Kiwi Roaming

We had about 30 hours in Dubai as a layover to break up the flying and we certainly packed as much as we could into that time. Other than the overwhelming heat we loved our experience. It is certainly designed as a tourist wonderland with great attractions, easy transport options and lovely food options.

Our flights – Backing up a wee step we flew Wellington – Melbourne – Dubai. Qantas cancelled our early morning flight meaning we only had 5 hours in Melbourne layover wise, so we spent that time in a single use lounge which was pleasant enough. Then onto Emirates for our 14 hour leg to Dubai where the 4 of us sat in a middle block of 4. The step up from Qantas to Emirates was noticeable with larger seats, better meals and those wee extras like a toothbrush pack.

We have booked so many Accor hotels this trip already I upgraded from silver to gold before we even left NZ. In Dubai we stayed at Sofitel Dubai Downtown, arriving there about 8:30am we had no expectation of an available room but they gave us rooms! yay. So a quick swim, shower and change of clothes later we jumped in the first of many Ubers to the Dubai Mall for Cheesecake Factory for brunch.

Turns out we could walk the whole way between the mall and our hotel in air-conditioned, travelator bliss – but we didn’t discover this until later in the day. In all that journey is about 1km! awesome.

Dubai Mall – I couldn’t conceive of a mall this massive, it has an aquarium, ice skating rink, massive outdoor fountain complex, 1200 shops (and we never saw the same one twice), a waterfall, outdoor gardens and decks and importantly air-conditioning as it was 43C by midday!!!!!!

Cheesecake Factory – “that was awesome” and other such phrases were muttered after our brunch. Personally I had the best breakfast burrito I’ve had outside the USA – yum. Somehow we managed to eat our massive brunch items and then share 2 x pieces of cheesecake between us. Best tip – bottomless soda’s.

Aquarium – we didn’t pay the money to go into the tunnel (a bit like Kelly Tarlton’s) but loved watching the sharks, stingrays, fish and divers who were initially cleaning the glass then were feeding the fish. The stingrays totally mugging them gave a fab show. Our Cheesecake factory table gave us a brilliant view of this constantly changing spectacle.

Last comments about the mall – it’s opulent. The wealth is evident in there, even though it’s a mall, with every brand you can imagine. We went to our first Decathlon (I anticipate we will go to many while on this trip). Loved the chandeliers, the Apple Store and the Apple Store balcony, the art work especially sculptures and people watching.

No we didn’t spend our whole 30 hours in one mall! that was til about midday. After walking back to our hotel, having wee naps and a quick wine in one of the 7 bars in the hotel, we got the train to the Museum of the Future and then an uber to the Frame.

Museum of the Future – such a fantastic building visually on the outside and inside. At night it gets lit up too which is spectacular. We loved this place and didn’t even pay to go see any exhibits, in the free part we saw a robotic arm making coffees, an AI scent invention machine, a blue 4 legged robot who danced and ran around, lots of sculptures and the building itself. If we had more time we could have spent a day there I am guessing.

The Frame – a quick google on where to see the best view of Dubai without breaking the bank we settled on The Frame. I haven’t mentioned it was a very cloudy / smoggy day (hence the extreme heat getting trapped) so didn’t want to spring for $80 each to go up the Burj Khalifa. At $25 each and with a glass floor the Frame gave us an impressive city view option, it’s 150m high with a glass walled elevator ride up and down. Outside it is spectacular to look at, we got there about 6pm and it had cooled to a luxurious 36C, with the sun setting so we wandered around the gardens taking loads photos and seeing our first bird at dusk.

A Train, a Tram and a Monorail – we bought a one day transport pass but discovered it didn’t include the monorail so paid for that separately. Our last adventure was taking all of this public transport out to the Palm for a look-see. By now it was dark so we didn’t really see much, but it was possible to see the gated communities and luxurious hotels.

Exhausted and after 8pm when the pool closed we retreated to our own rooms and ordered room service before crashing for long overdue sleep. Our rooms were 40sqm so triple the size of anything else we have booked this trip, really lovely with very comfortable beds. We included breakfast in our room deal so spent over an hour enjoying an amazing spread, then off for another swim about 9am – when it was 32C already before showering, packing and taking another uber back to the airport.

Quotes of the trip – “it’s like we’ve opened the door of the fan bake oven and climbed inside”, “we’re like chickens on a rotisserie”, “who knew it was going to be this hot”, “where are the birds” – asked in the midday heat.

Above are a selection of pictures from the short stay. Would we go back? maybe for a stopover again but we wouldn’t specifically head there for a holiday now we’ve been.

Steps Dubai day 1 = 20,614