March 5 - March 12, 2015
When we first arrived in Dubai I was having an anxiety attack. I was so excited. I kept thinking about all of the cars and buildings I was going to see. I was not let down when we walked out into the airport parking garage. There were three Bentleys, two old ones and one new GT V8.
Our driver was not the best, to say the least. But, then again, we had a driver. It took him ten minutes longer to get to our place because there was a sign blocking the door which we could've walked by. But no, we had to go through six parking garages and still had to walk.
When we walked into the apartment it was huge! It had two floors, an amazing view and a very nice Indian couple (Maha and Venkat). It was one in the morning when we arrived, and it was Venkat's birthday. So we celebrated with delicious cake and introduced ourselves.
When we woke up Maha made an amazing breakfast! We had omelettes with beans and delicious things that I don't even remember. After that we went to go shopping for a new phone for my mom. We looked for hours and finally went to a grocery store which offered the best price.
After that we pretty much did the same thing every day. We went to the world's biggest mall, looked at things we could never afford, and so on. That was until I was reminded we were still going to go to the Burj Khalifa and go kart racing. When we went to the Burj Khalifa. it was decided I would spend the Christmas money that I didn't know of to go to the 148th floor. My mom, of course, would come with me, but shockingly, her ticket would come out of her own money. This would happen while my dad and sister went to the 124th floor, which was still 30 dollars a person. Ours was much more.
It was very packed when we got in line. The largest line was for the 124th floor because more frustrated tourists would buy that ticket. There were only about fifteen people in our lounge where we waited and got our badges and snacks. There was obviously security for both lines; and not surprisingly at all that one Japanese tourist, 'lol cra cra', that was pulled aside for having a steak cutting knife in his bag which he didn't need. Of course he was with the whole 'lol Cra Cra' family.
It was always my dream to go to the Burj Khalifa since I was five. But when the guide was pointing out a highlighted area in the ceiling glass where you could see the 148th floor, 'Mrs. I don't give a crap' comes out when I'm standing to see the floor. She went in front of me to take a photo, pointed her phone at the glass while our group started walking away. Her phone was off. She turned the phone on and went into the camera app and took 29 photos. I got a three millisecond glance at the ceiling before I had to shove her away to get with the group.
We took an elevator to the top, took drinks and chocolates and then went to explore. We took about a hundred photos before realizing it was hazy outside, and as a reaction, my mom almost jumped through the glass. We walked around, used the crazy fancy toilets and then found "the room." This was a big black room with a giant screen of Dubai in an X-ray view with two little podiums with sensors on them in front of the screen. We tried for fifteen minutes to figure it out until something clicked...
Does Liam break the stand in "the room," or does he miraculously figure it out?
To be continued...
For my desert safari video click http://youtube.com/c/CollinsWorldClass
VIP pass and lounge on the first floor
refreshments
The view down from the 148th floor
The lounge area on the 148th floor
In the room with the virtual tour of Dubai
My new 'Aunt Maha'