Hey all you cool cats and kittens, it’s Guilherme here from One Texan Abroad! (Hope you got the reference there, if not, please watch Tiger King!) Before I talk about my experience in Dubai, I wanted to give a quick life update since the last post: my trip had to be cut short due to the COVID-19 outbreak. I flew home straight from Sydney, went through a 14-day isolation period, and still currently home! Everyone be safe and stay home as much as possible!
With that being said, let’s talk about better and simpler times: my experiences in Dubai. After traveling the entire day, it felt wonderful landing at Dubai Airport (DXB). Two things caught my attention: first, the air conditioning, and how much I missed it. Sounds strange, but having been in Europe for a while, you definitely do not get the same amount of Air Conditioning you do back in Texas. The second thing that caught my attention was the luxurious and modern look that the airport terminals have. Never had I seen so many Rolex terminal watches in my life before! Immigration was busy, yet swift, the bags came rather quick and out into the arrivals terminal I went. About an hour and a half or so after I landed, I was at my hotel, the Hyatt Place Dubai Jumeirah!
At 5k Hyatt points a night, it was quite the bargain! The room was large and modern, the hotel was fairly recently-opened (that was one of the reasons I ended up picking this one), and it had many great amenities. There is a picture of the breakfast buffet below for you to see, it had a wide variety and selection of food and drinks. It also had a swimming pool with a pool bar (the bar was not open when I went late in the day), a nice gym for those looking to workout while on vacation, and even a spa! The hotel was also conveniently located: it was about 20 minutes from the airport and to the city center as well! If you want a more in-depth look at the hotel room, be sure to check out my vlog! (More information at the end of the post!)
My morning I would say is the typical experience you would expect when you think of Dubai: luxury, innovation, and a whole lot of glitz! I booked a 9:30 tour of the Burj Khalifa, so I definitely did not get a lot of sleep! To get to the Burj was fairly easy, except for one minor detail: to get to the “At The Top” experience area, you actually have to get dropped off at the Dubai Mall. I was initially dropped off at the Armani Hotel, which is also at the Burj Khalifa, but was told to get back into the car and be dropped off at the Dubai Mall (oops haha)! Let me tell you, what a mall that was: it had a huge Rolex store, a two-story Yves Saint-Laurent, and all the glamour you’d expect out of Dubai. When I got to the Burj, it was fairly empty: not sure if it was just because it had recently opened or because the virus, but it was an easy experience to get to the 124th floor. The elevator ride took about a minute and the highlight of the Burj is the deck that gives you a near 360 look around Dubai. I can definitely say that after going up the Burj Khalifa, these other skydecks can’t really compete! Even at the 124th, there is still so much more to go until you reach the top of the Burj Khalifa, but I think that it’s a good deal what you pay for to go up to the 124th floor, especially if you’re traveling on a budget! As is the usual, there is also a gift shop inside where you can buy the pictures they take for you or any mementos you’d want from the Burj. After going back down the elevator, I took some time to explore the area, which included the Dubai Fountain. Since I still had plenty of time before my afternoon half-day tour, I took the time to head back to the hotel, grab a quick lunch and a power nap to get me through the rest of my day!
Well, after waking up and being picked up at my hotel, off we were on our tour around Dubai. I decided to do this tour in order to maximize my short stay in the city. I also chose this tour because it visits not only “new Dubai,” but it also takes you around “old Dubai,” and I think you can better see the vibe of the city itself away from the pomp and glitz. Before talking about the tour, here’s a quick side note about the government of the UAE, which I learned this trip:
The UAE is made up of seven emirates. Each of these emirates has its own ruling family. Abu Dhabi serves as its capital. The rulers of Dubai always serve as the Vice President of the UAE, and the rulers of the Abu Dhabi are always the President of the UAE. The other five emirates often take turns holding the other cabinet-level government positions. Leaders and high government officials are appointed, there are no elections in the UAE!
Right, after that super short lesson, back to the tour! The first stop was Jumeirah Beach, which has the world’s only SEVEN STAR HOTEL, the Burj al-Arab! I know what you’re thinking, how is that seeing the actual vibe of the city? Well, I promise we’ll get to that part. We did not get an up close view of the hotel, but the design will quickly remind of you another famous hotel if you’ve been to Barcelona: the W Hotel. Here’s a quick side-by-side image of the two:
The beach itself was nice, there were plenty of people out and enjoying their day, soaking up the sun and hanging out, but I think it’s the Port of Dubai that’s nearby, and there were containers and cranes nearby so that kind of was a bit of a dampener. But when you’re used to Galveston (my fellow Houstonians will know), it doesn’t take a whole lot to be much better! Moving on, the next stop was the Jumeirah Mosque. It was a lovely quick stop on the way to the Dubai Museum. The building was beautiful from the outside, visitors are rarely allowed to go in, they must arrange visits with the government, but I did see some worshippers walking in for their daily prayers!
