Dubai was the only place on this trip I thought I actually knew what I was getting into — WRONG!

Dubai was absolutely remarkable! There is no stereotype or idea I had in my mind that came close. I knew it would be big and modern but I had no idea.

First of all – just about everywhere you go is a world record for something. Everything is the biggest or the tallest or the most expensive in the entire world. Dubai makes every other city I’ve ever been to seem…. puny. At the top of Burj Khalifa, you looked DOWN on a city that’s the size and height of manhattan… and that’s just part of the city. Dubai wasn’t just vertical, it was horizontal as well. It was incredibly spread out.

A few notes about the city – similar to Qatar – little to no crime, no graffiti, no litter, no homeless people. It’s spectacular.

My first day there I went to a rooftop pool, in a bikini, drinking champagne, eating pizza, listening to Michael Buble Christmas music on the loud speakers looking up at the Burj Khalifa. It was unreal. It was unexpected.

Now Dubai, I would live in. It would be an awesome place to live and work for two years while traveling that areas of the world.

My general itinerary of the three days included:
– Burj Khalifa (pay the extra to go to the top top)
– Miracle Gardens
– Food Tour
– Gold Souq
– The Palm
– The Marina
– Museum of the Future
– Dubai Eye

Go to the top of Burj Khalifa, and pay the extra to go to the top-top. The 60 second elevator goes up 125 floors, with a secondary elevator going to the 148th for the most spectacular view. It’s an open air view and you don’t feel or hear the wind, which is wild. They also serve coffee, tea, and snacks complementary at the top.

The miracle gardens is another example of the ‘biggest and the best’ with 50 million flowers, 200 million plans, which consume 200,000 gallons of water a day. IN THE DESERT COUNTRY!

I did a foot tour of the city, which I highly recommend – nothing better than walking around restaurant to restaurant eating! I try to take one in every city, it’s a great way to taste a bunch of the local food and get some history.

It’s obviously worth the walk through the Gold Souq. It’s the only thing ‘old’ in the city, and there’s some great gold jewelry and spices. Plus you’re right across the sea from Iran so the saffron is fresh!

I took a trip up to the Palm, the man-made island. You can’t actually tell when you’re on it, it just looks like… idk… normal city land? The marina area had a lot of families and kid play areas.

The two things I didn’t get to do were the Museum of the Future (didn’t realize you needed to get tickets ahead of time because it’s so popular. And the Dubai Eye – which is TWICE the size of the London Eye – of course!

Dubai is 10% native, 90% foreigners. While many people can get residency, nobody gets citizenship unless you’re actually a native. This is because they take extremely good care of their people. It’s another country with no taxes, because they don’t need to collect them because of all the oil money. And they used the money to diversify and focus on tourism and real estate.

Such a spectacular city – this is definitely a place I’ll be returning to!