What I Would Do In Dubai

I’ve been thinking about what I’d like to do in Dubai, a thought that had never really crossed my mind before. From hitchhiking and free camping to a stable life and an extravagant city, how is it that I made this transition? Well, I haven’t really made any transition, but I started thinking about this because I’m aiming to make the most of all opportunities that come across my path in future.

How I Started Thinking About Dubai

Over the past six years, I’ve been a big advocate of making the most of every moment in my life. Of course, it isn’t possible to make the most of every moment, but we must do the best that we can. In the last few months, since arriving in Malta, I’ve struggled with this. I found myself looking at flights to South Korea recently. My little brother is teaching English in South Korea — in Daegu specifically, where I lived for a year — and I’m hoping to visit sometime in the next few months.

As I was looking for flights, I found several that stopped in the UAE, and I shuddered at the thought of the several 10-hour stopovers I’ve experienced in the UAE. It’s not a slight against the country, it’s just that I hate sitting around in any airport. I’ve stopped in the UAE multiple times when flying between Europe and Asia or Australasia over the past few years. Then I stopped myself and I thought, “Why am I wishing these moments away?”

I’m on Malta, a small but beautiful rock, looking at flights to another part of the world, feeling irritated about potentially having to sit in an airport for half a day, several months from now. It’s not always easy, but I’m trying to realign my mindset and be more positive about all situations.  I’m going to start with sitting in an airport on a stopover because it sounds as uninspiring an activity as I could hope to encounter.

Despite my many visits to Abu Dhabi, just a 90-minute bus ride from Dubai and a city that’s famous all over the world for extravagance, I’ve never taken the time to leave the airport. I’m regretting these wasted moments. Next time I have a stopover, I will endeavour to leave the airport and make the most of being in a city that’s not quite like any other. After a little research, I’ve found more than a few things that I would very much like to do.

Things I Want to Do in Dubai

  • Visit a Water Park. I love the idea of water parks, but I’ve never really been to a proper one. Dubai has one of the most extravagant water parks in the world, and I would love to try it out.
  • Ski Indoors. I’ve hit snow-covered slopes on three continents and loved every moment, but never have I skied somewhere with an average daily high of 33.4 degrees Celsius. It won’t compare to big mountain skiing, but I want to know what it feels like to walk from sweltering heat to a ski slope and back again.
  • Ride Through the Dunes. With camels, 4x4s, and quad bikes available, as well as my very own two feet, I’d love to see what it feels like to race over huge sand dunes. I’ve played on little dunes before, but nothing like Dubai has to offer.
  • Visit the (Ex) Highest Observation Deck in the World. Burj Khalifa is home to what was the highest observation deck in the world, and I’d like to go up there, just to feel what it’s like to be 555.7 meters above the ground, in a building. Nature is the greatest architect in this world, and I love to stand atop mountain peaks, but I do appreciate human engineering, too.
  • Ride a Jet Ski. I’ve never ridden a Jet Ski, not even once. I’ve always thought of them as loud and against nature, but in a city where its existence defies nature itself, I do have a secret desire to race around on the water sometime.

In truth, the more I’ve looked, the more I’ve found. There are tons of other fun things I’ve found that I would love to try out in Dubai, so I might have to start looking for somewhere to stay! In fact, maybe that would be a great option on all future flights, to make the stopover into an experience, with finances and time permitting. Wherever I go, wherever I stop, I will try to leave the airport and have an experience that makes the stopover worthwhile. It’s just a little idea to make life more enjoyable on an ongoing basis, which is something we should all do in our lives. What do you do to enjoy those “unenjoyable” moments in life?

By | 2017-04-10T18:36:08+00:00 April 10th, 2017|Thoughts and Inspiration|0 Comments

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