In Dubai we stayed at the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai hotel. We’ve seen the dramatic difference of poverty in India to the excessive show of wealth in the United Arab Emirates. We shared Uber Mercedes to Mall of Dubai for the lights and fountain show by the Burj Kalifa, dinner at Shake Shack with $7 shakes! It was a looong walk to metro station. We were glad to ride the metro in the crowded women only car.
We had an amazing breakfast buffet–best I’ve seen. We went to the Jumeirah Mosque for an educational session about the mosque and Islam in general from a British lady (convert to Islam). It is Ramadan right now, so most Muslims are fasting during daylight hours. Ramadan Kareem is a common greeting right now.
We took a cab to the Burj Khalifa and went to the observation deck on 124 – 125, it was pretty cool. We had about 5 miles visibility so we couldn’t see the palm islands or Burj al Arab.
We went with Arabian Adventures to the sand dunes—Amjad was our driver. They deflate the Land Cruiser tires once they are ready to go off-road. It was awesome. We got to sandboard down the dunes, get henna tattoos, ride a camel, have a traditional bedouin dinner, and watch a Sufi whirling dancer.
We went to Emirates Air crew training headquarters, got to see safety and evacuation, also customer service and appearance management. We got to see their flight simulators with hydraulic lifts to simulate turbulence and nose dives, saw slides and water landing training, photo with safety vests, simulated fire in the cabin, details about each type of seat, first class suites, even a fancy shower suite, hair and makeup.
Other members of our group had amazing adventures with jet skis around the Burj al Arab, helicopter flights, ziplines, skiing in the Mall of the Emirates, and visiting penguins.
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