One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.

– Henry Miller

Henry had pinned Dubai as one of his absolute must-visit cities on this trip very early on. He tends to obsess about things and go on and on about them (I wonder where he gets that), and he’s talked about Dubai and the UAE for as long as I can remember. Even before we arrived, I had heard all about the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. I knew about the man-made palm shaped islands, Deep Dive Dubai (the world’s deepest pool), The Dubai Mall (the world’s biggest shopping mall), The Mall of the Emirates (a mall where you could go snow skiing inside – in the mall, in the desert), and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard about all of the expensive and luxurious cars that people drive there. If it can be done, Dubai can do it bigger and better. And Henry couldn’t wait for us to get there.

Brian and I were perhaps a little less eager. We both wanted to go, also, but we knew that this region would be much more expensive than any of the Central and South American countries we had visited so far. Already a little over budget, we weren’t sure what we’d be able to do or how long we’d really be able to stay there. But we booked our flights, and after a short layover in Switzerland, we arrived in Dubai at around 10 pm.

Brian and I were also very concerned about how to behave like good tourists in a culture that we didn’t understand. We are Tennesseans, raised in the Bible belt of the USA. We’ve grown up in an area where the vast majority of people practice, or at least claim to practice, Christianity. Throughout our trip so far, we’ve learned about several ancient religions, but everywhere we’ve been, Christianity was still the primary religion of the modern society. We knew that the United Arab Emirates would be a culture shock for us, so to prepare for our visit, we read up on as much as we could on the internet. Ultimately, we learned that we’d need to behave as conservatively as possible – no foul language, no public displays of affection, dress conservatively, and be polite. We learned a few other specifics for mosque visits, but aside from that, it was pretty well business as usual for us.  

Going through customs, we were directed to a ‘family’ line where a young woman stamped our passports and warmly welcomed us into the country. After collecting our bags, we made our way to the airport exit. A line of men stood waiting in a row with their taxi signs as we walked through the hallway. A young Arabic man asked Brian if we needed a taxi, and he quoted us a price. The price he gave us was higher than we expected, but we were tired, we didn’t know how accurate the estimates we’d researched were, and quite frankly, we were just ready to get to our beds, so we walked with him out to the parking garage. As we waited in the well lit but unpopulated garage with him, he assured us that the car would be around for us in just a moment. We grew very uncomfortable with the situation; it just didn’t feel right, and we decided to go back into the airport instead. After politely walking away, we found the ground transportation exit again, and this time we passed by all of the men and followed the arrows to another section of the garage. Here, there were metered taxis everywhere.  We quickly loaded our bags into a waiting car and took off for our hotel. Incidentally our real taxi costed more than we were expecting to pay, but less than half of the quoted rate from the man we left standing on the parking deck.

Driving through the city was a thrill. There were bright lights everywhere, and we all were on the lookout for the famous buildings and landmarks we’d learned about. We had been told that Dubai was the Las Vegas of the Middle East, and it felt very much like that. There were bright lights and beautiful examples of architecture everywhere you looked. Henry was watching for the fancy cars, and every time he saw one he’d excitedly point it out.

We made it to our hotel within 30 minutes, and our driver helped us with our bags. We were staying at the Tulip Al Barsha Hotel, very near The Mall of the Emirates. The hotel staff checked us in, and then we went up to our very spacious and nice apartment. Henry would be sleeping on the pull out sofa, but he had his own bathroom, so he was still excited. The apartment was very nice, and at check in we learned that there was a rooftop pool that we could enjoy as well. We got our belongings situated, and then we did the best we could to try to sleep through the night. We’d been traveling for 18 hours, and the time had moved 7 hours ahead while we flew. We weren’t really tired, but we knew we had to get on their schedule as quickly as possible. We all struggled to sleep, and when morning came, it hit us like a ton of bricks.

