Hi, I have Googled it and so now I know where it is.

Alessandro is terribly excited about it, and will probably plan it in great detail.

Or, he could just direct me to a taxi and we could be driven to a mall. Chi sa?

Will you please share anything at all that you know with me? The more personal knowldege I have from STers, the more empowered I will be to help him to make good decisions and have a happy (short) time.

I am particularly in need of a hotel for the night. Something preferably where I am right in the centre of something fun or exciting.

Er - just daytime things. I'm not a "night" person. Oh, and nothing strenuous. My eyes will just get wide and I'll sit very still.

Hi Leslie,
I spent 5 days in Dubai in March-since you only have one full day and a 16yr old- a couple of choices would be to go to Wadi Wadi which is apparently the worlds biggect waterpark. I didn't go but some of my colleagues did and from all reports the boys(men!) had a great time.
As mentioned before the ski park-called Ski Dubai is in the miidle of the worlds biggest shopping centre.

Do you see the theme here?

We spent about half an hour in the ski park. They give you all the necessary gear-ski clothes,socks,gloves,boots(all included in the hire)and away you go. You can just wander around or toboggin or actually pay for ski lessons. And whilst you are doing all this there are people looking at you through the window as they shop or have lunch!

The shopping centre is huge!!!

The airport is quite a distance from the centre of Dubai.

I dont really have any suggestions on accomodation as we stayed too far out of town to recommend it-cost a fortune in taxi fares.

Hope some of this is helpful


Happy planning!

Sussan

Hi Leslie,
I've had another thought-if you go to the Emirates website there is a link to a company called Arabian Adventures. This may give you and your son a few more ideas.There are pictures as well.

We had a few excursions organised for us. Some people chose a river cruise.BTW the river is Dubai is called the Dubai Creek(a very biig creek!!!) I went on a Desert Safari which was really awesome.

Sussan

Well, FlyFree, different strokes for different folks, as they say. I absolutely hated the Desert Safari - I thought it was was schlock tourism at its worst. And compared to most airports, Dubai airport is very convenient and close to downtown.

Coming from the U.S., I found Dubai to be disappointing, but a place has to be pretty special, IMHO, to justify the flight time (12 hours there, 14 hours back). I thought Australia and Israel were worth the trip; Dubai, I felt was not.

The Dhow dinner cruise on Dubai creek was okay, but certainly not unmissable. I did not get to Wild Wadi water park but hear it's fun if you're into that kind of thing.

I was with a group of tourism professionals and we had a tour and lunch at the Burj Al Arab hotel, which claims to be the world's only 7 star hotel. It's really quite a sight and the buffet lunch was amazing (lobster tails, for example) but you can't even get on the hotel grounds unless you're a hotel guest or have a restaurant reservation.

As for the shopping - my specialty - it was very disappointing. Just huge malls full of American and European merchandise at American prices. They talk about Dubai like it's a shopping paradise, but why would someone fly halfway around the world to buy something they can buy at their local mall for the exact same price? The aiport duty free is also very hyped, but there are many other airports with better duty free (the Dubai airport duty free gold shop sold jewelry from Unoaerre - a company from Arezzo that has an outlet outside Florence with better prices than in Dubai!).

We stayed at the Fairmont, which was a lovely hotel in a central location (Sheikh Zayed Road) but I think it's quite expensive (I was not paying for it, so don't know for sure). There are taxis everywhere and they're reasonable, but be prepared for the traffic - the city is growing faster than the infrastructure, so the traffic can make a 10 minute trip into a 30 minute trip.

After Dubai, we went to Oman, which I found to be a much more relaxing and authentic Arabian experience (although the Muscat souk was full of the same stuff you see everywhere: pashmina and silver jewelry and perfume).

I have some photos posted here if anyone is interested.

Coming from Australia (a much shorter trip), Dubai might be interesting for a couple of days, but I personally didn't think it was worth the long trip from the U.S. and have not recommended it to any of my friends or clients.

A friend of mine worked there for a while. It has a very hot climate.

Of relevance to Australian water shortages is the desalination that produces a lot of its fresh water. So, see what their water tastes like.

We were in Dubai for a company conference and now I have been I wouldn't go back just to visit Dubai-it would be on a stopover if necessary. Yes,everything is over the top and even though alot of the people I was with went mad with the shopping-we dont have alot of the brands that they had in the mall-I didn't find the prices much cheaper than at home just a different selection. As with anywhere you visit it is what you make of it. We all went there with no expectations.

