Before I start this write up based on my last experience in Dubai, I’d like to add that this was my 3rd time in Dubai, yet I can’t say I have been to one quarter of the City’s finest.
Dubai is a city and an emirate in the United Arab Emirates known for luxury shopping, ultramodern architecture and a lively nightlife scene. Among the seven emirates Dubai is the most popular destination. It is situated on the southern shore of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula.
It is also called “Dubai state” to distinguish it from the emirate. Dubai is the second largest Emirate after Abu Dhabi and its usually recognized as the ‘Pearl of the Persian Gulf’. Burj Khalifa (tallest building in the world), an 830m-tall tower, dominates the skyscraper-filled skyline. At its foot lies Dubai Fountain, with jets and lights choreographed to music. On artificial islands just offshore is Atlantis, The Palm, a resort with water and marine-animal parks.
Dubai is a 6 hour flight from Lagos, Nigeria without stop over.
Visit: Like I earlier said, I have been to Dubai three times, but I’m yet to cover its dept. I’d share with you places I visited and recommend some places also.
Desert Safari There are three desert safari sessions, morning, evening and overnight sessions, well off course I couldn’t stay for the overnight session because I came with family, but the evening session was so much fun. I feel the morning session wouldn’t be as fun, so I recommend either the evening or overnight sessions. Another thing I recommend is that you take enough money along with you when going out, because of unexpected expenses, also to avoid embarrassment! Something funny happened while at the safari, my brother saw one of the Arab men showcasing an Owl and giving people to take pictures with, little did my brother know he’d have to pay after taking a picture, well it was too late when he found out, I have forgotten how much Dirham (AED) it costs us that day, but I can remember how much it pained him. It was really funny tho!
The desert safari is fun, you’d be driven in an SUV to the camp site “ along with other tourist, it depends on whether or not the car is full.
Dhow Cruise: I have gone for this twice, but I never got to take good pictures, because one was in the night, the other was with random people and I was way younger then, I wish I knew the value of pictures then. This also has different packages, there’s the Dhow Cruise, Lunch Cruises, Musdom Tour, and Yachting. I’m not sure, but I think I went with Musdom Tour. But if you want to enjoy yourself, you better have that yacht experience. According to the prices I saw on their site, they all have an equal starting price which is $65 (2016), I had to highlight the year because the price may later change.
Air Tour: There are helicopter rides, hot air balloons, sea wings plane, sky diving. This is one of the fun things I’m yet to do, so I can’t really say which is which. Just choose the one you are comfortable with. But as for me, I’m a very adventurous person, I’d want to go for them all, maybe I’d start with the sky diving, next is the helicopter rides, then the sea wings plane, and lastly the hot air balloons. When that time comes, I’d let you know which one I go with.
Theme and water-park: Guys! This is a must go, even though I haven’t actually gone for any, it just looks fun when I see people there. There is wild wadi, dream land Aqua Park, hili fun city, desert park and wonderland. The funny thing is I could see wonderland when I went to Burj Al Arab (Hotel on water), they are quite close to each other, but I had to take it one day at a time, after all we didn’t plan for it, our tour guide didn’t put it in our package, sad for us.
Adventures this include target shooting and mountain climbing, roller coaster, I beg you guys not to be too humdrum like I was, and go for all this fun adventures. My mum was more of the stay in the hotel type, because she was of the opinion that we came on a vacation to rest, and not to be walking up and down. We couldn’t do anything but to obey, even though we still took a little stroll down the streets of the hotel to window shop and site see. 😀
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Fishing and Jetski: Dubai is a fun place to be, just know the right places to go, and make sure you take enough cash with you, also try and make friends (this is something I find difficult to do though).
The other places I visited were the Dubai Museum, the beach (I can’t remember the name), Burj Al Arab, Dubai, and Emirate mall. Dubai mall is the largest mall in World, and it has an aquarium, cinemas, Ice Rink, fountains, and so many more things, I haven’t gone round the mall before, but if you travel to Dubai for Christmas holiday (Dec/Jan), make sure you make it to the Dubai mall for New Year’s Eve, you’d love it there, the fireworks are awesome, the fountains are great, with the music playing along, everything is on point. Dubai is an epitome of EXCELLENCE, It’s something I wish and pray Nigeria will take on from them.
