Travel Journal

Assalamu alikum Jessetters

It is October 5, 2012 which happens to be a great day in history. Why you ask? Cuz its my birthday BISH, you betta act like you know. Shout out to my fellow libras out there. So I am once again at the airport. We are heading to Dubai. When we check in I ask if we can upgrade to first class, after all I deserve it, its my birtday. To my dismay, first class was full. WHAT, what do u mean first class is full? Maybe they didnt realize it was a great day in history and that great day had a lot to do with me. So I was a bit bummed about that but I was still going to make the best of it. After the flight took off and we were stable to move about in the cabin, the flight attendant taps me on my shoulder and has some champagne for me to celebrate the greatest day in history, my birthday. She tells me before I start drinking, she wants to snap a photo of me. By this time, everyone in the cabin is looking at me like I’m some sort of bootleg celebrity who couldn’t afford to sit in First Class so she is in coach drinking Chamapagne on an Airplane, TWO CHAINZZZ. Yikes, sorry for that outburst. So after my photo shoot she puts my picture in a Emirates card and her and the staff sign the card. It was such a sweet gesture that they are now my favorite airline. They did what they could do to make my birthday special and I appreciate that.

I am now back in the money exchange line, this time in Dubai. This time I am changing dinars to dirhams. I dont know how much was exchanged but whatever it was my reaction was the same as when I got to Bahrain. At this point, I’m like whatever because I now knew things in the middle east were pretty cheap. My 180 dinars actually went a long way in Bahrain so I was sure it was going to be the same in Dubai. I was actually pretty surprised how far my money was taking me. After the whole airport process, we are greeted by our driver. This was the best thing ever. The driver was so sweet and awesome. He was from India and said he moved to Dubai because there were better opportunities out in Dubai for him. His wife and kids were still back home in India and he would just send money to them. He didnt like being away from his family but it was a sacrifice he had to make which I totally understood. Anywhere we wanted to go, he took us, he waited for us. We invited him to eat with us as we celebrated my birthday and we told him we would not take no for an answer. At that moment, he realized he didnt have a choice. He laughed with us we laughed with him, we definitely had a good time. After all was done, he took us back to the hotel and told us he would be back in the morning to pick us up at whatever time we thought we would be ready.

The next day, the driver was there and took us to sites he felt we shouldnt miss while we were in Dubai. It seemed like we went everywhere. We went to Atlantis, Burj Khalifa; which is the tallest building in the world, Burj Al Arab, the beach and then some. After a fun filled day, it was time to go back to rest to prepare for what Dubai had in store for us the following day which was a desert safari.

The Desert Safari was amazing. We started off by getting into a 4 X 4 truck and went spinning around in the desert sand as the driver drove at full speed as we are going up and down hills. After our monster truck ride, we reach our camp site. We are greeted by 1 hump and 2 hump camels. This is what I had been waiting for, my camel ride. I get on my camel and I am told that my camel’s name is Kesha. So you know my silly self starts singing “I’m riding on Keisha” from Cash Out all though the names were pronounced differently, it was close enough for me. My camel’s new name was Keisha and not Kesha. Anywho, my camel ride was short because there were so many others waiting to ride Keisha. After the camel ride, it was time to grub. They had an Arabian spread for us which was pretty good. As we ate we were entertained by a belly dancing show. Man, I’ll tell you, these women were soo talented. Finally, after the entertainment was complete, it was time to go back to the hotel and get some shut eye. The next day was filled with more exploring of Dubai. I had wanted to go to Abu Dhabi but our driver insisted that Dubai was where it was at, so I left that alone. All in all, I had a great birthday in the middle east. To think I almost wasnt going to go because of my preconceived notions, silly Jessica Rabbit.

Have you had some misconceptions on traveling to the Middle East that had been derailed after your visit? If so, please share with me

Happiness Is A Journey, Come Wander With Me!