Dubai

We had about 30 hours in Dubai and it was a whirlwind! After landing at 5:30am and successfully getting through passport control and customs, we took a cab to the business district where our airbnb was located. We were very lucky that our host was kind enough to let us check in at that hour so we were able get a nap before exploring. Luckily we set an alarm otherwise we might've slept the entire day away!

We were happy to know someone currently living in Dubai. My friend Nick has been living there for the last 6 months, so after we got up Nick came to pick us up and he showed us all around the city over the next two days. We started by going to the Dubai mall, which is the largest mall in the world. Among other things, it has an ice skating rink, an aquarium, and several arcades. And all the stores and restuarants that you can imagine. Since Matt and I were starving we started by grabbing a quick lunch at Five Guys right by the famous Dubai fountain. For whatever reason I had never been to Five Guys before, so I got to try it for the first time in Dubai! It was really good. And we got to see the fountain show while we were sitting there and that was really cool. The Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, was right there as well. Then we walked around and saw the diver's wall and the big aquarium tank which is on display in the mall. You can actually do cage diving with the sharks in that tank while people in the mall can watch. We saw people getting out from doing just that. Then we checked out Sega World where Matt tried a virtual reality game about zombies. It was pretty fun to see him stalking and shooting invisible zombies. 

The Burj Khalifa. It's really hard to get a full picture of that since it's so huge!

Then we decided to go check out the other huge mall, the Emirates Mall. We were feeling a bit tired and decided to do a low-energy activity so we went to go see the new Fast and Furious movie, which was so good! We love those movies so we were happy to catch it while it was still in theaters. Then we walked around the mall a bit and found the indoor ski resort! How crazy is that? There was snow and a fake mountain and a ski lift and everything. Then the inside looked like the inside of a real ski lodge with a fake fire and everything (even though it was about 100 degrees outside). As we were leaving the mall we saw lots of fancy expensive cars that the guys drooled over. The yellow Lambo in the picture in the picture has a 3-digit license plate, which means it belongs to someone important. The fewer the digits the more important the person (standard is 5 digits, 1 digit is reserved for the royal family).

It was getting to be past dinner time so we went to one of Nick's favorite seafood places, which is one of the oldest restuarants in Dubai. It was so busy when we got there that after waiting for about 20 min and not moving much we decided to leave and try something else. So instead we went to one of his favorite bars, the Weslodge in the JW Marriott Marquee. The restaurant was on the 68th floor so it had a great view of the night skyline. He was friends with some of the bartenders so they made us a couple of cocktails and we split a few of the appetizers, which were delicious. We enjoyed the lively scene for awhile before I had to call it a night- it was midnight and I was exhausted. We finally got our car from the valet and got back to our airbnb around 1am. Whew, what a long day!

View from the bar:

We got some sleep and then packed up and checked out of our airbnb. We took an Uber over to Nick's place and then he drove us back over to the Jumeirah area. We tried going back to his favorite restaurant again but they weren't serving their famous shrimp dish yet, so he and Matt split a couple pieces of the shrimp. It was served with a curry sauce that I tried and it was really tasty. 

Then we drove over to Kite's beach where I grabbed a quick snack and went to put my toes in the Persian Gulf. The water was so lovely and warm! I would've enjoyed hanging out at the beach for awhile but we had a schedule to keep. Nick then drove us over to the palm- the famous man-made island. It was really beautiful. We went all the way down the "trunk" of the island and then took the under-water tunnel over to the Atlantis resort. We didn't have much time so we werent' able to stop, but we were able to see it and now we can say we were there!

Nick drove us to the airport where we had to say our goodbyes. We were sad to leave so soon but so glad we were able to stop for a brief visit and see the city! Thanks Nick for showing us around!

We got through all of the airport hoops and spent some time in the swanky lounge before catching our flight, which is where I am now while writing this. Here we come, Egypt!