My suggestions were based on Leslie travelling with her 16year old son and having two teenage boys I know my two would enjoy the desert safari and driving up and over sanddunes.And I think whereever you travel in this wide world of ours there are always attractions that are over the top touristy!

BTW after our company conference in Dubai a group of us went on the spend 5 days in Egypt-and that is where I am planning on going back to to explore in a lot more depth.

The flight from Australia to Dubai is actually 14 hours.

quote:

The flight from Australia to Dubai is actually 14 hours.

That - is the worst news I have heard all day!

Alessandro can't wait. I won't be shopping there. John, I'll be drinking bottled water. Leslies and sand dunes no longer mix.

Alessandro asked me if I was going to go on the water rides at the Wild Wadi place. Oh dear. Is he thinking straight?

It all came about as the plane puts me there at 11.35 at night and doesn't take off again until the next day at 10.15am. So although I originally said, OK, a stopover with one full day, I realised that Alessandro is SO looking forward to seeing something of Dubai that I have extended it to two days for him.

I'm sure we will have a good time together looking at things and drinking cold drinks.

I have loved hearing all the different viewpoints. I am not feeling at all adventurous though.

Now - this is VERY important. Where can he get a very short camel ride? I don't want to go anywhere near a sand dune or out of town or a dune buggy or a landrover. Please God let there be a camel ride for the kid somewhere near where I am staying, which will be to the left of the airport - in the same area probably as the Golden Sands apartment.

I'm considering the Majestic Hotel. He's looking wistfully but futilely at the glossy hotels.

quote:

Originally posted by Leslie:
Now - this is VERY important. Where can he get a very short camel ride? I don't want to go anywhere near a sand dune or out of town or a dune buggy or a landrover.

The only camel ride I came across when I was there was at the desert camp at the end of the dune drive. I tried checking DubaiCityGuide.com but don't see anything about a camel ride in town. There seem to be a lot of tours listed here. Maybe you can contact them and see if they can arrange just a short camel ride.

Unfortunately, all my Dubai information is at home and I won't be back there until the 26th - I can check for you then, if it's not too late.

Ooh, it's getting closer, it's only five weeks away and I have to say - I'm excited!

I've been reading up on other posters' trip destinations like Kuala Lumpur and Antigua Guatemala, and I can't think why in heck I haven't done this earlier.

Yes, I've had trips to Bangkok, Bali and Singapore - but not for years now. In fact, the last four overseas trips have been to one country each time.

My researches on Dubai have been so interesting. I want to look at the Gold Souk and the Emirates Mall. I'm keen to go to the world's only seven star hotel, the Burj Al Arab. Perhaps we can get a drink at one of the bars. One of my students stayed there for two weeks. All I have to say about that is - crikey!

The Wild Wadi water park is on my son's list of course.

We're booked in at the Dhow Hotel for three nights which gives us two days to sightsee. I can't wait!

Leslie, I'm sure you will have a great time in Dubai. I know friends who have done the stopover thing there and thought it was a great break from the flight to Europe.

I also have a friend who recently went there just for the horse racing as she and her husband had sold some of their horses to the Dubai racing fraternity. Will ring her in the next couple of days and see what she did and what she might recommend.

Elly

quote:

Originally posted by Leslie:
I'm keen to go to the world's only seven star hotel, the Burj Al Arab. Perhaps we can get a drink at one of the bars.

Leslie, I'm not sure it's that simple. When we arrived, there were security guards preventing people from entering the hotel property. We were only allowed through after they confirmed our lunch reservation. So before you go all the way there, I'd double check to see if it's even possible to get in without an existing room or dining reservation.

Just out of crass curiosity how much did it cost for lunch at a 7 star hotel?

Leslie, it really is fun to try something new and expand your travel comfort zone. I am really looking forward to hearing about your time in Dubai!

Dubai sounds interesting and I think your plan to break your trip up so you are not just going to Italy but also dipping your toe into an entirely different culture is pretty brilliant. It requires using another part of the brain. I think it's good to shake things up a bit.

All that and your son gets to check it out as well. Pretty cool...

quote:

Originally posted by Colleen:
Just out of crass curiosity how much did it cost for lunch at a 7 star hotel?

Just out of crass curiosity, which international hotel authority discerns 7 stars? Are there 8 stars? 16 stars?

Ha. Good question! I wondered, too ...

quote:

Originally posted by Americana in Parigi:

quote:

Originally posted by Colleen:
Just out of crass curiosity how much did it cost for lunch at a 7 star hotel?

Just out of crass curiosity, which international hotel authority discerns 7 stars? Are there 8 stars? 16 stars?