We missed breakfast because we just couldn’t get up and moving, but we made it to a really nice lunch at the restaurant next door to the hotel. I was thrilled because they had Mountain Dew! We didn’t know what much on the menu was, but thankfully the waiter was very patient with us. Brian ordered Afghani Pulao, a mutton dish, and Henry and I ordered the one picture on the menu that looked like grilled chicken kabobs. We got a tray of vegetables to enjoy, two large pieces of naan (Indian bread), and a yogurt based sauce each. We weren’t really sure how to eat all of it, but we watched those around us and improvised as best we could. We didn’t get any napkins, but there was a box of kleenex-type tissues on the table that we could use. We debated if they were really supposed to be used as tissues or napkins, but since we had no other options, we made do with them. In our opinion, these made a poor substitute for napkins, and as we spent more time in Dubai, we learned that this was indeed their intended purpose.

After a quick dip in the pool, we found some dinner nearby at The Seven Stars Hot Pot. This was a different kind of experience for us.  If you aren’t familiar with it, hot pot is a Chinese meal where you are served various raw meats and vegetables, and you cook them yourself at your table in a flavorful broth served in a large pot. We were seated at our table, and from there, we got to pick two meats from their menu to begin with. We could order any of a wide selection of meats from their menu that we wanted, and we could eat all we wanted, but we were limited to pick two at a time. Trying to stick to something somewhat familiar, we chose chicken and beef to start with. We weren’t sure what we were doing yet, so we ordered a mixed pot of sauces; on one half of the pot, we had a red, spicy broth, and on the other, the broth was well seasoned but not at all spicy.  Then we each went through the buffet area picking out the vegetables that we wanted as we went down the line.

Brian and I had been to The Melting Pot before, and so we kind of knew what to do. But this was different. Everything was brought out all at once, and it was up to you to figure out how to properly cook your foods and how to keep your dishes clean and sanitary. We messed up at first, and each of us put in the items that we were wanting to eat in the order we were wanting to eat them. After a few nerve-wracking minutes of trying to figure out whose chicken was whose (and more importantly, whose chicken was fully cooked), we figured out a system that worked pretty well. All in all, it was a great meal, and we enjoyed it very much. Henry discovered he loved bean sprouts, Brian ate his weight in crab, and I got my fill on sweet potatoes. And the absolute best part, no one got sick from it.

The next day, we rested up quite a lot, and we made it over to the Mall of the Emirates for the first time that evening for dinner. It was a nice mall, very nice actually, but if we’d realized that we would come to this mall every single day for the rest of the trip, we’d probably not have made this trip. It was stylish and modern, and it had every store you could imagine. We enjoyed the food court, especially, because we could all eat what we each wanted. Brian and Henry picked Chinese, and they laughed at me because I picked a hot dog for our first meal there. It just sounded so different from normal. I mean, really, I won’t eat a hot dog in too many places because I’m just never sure they’re going to be good. I figured if I was going to eat one outside of the US, Dubai would be a good place. It wasn’t really. I should have waited.  In this case, they made the better choice with their standard Chinese fare.

The next morning, we woke up and found our way over to the Burj Khalifa. Henry has talked about this building for years, and he scoured the sky looking for it on our way into town. It’s the tallest building in the world, and Henry couldn’t wait to see it in person. We walked over to the Mall of the Emirates and bought our tickets from there to board the Metro, Dubai’s subway system. After a short ride, we got off at the station for the Dubai Mall, the biggest shopping mall in the world. Like the Mall of the Emirates, the Metro is connected to it via elevated walkways, so after exiting the train, we easily made our way into the mall. It took us a little while to get ourselves oriented because the place is just so unbelievably large. We passed by the ice skating rink and the world’s biggest aquarium, through one of several food courts, and then we finally found ourselves outside in an outdoor park area. American restaurants peppered the mall’s exterior, but we hardly took notice of them. Standing in front of us was the beautiful building that we’d come to see.

