I think my legs are still a bit swollen from that long flight, but if we’re being honest I’d go back and do that trip all over again. I’ve already told y’all about my awesome experience with Qatar Airways, but I wanted to share my trip with you. I’m breaking this up into a few posts because my days were so jam packed and it’s easier for me to do that rather than have one really long post.
My flight left Houston on Wednesday evening at 6:30 and it was a 14.5 hour flight to Doha, an hour and a half layover there and then a 45 minute hopper to Dubai. With the time difference it was like a full 24 hours had passed since I’d left home. I flew into DWC and my hotel was in Deira so it was another 45 minute drive to my hotel, but that was fine because I spent that time checking in with everyone at home and letting them know that I’d landed safely.
I truly lucked up with my hotel, it was a 4-star hotel in a really touristy part of town and I got it for a great price. My room was huge and the bed was so comfortable. All I wanted to do that first night was shower, get a bite to eat and get some rest and that’s exactly what I did. It was as cold and rainy night and I didn’t feel like venturing out to the restaurants near my hotel so I had my food delivered and called it a night shortly after midnight.
Friday was my first full day in town and it lined up with the weekend. Yes, you read that right the weekend starts on Friday and Friday Brunch is a big thing there. I woke up early and worked out at the hotel gym before getting ready and meeting my cousin at the Atlantis at the Palm for their brunch. I’d originally planned on taking an Uber everywhere while I was there, but the cabs were so cheap and they were everywhere! I could literally step out of my hotel and stick my hand out and hail 3 cabs.
Now back to the Atlantis brunch. It was pricey but totally worth it! All you could eat and drink with every cuisine station you could think of (and some of the best mac and cheese I’ve ever had) and drink stations too. It seemed like my champagne glass was never empty and I made my way to the Jack Daniels, Jameson and slushy station. We ate and drank for about four hours until we were escorted over to the bar on the property, Indulge. Dubai is what we call “moist”, you can get alcohol at bars but because the liquor licenses are so expensive bars typically partner with hotels to cover the costs so there’s a bar in just about every major hotel. We continued the party at the bar, dancing to 90’s R&B hits and today’s Top 40, in fact I didn’t leave the bar until after 9PM! The only thing I regret about that day was that I didn’t take advantage of the spa services that came with my brunch ticket. A massage would’ve been perfect after all of that dancing, but then I probably would’ve been stuck at the hotel all night. The bridge was closed for Saturday’s cycling race so I had to take a tram and then a taxi back to my hotel and called it a night.
I have a Tuneage Tuesday post about my favorite Grammy songs scheduled for tomorrow, but come back on Wednesday to read about my Saturday shenanigans.