First things first, I first found out about the trip in one of my many facebook travel groups. A young lady who's an independent travel agent posted in late summer 2015 that she was planning a trip for April 2016, and to post your email if you wanted more info. Boom. Got the email with an attachment that basically broke down the entire trip from the itinerary, to price, deposit, monthly payments dates and all that. Looked great to me. I had never been to Dubai and heard so much about it. I'm lazy so the idea of someone else doing all the planning was ideal for me. I forwarded the email to literally 20 other women who I knew would be interested in a trip like that. With exception to 3 people, most folks were silent. Cool. Keep that in mind when yall keep bitching about being invited and wanting to travel. *rolls eyes* Anyways, I put down my deposit and started the monthly payments. 6 months later, it was time to depart to the middle east. The group consisted of 22 black women including our travel agent. 2 were my cousins, 1 was a family friend, another was the cousin of a family friend, and the rest were all women I had met for the first time.
The trip was amazing to say the least. A few hiccups along the way, but overall pretty awesome. Despite all the negative things I heard about Dubai (it lacked culture, you had to cover up and couldn't drink, it was a place one would only visit once, etc), it is definitely somewhere I would visit again, sooner than later. It's fun. There's lots to see and do. It's Miami, Vegas, NYC all in one with a Middle Eastern Islamic touch. I loved it.
We departed out of NYC Saturday afternoon and reached Dubai Sunday afternoon. The flight was roughly 12-13 hours and Dubai is 8 hours ahead, go figure. That was the longest flight i've ever taken and it wasn't bad at all. Sunday evening we were bored so we decided to hit the Mall of the Emirates for some food and see what Dubai is all about. The great thing is Dubai has Uber like a lot of places outside of the US these days so that's always a plus. Hopped in our Uber and went on our merry way. The Mall of the Emirates has all your fancy stores like Louis Vuitton, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga... you know all that stuff the rappers rap about. I'm too poor for that though. We ate dinner, walked around a little, met up with a guy I knew from one of my FB groups, and got the low down on Dubai. After about 2 hours, we headed back to our hotel in the Al Rigga neighborhood.Day 1
Rise & Shine. We met in the lobby to start our treck through Dubai. We had a tour guide and coach bus for the next few days to take us to various places.
- Jumeirah Beach - 1st stop, we hit the beach. Jumeirah beach is a pretty white sand beach with awesome views and clear blue water. Unfortunately, we were there for less than an hour so we only got to take pictures and sweat. The building in the background shaped like a sail is the Burj Al Arab hotel which is supposed to be the most luxurious hotel in the world. Its the 3rd tallest hotel in the world and sits on a man made island. Apparently there's a suite in there that costs $24k a night. One day when I find my sugar daddy...
- Dubai Mall - next stop was the mall. It's the largest mall in the world and has tons of stores, the Dubai Aquarium, and a movie theater. I'm not a big mall person so this wasn't appeasing to me. But I had to get some fit bit steps in so I got to walking. We stopped by the aquarium inside the mall for a hot second to see some pretty fish and snap some pics.
- Burj Khalifa - next stop was the infamous Burj Khalifa otherwise known as the tallest structure in the world. Its a building that has various uses and including hotel and residential usage, corporate suites, an observation deck, etc. It's right next door to the Dubai Mall. We captured some gorgeous views from level 124 and 125 which is known as 'At the Top.' Tickets cost 125 AED which is about $34 bux. I took a ton of pics!
- Dubai Museum - the next stop was hitting the Dubai museum. It's the oldest existing building in Dubai housed in the Al Fahidi Fort that's sole purpose is to present the traditional way of life in old Dubai ruled by a dynasty type Islamic monarch. it was 3 AED which is less than $1 buck.
- Spice and Gold Souks - the last stop of our bus tour included a visit to the local souks where you could purchase spices, traditional Islamic clothing, Gold, and other random items such as knock off gucci bags. I actually enjoy local outdoor markets so I was pretty excited to see all they had to offer. I managed to purchase 2 abayas and some curry powder. No Gold for me this time...
What a day huh?!
We concluded our day with getting cute and checking out a night club called Sensations located inside the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Dubai's nightlife scene is popping. It gave me Miami vibes for the simple fact that you need to come dressed to impress otherwise you just may not get in. The music is great, the atmosphere is dope, but the drinks are expensive AF. Just make sure you got money or you pre-game before getting to the club.
Excuse the blurriness of the pics... Double fisting like ayyyyeeeeeeeeeee!
That concludes Day 1. Stay tuned for part 2!