As we walked closer to it, we crossed a bridge and watched the water fountain show. Henry got a little teary eyed because he couldn’t believe he was actually here and seeing this in person. Of course, that made me a little teary eyed too.  The show was spectacular, timed perfectly with the rhythms of the music. After the show, we made our way back into the lower level of the mall and over to the entrance of the Burj Khalifa.

We walked through a museum of sorts as we entered the building. There were displays that detailed the timeline of building it, the different milestones they hit during the construction, and the impact to the region. From an engineering perspective, I found it quite interesting. The building wasn’t initially planned to be so large, but as other countries built taller structures, the plans morphed into what it is today.  After all, Dubai couldn’t build the second largest building in the world on purpose. 

When we finally got in and the doors closed on the crowded elevator, we watched and listened to a multi-media presentation as we quickly made our way to the 125th floor. The view from there through the floor to ceiling glass walls was impressive. It was hazy outside, so visibility was reduced a bit, but you could still see the massive city sprawling all the way to the Persian Gulf. There were quite a few displays detailing the construction and maintenance of the building, and Brian and I really enjoyed those.  There were also computerized binoculars to help you look out on the city and identify local points of interest that we found quite fun as well.

After circling the entire floor and taking plenty of photographs on the open-air deck on the 124th floor, we made our way back down to the exit. With our ticket purchase, we’d gotten a pass to go to the Sky Observatory in the Sky Views Hotel. We decided to kill a few more hours at the mall so that we could use the Sky Observatory tickets to see the night sky from there. We debated going to a Virtual Reality arcade, a movie, or go-kart racing. Instead, we ended up just walking the mall area some more. By dusk, we started making our way over to the hotel to use our ‘free’ passes.

There wasn’t a crowd there at all, and we were able to walk right in with no issues. After making our way up the elevator, we were escorted to the glass-bottomed slide on the 53rd floor. The employees helped us get on our mats, and we each took our turn sliding down to the 52nd floor over the glass that was cantilevered out past the edge of the building. The slide was quick, but I wouldn’t open my eyes and I refused to look down.  When I reached the bottom, I couldn’t get off the glass quickly enough. Henry loved it though, of course.

If the slide wasn’t enough to raise my blood pressure, the see-through floor of the Sky Views Hotel certainly was. I was nauseated just by looking down. In my head, I knew that the floor is safe to walk on. I really did. But I could not make myself get out there and do it. Henry tried to get me out there. Brian tried. The sweet little lady who was working in the area even offered to hold my hand. But I just couldn’t do it. It was beautiful, but I could see the beauty from the solid floor on the side of the glass just fine.

My favorite part of the experience, though, was looking over the city at night. The twinkling lights on and around the Burj Khalifa were majestic looking. It was absolutely stunning. Traffic moved on the streets below, but somehow the head and taillights just added to the beauty. I could have stayed there staring at that all night. The Burj Khalifa was great to go see, but when you are inside, you cannot really appreciate how big and beautiful the structure really is. Standing on this observation deck, though, you could fully take the spectacle of it in.  It was gorgeous.

We stopped by the Shake Shack in the Dubai Mall before we went back to our room for the night. We were still fighting the effects of jetlag, and we were all ready to crawl into our beds. Maybe we were just craving comfort foods, but we just couldn’t pass up a good greasy burger and chocolate milk shake that night.

The next day, we decided to try a new kind of adventure. Henry had really wanted to go to Deep Dive Dubai to scuba dive in the world’s deepest pool, and when we found out that for the three of us to enjoy an hour dive there would cost us 8 days on our trip budget, he was heartbroken. We just couldn’t swing that kind of expense for an hour of entertainment.  We’d talked about a few different options we could enjoy, and after several days of debating the pros and cons of each one, we elected to go snow skiing instead. So after grabbing a bite to eat, we paid our fees and made our way into the Ski Dubai Resort.