It’s when I’m in places like this that I think about how far Nigeria is yet to go. Nigeria needs the new generational leaders with new ideas, and strong agile souls whom are go-getters to help her reach her desired goals. LOL, and that’s how I successfully deviated from my Dubai Tour Guide.
About my second time, my family and I went to Dubai mall, myself and my brothers were asked if we wanted to skate on the Ice Rink, I said no, trying to act like a big girl, and I regretted that decision, thank God I was able to live the experience the third time I went there. I kept falling severally, and one of the instructors came to meet me, and told me “falling is learning” more like failing is learning, it’s a statement I’d never forget, even though I never really learnt how to skate, because its continuous practice that makes perfect, not just one exercise.
Stay: When it comes to the hotel to stay in, everyone’s preference is different, but I make sure I don’t miss out on my free breakfast! #majorkeyalert . I’d be surprised if there’s any hotel that dosnt offer free breakfast. When choosing a hotel, select one that isn’t too far from the malls, or any of these fun places so you wouldn’t have to spend a lot on transport. Dubai has all kinds of hotel, you can check other sites for your preferences.
Transportation:
Transportation is another easy way to quickly exhaust your money, especially if you go by the metro taxi, I can remember an experience we had with one of the drivers who didn’t know the way to our hotel and kept on taking us round, keeping in mind that our mileage is reading, meaning our cost for transportation keeps going up by every second/minute we are in his cab. And that was how we spent a lot on transportation that day.
I was later introduced to the easy life of using a train, but that will only work if you get acquitted with the name of your destination. That was my first train experience ever, and it was a great one, I’m not going to lie I was amazed at the fact that I was on a train that was controlled by machines and not human beings. Dubai has really advanced in technology. Another advantage of the train apart from it being pocket friendly and fast, it also has a direct entry into Dubai mall, so if you by any chance want to visit the mall, you can just use the train.
Asides that, I think people rent rides in grades. You get to choose from different sizes and grades of cars.
Shop: When we travel, at the top of our to-do-list is to SHOP! Shopping to some people is easy, while to some others, it is not easy. If you are a luxurious shopper, you can easily get anything you want at the Dubai mall, Emirate mall, or any other mall, you’ll find anything you can think of there. But if are looking out for places to buy more affordable things ask for DIERA market, if you stay in Lagos Nigeria, you’d know what I mean when I say Diera is like Balogun market, but you have to be careful too, there are also fake products out there, I have had a bad experience with them. There’s also a place called “the 5 Dirham (AED) shop”, I went there the first time I traveled to Dubai, although I do not think it’s everything in the shop that is 5 Dirham (AED), I mean, how will they break even if that was so?
Dubai is also a gold market, people travel to Dubai to buy and exchange gold at the gold stuck. I know a few are located in Diera, while some others are in the malls.
Weather Condition: If you travel to Dubai during summer, it is always extremely hot. It’s so hot that when I’m walking on the streets I can hardly take a 5 minutes’ walk without entering a shop to get the Air Conditioner on my skin. Guys, Dubai is hotter than Nigeria, do not deceive yourself into believing Nigeria’s weather is the hottest. So make sure you pack clothing suitable for summer when traveling, and a few cardigans/jackets for the cold malls and stores.
Dubai also has its cold moment, the last time I travelled to Dubai (2014/2015), it was during Christmas period (Dec/Jan) and it was surprisingly cold. But I came prepared, because I was warned beforehand that December period is usually cold, I also got some extra jackets at some stores there.
other pictures:
New Year’s in Dubai
I think I have been able to cover my experience in Dubai and I hope you learnt from it.
Note: Do not travel to Dubai if you are not married with an opposite sex, because I recently just read the story of a woman (a UK citizen) who is being held in court/jail (Dubai), for being RAPED! The rapist goes scot free (and travels back to the UK), but not the woman. The laws in Dubai, do not favor women. Just be careful.
Disclaimer: The content shared here are shared based on my personal experiences in Dubai. Also, not everything is 100% accurate as others may have different experiences and opinions. Some of the pictures were gotten from third party sites, because I do not yet have a camera to take good pictures.
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