **Reply #39 on:** September 21, 2015, 12:25:56 PM »

Our Final Day:
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

Driving up, it doesn't look that imposing:

Parking was easy and we went through a pretty thorough security checkpoint in a tent.

We took a bunch of pictures outside before it got too dark, then headed inside, first to the huge courtyard.

Between the outside and the courtyard:

From one corner of the courtyard:

Looking towards the main entrance:

Shoes come off:

In the main sanctuary, where we caught a quick Mincha/Maariv:

Shkia, Netz, Day of the Omer, etc:

Siddurim:

The famous carpet/biggest in the world or something like that:

The floor in one of the lobbies:

Overall, it was truly beautiful. The craftsmanship, sheer size, opulence, etc. was all incredible. Men must wear pants have have sleeves; women must be much more covered, but they'll lend you traditional garb. Entry is free.