In full transparency, I have to admit I was very excited about snow skiing, but I was really nervous. I went with a group of friends when I was a teenager, and I absolutely loved it. We spent a week in West Virginia, and I remember getting the hang of it and finding it loads of fun. Brian had never gone until about 15 years ago. He and I went with some other friends to ski in North Carolina. It was really warm in the day there and really cold at night, so the snow would turn to slush in the day, and freeze hard as a rock at night. It was more like trying to ski on ice, and it hurt incredibly badly if you fell. Also, it was man-made snow, so on the slope, it was great.  But if you got too far off of the main slope, you’d hit grass which skis don’t slide on at all, and that was extraordinarily painful as well. Brian hated it the whole time, and while he said that one day he might consider going again, I honestly never thought he would.

So I was really surprised when Brian agreed to do this. I don’t think he expected to like it, either. Henry was just so excited about it, and after watching how hard he took the news about Deep Dive Dubai, Brian simply couldn’t say no. After getting our rental gear, we waited patiently in the skiing class waiting area for our instructor to arrive. Henry would be in the kid class, so we wouldn’t be with him. We were all in the same little bunny slope area, though, so we could see one another and cheer each other on.

Our instructors were great, and we all had a really good lesson. I was getting comfortable again, at least on the bunny slope we were practicing on, and both Brian and Henry were doing pretty great too. After our hour lesson was up, though, we had to pack up the skis and entertain ourselves with their other snow activities. We had hoped that they’d allow us to continue to practice in the practice area, or perhaps even work our way onto the bigger bunny slope, but they wouldn’t. We were disappointed, but we decided to make the best of it and enjoy all of their other activities.

They had a luge slide that Henry loved, several tube slides, a large inflated ball you could ride down the slope inside, and another larger tube ride they called the Mountain Thriller. We were free to take the ski lift as often as we’d like also. We played until we were cold and exhausted, then we left to get lunch.  We played some more, and then we left to get dinner.  Not ready to give up just yet, we played a little more after that. We ended up closing the place down, and we had a great time. Our only regret was that we couldn’t ski a little more, but perhaps we’ll find somewhere else on the trip to have another try at that.

We woke up the next day, and we were all surprised we weren’t more sore. We had a desert safari planned for the afternoon and evening, so we had a little time to relax during the morning. At around 2:30 pm, our safari driver picked us up for our desert adventure. He was a young Pakistani man who didn’t speak a lot of English. He was polite and kind, but our conversation was so difficult that eventually we just rode in silence. We picked up another family on the way, and they helped liven up the ride. It was a man, his wife, and their daughter’s college friend. The man, Simon, and his wife were from the UK, but they’d been living in Dubai for the last 14 years. The daughter’s friend was visiting with them for a few days and taking in the sights. The couple had been on this type of safari several times before, but they were excited to take this girl and let her experience it for herself.

After an hour ride into the desert, we stopped at a very busy parking area bustling with activity. On both sides of the road, drivers sped up and down the dunes in ATVs and on 4-wheelers. For a small fee, our driver would arrange it so that we could enjoy the activity as well, but we opted not to. At home, we could ride 4-wheelers anytime we wanted, so we didn’t feel the need to spend that extra money here. Instead, we wandered around watching all our fellow tourists get suckered in to buying souvenirs that they’d likely throw away shortly after they got back home. We bought some snacks and found a quiet corner in the chaos to scarf them down.

After our pitstop, we got back in our SUV and drove further into the desert. After 20 minutes or so, we left the main road for a beaten down trail to another parking area. Here we changed from our Nissan Armada to a bright white four-wheel drive Toyota Land Cruiser. We climbed inside not really knowing what was in store for us.  This very luxurious vehicle, complete with leather seats and electronic everything, was also outfitted with a full roll cage.  While it was comforting to know we’d be protected if we crashed, it was also a little disconcerting to think we might actually need it.  What had we signed up for? Our driver made sure we were all buckled and ready to go, and then we took off on an incredibly fun route over and through the dunes.

