To recap the trip. It was awesome. I don’t know if I can articulate my expectations I had going into the trip but it far exceeded my expectations. It was a great trip in total.
Itinerary:
- Sunday – Arrive in Dubai in AM. Settle in, nap. Dinner at local Lebanese restaurant
- Monday – Half Day City Tour in Dubai, High tea at Burj Khalifa at At.Mosphere, Dubai Mall
- Tuesday – Day Tour Abu Dhabhi, Dinner at Karma Kafe, Dubai Fountains
- Wednesday – Pool time, lunch at local Indian restaurant, afternoon/evening Desert Dune Bashing (Red Dunes)
- Thursday – Pool time, Jumeriah Beach/Burj Al Arab, Mall of Emirates, lunch at Iranian restaurant in mall, afternoon/evening Vintage Land Cruiser Desert Tour with Platinum Heritage
What to wear:
We were there in early May and it was hot, hot, hot. Low 100s daily. Dubai felt more like a dry heat so it didn’t feel that extreme, Abu Dhabi is a different story it is very humid and we could feel the heat.
Main thing for women in the cities, be respectful, cover your shoulders and wear pants/dresses past your knees during the day time. Yes, you will see people less covered up here and there during the day but culturally you will get some looks. That and with the AC blasting everywhere it is quite cool inside. We opted for maxi dresses, button up shirts and loose flowing pants. All I can say is linen, linen, linen. Linen for the win.
Evenings you can dress up more for a night out in Dubai, it wasn’t shocking to see women in shorter, tighter dresses but know that you will still see a lot of people covered up more modestly so if you are comfortable being a little out of the norm go for it. The one night we went out, Cecilia wore a sleeveless jumpsuit and I wore a high/low dress.
At the beach, you are fine wearing whatever swimwear you want just be sure to cover up to and fro. We opted to do one pieces as we were uncertain on what would be acceptable.
I brought these cooling towels that I have used for when I workout/run in the summer. Basically you soak it in water, snap it to activate and it stays cool for hours. I thought it might come in handy when we were wandering about, although the only time we felt the need to use it was in Abu Dhabi.
When it comes to the desert, wear what you like. Tanks/shorts are fine as you will mostly be with other travelers and shouldn’t come across anyone who may be offended. We stuck with button ups and linen pants for the desert ourselves to avoid sticky sand situations.
Would I change anything?
I was happy we did a few city and desert days, I wouldn’t change anything from what we did but if I could go back, I would like to spend a little more time exploring Abu Dhabi and maybe do a night over and see the Mosque at night. I hear the Mosque at night is beautiful and they light it up with blue lights. Also I think I would go spend time in the Dubai Marina, being the city is so far apart I am happy our first excursion was closer to the Burj Khalifia but for next time it would be nice to see and spend more time near the beaches and the palms.
With all of the building they are doing in preparation for the WorldExpo in 2020, I can only imagine what Dubai will be in just a few short years. I think it may be worth a trip back after that to see how they have transformed it. I can imagine it will be all the more magnificent.
Would I go again? That’s always a hard question for me. I want to see the world and knowing that I could spend my whole life traveling and not see it all so its hard to say I would go back to a place as I could see someplace I haven’t been before. That said I would go back, if I have a layover I could see me looking to do a longer layover so I could go and explore.
I find that I gravitate more towards nature rather than city but some cities are just fun to see and awe at its wonderment.
Two Thumbs up.
Go check out my past posts above for more detail and links to our activities. If you want to check out what camera gear I took check out my Why Dubai post
Also check out Cecilia’s blog for her take on the trip and all of her other adventures