New Years 2017 1 – 3

We left Bloomington for Atlanta right on time and it was a good flight.

When we got to Atlanta, we had 7 hours to wait so we ate in the center of the terminal and sat in some great comfortable chairs to people watch.  With a couple of hours to go, we decided to go down to the gate to charge Ed’s phone and wait until the plane was ready to board. 

As we were approaching the gate we realized that they were boarding and then Ed realized that his phone had not reset to the Atlanta time and he was still one hour behind!  Well we made it on but wow, was that close to missing the plane.

The flight to Paris was an 8 hour flight; however, we sat at the gate for two hours because of de-icing problems.  As a result, we were an 1 ½ late getting into Paris which meant we had only an hour to get off the plane, go down the concourse, switch to another concourse and go thru security.  Again, we made it to the plane just as they were boarding – but at least we made the plane.

We were 30 minutes early in arriving in Dubai and by the time we got our luggage it was after midnight.  Our driver was waiting for us and we were in the room and going to sleep by 2:00am. 

We were upgraded and wow what a room.  We were on a high floor (21) with an ocean view and a balcony.  It is probably $200 more a night upgrade – thanks Marriott.

We woke up at 6:45am as we had to get up, have breakfast and meet out tour guide at 9:00am for a tour of the city.  The tour was by bus with a group of about 25 people and it gave us a good general idea of the size of the city and some background.  We arrived back to the hotel at 3:00pm and rested for awhile before going out.    One of the places we drove to was Palm Island, the largest man-made island in the world and they are building 2 more. Not only are there a lot of places to live on the island, there are over 3beach-front hotels just on this island.  The island is build like a palm tree with the trunk connecting the mainland and each branch holding places to live, work and play.   The shore line is 320 miles long on this island and it was only competed in 2014 all built on reclaimed land from the sea.  It is an amazing sight to see.

We also saw the world only 7 star hotel, the Burj Al Arab Hotel, built like a big sail on a ship.  The rooms start at $2,000 a night.

We walked a few blocks from the hotel after we got back to a 4 ½ mile river walk that is on both sides of the river had over 200 restaurants!

We did not walk all of the way, but about a third and then took an evening sightseeing boat along this beautiful man-made river.  We actually went out into the ocean for a little bit before re-entering the river.

After the cruise we ate in a very good Kabobs place and shared a wonderful meal.  Then we walked over a bridge and walked back on the other side of the river.

Some interesting things we have found out.

Right away, the people are very friendly and very helpful.  As we arrived at the airport and had to go through customs, they had people to lift yor suitcases up and off the conveyor belts even. 

80% of the people are from other countries and only 20% are from Dubai.  Of the 80%, ½ are from India.

The only people who can own property are the 20% of the population who are native born.  Everyone else must lease their property.  Even businesses cannot buy their property if their owner is not native born.  Everything is controlled by the King.

There is very little crime and the city is very, very clean and of course, it is very rich – extremely so as they discovered oil here in the early 60’s.  Before that, they supported by fishing and trading.  Today the revenue sources are #1 oil and #2 tourists.

Everything seems new and they talk about how this and that are the biggest in the world.  It seems like they have the biggest in the world in about everything.

Dubai is actually a state and one of seven states in the United Arab Emirates.  Each of the seven states is controlled by a family with King at the head.  So, this is a monarchy and it is very impressive. 

Gas is 43 cents a gallon.

Time to say good night from Dubai.

                          Our Room at the Habtoor Grand Resort Autograph Collection Marriott Dubai

                                                             The view from our balcony

Breakfast on the outdoor dining area of the Executive Lounge

The 7 star hotel

Time for a snack

We saw this yacht in Europe a couple of years ago - owned by a Russian

A snack delivered to our room

Snacks at night in the Executive Lounge - on the left, Smoked Salmon nd on the right Smoked Duck with Quail Egg

Dinner

The trunk of Palm Island

The entire island - this island has a shore line of 320 miles!

The river walk and sky line