I’d never heard of dune bashing until we scheduled this excursion, but I had a ball. I hadn’t laughed so hard in quite some time. We got tossed around, and there were more than a few times I thought we were about to flip over. The driver sprayed sand all over the vehicle as we slid on and over the shifting sands, and every time we did, I got to watch Henry and Brian’s faces light up with delight. It was quite a lot of fun, but the 15-20 minutes we spent going full speed on the dunes was more than enough for me.  Simon, the man from the UK who was traveling with us, told us that they tried dune bashing on their own one time, and within a minute, they were stuck very deep in the sand and had to be pulled out.  Apparently, it takes quite a lot of skill to maneuver the dunes well, and our driver definitely had that.

We made our way through the unmarked desert ‘road’ to a Bedouin camp just a few minutes further in.  Several men greeted us formally as we exited the vehicle and they welcomed us to the camp. We had an option to ride a camel, and of course, we couldn’t pass that up.

After the camel ride, we took our turn at dune surfing. Sliding down the dune on the snowboard was a lot of fun, but the climb back up to the top was difficult enough to discourage me from doing it too many times. I never realized just how tall sand dunes could really be!

Henry simply enjoyed playing in the sand. I’ve never seen a kid who enjoys sand the way he does. He can just never get enough of it.

After we played a while, we went inside the camp.  I went over to get my free henna tattoo while Brian and Henry rounded up some drinks for us. We found our seats at our assigned table and got ready for the show. In addition to a barbeque dinner, we would be treated to a show with live entertainment – belly dancers, tanoura dancers, and a fire show. Our tables were positioned so that we sat on large pillows on the ground surrounding the stage. We were near the edge of the audience in the cheap seats, but we were able to stand and see the exhibitions much better than most of the guests.

As the evening wore on, the night air turned chilly, and we were ready to be back in the warmth of our comfortable beds.  At the end of the show, our driver met us at the entrance to the camp and we loaded back into his vehicle.  We dropped off the other family, and around 10:30 pm, our driver finally dropped us back off at our hotel steps.  It was a great night and a fun experience, but we were worn out.

The next day, we decided to explore a different section of town and learn a little more about the culture we were in.  We woke up early and headed back over to the mall to catch the Metro again.  We made it just in time to the Jumeirah Mosque in Old Dubai where the Shiekh Mohammad Center for Cultural Understanding was holding their morning tour and question/answer session.  After a few refreshments, the hostess started the session and introduced us to the facility.  We toured the mosque, and she explained the five pillars of Islam to the group.  Everyone listened respectfully and attentively to her summary.  It was very informative for us, and we found it interesting to hear about the beliefs of Islam from a person who actually practices it.  I’d always heard that it was supposed to be a peaceful religion, but unfortunately at home, all we hear about in the news is the violence and subjugation of women by the more radical sects.  From talking with these people and seeing a glimpse into their lives, we learned that the picture we see at home doesn’t tell the whole story. 

It was interesting to learn more about the Call to Prayer that we heard broadcasted throughout the city; we’d been hearing this each day as we walked in and around town, and we knew it was related to prayer, but that was all.  We also learned about Mecca and how all physically and financially able Muslims are required to make their pilgrimage there at least once in their lifetime.  Pre-covid, over 2.5 million people made the once per year journey to Saudi Arabia to worship and pray there together. After a brief question and answer session, we took off to explore the old portion of town.

We walked through the Gold Souk, an outdoor mall with store upon store selling everything gold from small trinkets to enormous and outrageous dress-sized jewelry.  We gawked and joked about actually wearing these expensive pieces in public.  You’d have to be crazy.  And rich.  But probably both.

After a short taxi ride across the water, we found ourselves in a section of town that was more reminiscent of Aladdin than anything we’d seen before.  The beautiful buildings lined the street of the outdoor mall, but at that time of day, the streets were nearly empty. 

We wandered around the maze of buildings until we found ourselves standing outside the Museum of Illusion, a place we’d discussed going, but hadn’t planned to go to.  Looking inside, we decided to just go on in.  The place was really neat, and we had a lot of fun examining all of the different exhibits.

