প্ৰথম ষ্টপ: ডুবাই!

On January 27th, 2017, our little adventure begins!

Our first destination is Dubai. After a fairly pleasant but sleepless flight and a very long line at passport control, we were finally able to check into the hotel around 9 am and head towards sleep. However, this hope was soon dashed as the check-in was not possible until 2 pm... 4 hours! :O Due to our tiredness, we spent most of the time sitting in the lobby until we decided to take a stroll and explore Dubai. Finally in the room, we gratefully fell into bed. We had actually set an alarm clock, but we skillfully ignored it and woke up very confused after 2 hours - awakened by the lovely singing of a muezzin. But since we were already awake, we might as well go out and conquer Dubai. ;) We took the metro towards the Burj Khalifa. However, we got off a few stations earlier to get a closer look at the other tall buildings.

After a very long walk, we ended up in a dead-end, with the Burj Khalifa still right in front of us but unreachable. In Dubai, there are hardly any sidewalks (as a security guy laughingly told us: 'Walking? Not in Dubai!!') and there are huge highways everywhere without bridges or traffic lights. After some unsuccessful attempts, we finally found a way and were kindly led by a stranger through a shortcut to the Dubai Mall and thus also to the Burj Khalifa right next to it. However, we felt a little uneasy as this route took us through hotels, parking garages, and emergency exits. In the end, we made it safely to the mall and were overwhelmed by its size and offerings. For example, there is not only a movie theater and an aquarium, but even an ice skating rink and much more. After that, we went to the Burj Khalifa, where we just missed the water show. Nevertheless, we were fascinated by this impressive building!

Knowing that the Dubai Mall is open until midnight, we took our time and only started making our way back to the metro shortly before 11:30 pm. But it wasn't that simple... When we arrived at the metro station, we found ourselves and many other confused tourists standing in front of a closed entrance. The annoyed staff at the information desk coldly explained that the last metro had left 1 minute ago. So we faced a little problem, as we live very far from the city center. Last resort: Taxi. Luckily, we found one immediately and the driver saved us some dirhams with his fast driving. So we finally made it back to the hotel and fell asleep immediately after this long and eventful day.