I have no idea what it cost, because I wasn't paying. I was on a fam trip - "fam" being short for familiarization - an inspection tour for travel professionals, to learn more about a destination. You basically spend most of your time doing hotel inspections, but you're wined and dined and the trip is usually either very cheap or free and you do learn a lot about the destination.

The lunch really was fabulous - a buffet with things like oysters and lobster tails (I think it was around $100 per person). We also had a tour of the hotel, which is very over-the-top: all duplex suites, with features like Hermes toiletries (full size, not minis), gazillion threadcount sheets, etc. Don't know who bestows the stars, but I considered it better than five-star properties I've seen. Not sure I'd rate it seven stars, whatever that's supposed to be - it's really all about the hype.

quote:

I have no idea what it cost, because I wasn't paying.

Wow. Go you!

(I have a travel agent friend who's always telling about these great sounding 'fam' trips and I wondered what it stood for - thanks for the explanation.)

Okay, now I'm curious. Here is the website for Burj Al Arab. The specials have the rooms $1000. I also found the meal prices over at Trip Advisor.

Yesterday afternoon at school in computing, I got up to do a check to see if everyone was working appropriately on the computers. I had been supervising setting up blog number #11 for yet another student. Now, eleven out of my twenty-five students have websites where they publish some of their school work on blog.com.

So I find three of them doing powerpoint presentations on this particular hotel. Some of the others were using Google maps and Google Earth. We spent several days studying Antigua Guatemala and have just moved on to Dubai. I must have been talking about it a lot (wonder why?) and I have been showing them websites that posters have sent me. I'm finding it fascinating, to be honest. The Emirates Mall will be a bit of a change from the local mall!

I had to correct one of them - the student said the hotel was made of gold. He meant some of the fittings.

I'll probably have to make do with staring at it from the Wild Wadi water park actually. It ain't my style. Would be nice though.

quote:

Originally posted by Marta:
Okay, now I'm curious. Here is the website for Burj Al Arab. The specials have the rooms $1000. I also found the meal prices over at Trip Advisor.

That sounds about right. We ate at the Al Iwan restaurant, and the Trip Advisor post prices the lunch buffet at 350 AED, which converts to 94.50 USD if I'm doing the math correctly (.27 to the Dirham) and I had been told it was around $100.

I'll be upfront about this - I don't like Dubai much and try to avoid it now for any longer than stopovers. I find the people rude and the place very fake. The shopping malls are plentiful and huge - but I guess it depends on how interested you are in shopping. The ski slope is amazing.The Gold Souk is interesting - as is the spice souk. We did the sand dune thing which was more fun than I expected. There is still some of 'old dubai' left which is worth seeing - and I think a trip on a dhow on the creek is enjoyable.

I did have dinner at the Burj al Arab (someone else was paying) but I think it is difficult to just go and have a drink.Eating out can be expensive (or very cheap if you go where the locals go) but some of the hotels have 'theme' nights which are not as cringe making as they sound and are very good value - the one at the Meridien (the one near the airport) is all you can eat and drink for about 40 USD per person I recall - complete with live music as entertainment.

Leslie, our paths have crossed on the Italy site.

We have stopped off (from Melbourne) at Dubai either going or coming back from France/Italy. I think Emirates has done a good job in overmarketing a fairly ordinary place unless you are into the $1000 per night plus expense club.

Like Italy for 2 days you won't see much. The city is about half way between the airport and the sea. Traffic is almost at a constant peak hour and getting to say the Emirates Mall or Burj Al Arab from the city area can be half to one hour taxi (cheap) drive. The Emirates Mall is OK but our big ones in Melbourne have a much better range of goods and are generally cheaper - Dubai is European priced.

The Water park and ski slope are great but time consuming for 2 days.

Number one rule for Dubai is a good sun hat and sun screen. During summer it is 50C and winter not much below 30C.

ATMs are not plentifull so top up at the airport. (See the items under Italy about the cheapest way to get money overseas).

The Creek area is a must and you must cross by Abbra - water taxi. The Gold
Suk and Spice Suk are near one stop.

I think Arabian Adventures offer the best local tours. They have a 1/3 - 1/2
day city tour which goes to the key places and is worthwhile. Also the Sundown dune 4 wheel tour, camel ride, and dinner is great as long as you are not motion sick.

I suggest you ring the Burj Al Arab because sometimes you cannot get in as a visitor and if you do it could cost up to $50 per head!!

Eating varies between very cheap (around the Creek) to very expensive so "choose wisely".

Water is desalinated and bottled water tastes much better. I hope they get a
better system when we get desalinatd.

Must go but I would be interested in your comments on your return.