The streets were packed with people when we exited the museum.  Local performers were getting ready to start their exhibitions, and stores were laying out their wares for tourists to browse.  While we hated to miss out on the entertainment here, we were ready to head back to our section of town and call it a day.

That evening, we walked to a local restaurant called Baba Ganousch. The food was good, but our favorite moment in the meal was when Henry bravely (or stupidly) grabbed a green pepper and decided to eat the entire thing very quickly. Now, please know that Brian and I typically do everything we can to protect him from doing something that will hurt himself because we are good parents who only want the best for him. But sometimes, he just has to learn the hard way. And he did. That pepper lit him up, and while a part of us felt sorry for him, the more devious part of me couldn’t stop laughing. If you look closely at his pictures, you might even notice the poor little tears running down his cheek.

We had saved our last full day for visiting the Expo 2020.  We’d only heard about the Expo a few weeks prior after we’d already booked our tickets to Dubai, but we were excited to go.  The World’s Expo (better known as the World’s Fair in the US) has been held for 170 years, and on each occasion, countries from all over the world bring their best innovations and achievements to the fair to showcase for everyone to see.  Dubai had been slated to host the event in 2020, but when COVID blew up, the event was put on hold.  They had built an enormous site on over 1000 acres to host the event, and they connected it to their Metro for easy accessibility.  The show had opened in October of 2021, and it just so happened, that we would get to go.  We couldn’t wait.

We rode the metro to the Expo stop, and grabbed our tickets on the way in.  It took us a bit to get oriented to the event as there was just so much to see.  We walked in with a list of the ‘countries’ we really wanted to visit, but the site map was so large it was hard to plan a route to see them all.  We knew from reading up on it that there were several exhibits that were different and noteworthy, so of course we wanted to go see them.  We also picked a few countries that we’d visited and a few that we knew were on our wish list.  We spent the day looking at the amazing exhibits, learning more about these places, and being wowed by their creativity and ambition.  There were a few exhibits that made us scratch our heads in confusion, but most of them were fantastic.  Our last exhibit for the day was the one for the United States.  It was nice to hear people welcome us into the show with clear US English accents.  While we didn’t really care for the USA exhibit, it was nice to feel like some part of the US was there with us.

We had an evening flight to get us to our next destination, so on our last morning, we moseyed out of our hotel and over to the mall once again to get on the Metro.  This time, we rode to the Jumeirah Palm.  We wanted to check out the palm island and get a glimpse of the Atlantis resort we had been seeing from our hotel roof.  From the comfort of the front seats on the monorail, we were able to view the buildings on the islands.  The homes and apartments were all very modern and very nice.  There were grocery stores, day cares, and every other business that residents needed to maintain their lives. 

We got off the monorail at the Atlantis resort, and we did our best to walk in like we owned the place.  The resort really was very much like Vegas.  Inside the hotel, there were stores and restaurants selling high end clothing and gourmet food.  We found our way to a recreation area upstairs where you could bowl and play billiards, arcade games, and more.  There was a multistory playground on one corner of the building, and Henry had been eyeing it very hard from the moment we walked in.  We assumed that it would be rather expensive to visit, so we told him to not get his hopes up.  But after walking around for a few minutes, he’d had all he could take; he walked up to the reception desk and asked how much it was to play.  He lit up when she said it was free.  We signed the waiver, and they gave him a wristband and let him in.  He had a ball.  He ran and climbed until he finally came out of there a sweaty mess.  It was good to see him enjoy himself like that again. 

We made it back to our hotel in time to grab our bags and walk back over to the mall for a final time.  Since we would have all of our luggage with us on the train during rush hour, we decided it would be best for us split up for the ride to the airport.  Henry and I climbed in the Women and Children carriage of the train hoping it would be less crowded and Brian found a spot in the regular carraige.  The train was packed very tightly with rush hour traffic, and we were all hot and uncomfortable trying to keep our balance and protect our bags at the same time.  A few stops before the airport, things finally started clearing out, and we were able to grab seats and relax.  We made it to the airport, sweaty and hungry, but we had plenty of time before our flight.