The last three stops were what I was looking forward to the most from this tour: the first stop was the Dubai Museum, which used to be an old fort. The museum is a must-see if you want to get an experience of what life was like for Emiratis before the oil boom! You get to see traditional housing, boats, and a glimpse of all those people that were there before oil was discovered, it is truly incredible to see the transformation that Dubai went through, and yes that may be the history major in saying this, but it is still something to see in Dubai! During our tour, the guide walked us around the main outside area, but let us explore by ourselves the galleries inside. If you don’t want to do a tour like I did, the individual ticket to the museum costs 3 Dirhams (that’s less than $1!). After spending about an hour there, we boarded the bus to the Dubai Creek, where we would get on an “abra” (a boat that runs in the Dubai Creek), to get us through to the other side of the creek where the markets were.
Right, now onto the markets. The two biggest markets nearby were the Spice Souk and the Gold Souk. Our guide once again left us to explore on our own; we had about an hour to do so. The first place I went to was the Spice Souk since it was the closest to where we were, and it was definitely like what you’d expect from a traditional market. Plenty of shops offering a whole lot of things: from chocolate covered dates to saffron to Dubai memorabilia! It is definitely an experience to have, if you were like me, and looking for something different away from your initial thoughts on Dubai. That’s the good part, now for possibly the not-so-good parts, and this is entirely based on my own experiences. The shop owners and staff know you are a tourist, certainly didn’t help that I was walking around with a camera, but even then: they can see you came with a guide or were dropped off by one. I am certainly not saying to not go, but go with this in mind! As you walk around, shop keepers are always vying for your attention and certainly watch out for “free samples” and all those selling techniques, which is what happened to me. Long story short, I popped into a shop, was shown the different dates, spices and teas. I decided to buy a couple of things and the guy was ringing me up. I was getting my cash out, thought it wouldn’t be more than like 20 Dirhams or so, but boy was I wrong! Well, the guy tried ringing me up for over 400 Dirhams (that’s over $100!), now unless those dates and bag of tea were covered in gold, I know for sure they are not worth that much! After much haggling on the price, I ended up paying about 40 Dirhams (about $11) for some chocolate and dates. After that, I didn’t really go anywhere else and waited for the tour guide to arrive at our meeting place! When the tour was over, I went back to the hotel, enjoyed the pool, ate and got my stuff packed and ready for an early morning flight the next day!
Would I recommend this tour? Absolutely! The only pitfall of it was the market visit; I would have preferred that the tour guide take us around the markets like this one French tour group was doing, rather than letting us fend for ourselves. Even then, this was a great life experience. Those who know me, know how much I hate and avoid conflict, so this certainly helped me step out of my comfort zone when I felt I was being ripped off. That’s what trips like these are all about, stepping out of your comfort zones and living through these new experiences! The guide was super friendly, I learned so much about Dubai, and they even offered hotel pick-up and drop-off! All in all it was a very cost-effective way to make the most of my time in Dubai!
Here’s a couple of links of the activities I booked, which I can recommend, both for quality and affordability (Disclaimer: I don’t get anything from these recommendations, maybe one day haha one can dream):
- Half-Day Dubai City Tour- https://www.viator.com/tours/Dubai/Dubai-City-Half-Day-Sightseeing-Tour/d828-2168DXB002
- Burj Khalifa 124th Floor Observation Deck: https://www.viator.com/tours/Dubai/Burj-Khalifa-Observation-Deck-Visit-From-Dubai/d828-2168P63
Here’s the link for the the vlog that accompanies this post and gives you an in-depth look at the hotel room, as well as my experiences in Dubai! A perfect way to safely take a trip during these crazy times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRh6En8laU8&t=1s
Stay tuned for the next blog post and video: it’s the BIG ONE- Emirates A380 First Class! Have you visited Dubai? Is it on your travel list? What was your Dubai experience like? I’d love to hear your experiences and thoughts!
Love the article!!!
Yay! Thank you so much for the support!!