Unfortunately, we hadn’t banked on not being able to check in.  The airlines we travel with usually have quite a few check in desks, and they are staffed all day.   This one was a little different.  We were flying from Dubai to Oman, and then from there, we’d catch our next flight on to Sri Lanka.  The Oman Air team was rather small, and the employees would shift between the check in counters and the gate as needed.  We were directed to a waiting area to wait until our check in counter would open.  We’d been looking forward to getting checked in and grabbing a nice bite to eat in the lounge, and with every minute that ticked by, that seemed to be less likely. 

Finally, our check in counter opened up, and we moved from the waiting area to the line.  One employee went down the waiting line helping guests get all of their documents ready in order to speed up the check in process.  When he got to us, we told him where we were going, and he called us by name.  Apparently, we were the only guests flying on to Sri Lanka, and he’d remembered our names when he was studying the passenger manifest.  We showed him our documents, but when he found out that we hadn’t gotten our visas already, he became confused.  Sri Lanka had only recently opened their borders again, and this airline was unclear on what we’d need to ensure we got in properly.  We had tried to get the visas ahead of time, but the Sri Lankan website would not accept our credit card payment.  Since that wasn’t working, I did some more research and discovered we could get the visas on arrival for a slightly higher fee.  I assured the attendant repeatedly that the Sri Lanka government’s website said we’d be okay to get our visas on arrival, and after researching it for 15 minutes or so, they finally agreed. 

The final paper we needed for entry was a health disclosure form that we could either fill out electronically or we could fill out a paper copy upon arrival.  I’d elected to do the paper copy, but they asked that we do the electronic copy instead.  So as the line continued to pass us by, we stood in front of the check in counter and I worked on filling out the documents on my phone.  I completed Brian’s and then mine.  I got an email with a QR code on mine, but we never got anything on Brian’s, so assuming I had bumbled something, I redid his, and eventually we got an email on his as well. When I did Henry’s, we got a confirmation with a QR code, but the email just wouldn’t come through.  The attendant demanded that we have the email before we could check in, and regardless of how hard I tried to explain that the code I’d saved from the site would suffice, he wouldn’t budge.  At some point, we had 3 different attendants listening to my explanation in hopes that one of them could understand well enough what I was trying to say.  I don’t know if they eventually did or if they just felt sorry for us, but after arguing for over two hours, they let us go. 

We checked in with no other issues, but at this point, we didn’t have much time before we would be boarding.  Brian had been hungry before we left Atlantis, and by this point, he was so hungry he was developing a migraine.  The gourmet lounge meal we’d hoped for was replaced by a McDonald’s burger and soft drink that we barely had time to scarf down before it was time to get on the plane.  We got to our seats, and for the first time all day, we had time to reflect on Dubai and what a great time we’d had. 

We had wanted to visit so much more of the UAE, but our timing didn’t allow for it.  During the week we were there, militants had used a drone to explode a fueling station at the Abu Dhabi airport killing three people, and just days later, the UAE announced that they had shot down incoming missiles over Abu Dhabi.  Even if our time and financial budgets had been larger, we felt like it was time for us to get out of there.  I feel certain that the UAE will go to great lengths to protect its people, but the terrorist activity going on was a little too close for our comfort.  We met a lot of great people during our time there and having real faces to put in the crowd makes these heinous acts even more detestable.  I’m glad we will be able to rest easy soon, but I hate it for the people who live here.   

The UAE was such a nice place to visit, and it was a great first country for us to explore on this side of the world.  I hated that we couldn’t stay longer.  The food was delicious, the people were kind, and the city of Dubai is absolutely gorgeous.  We learned a lot about a group of people who live very differently than us, and while we may not agree with all of their thoughts on life or religion, we are leaving with a new understanding of who they are.  After interacting with us for a very short week, my hope is that they have a slightly different perspective on who we are as well.