The LONG GOOD BYE!

 Our morning agenda:

COVID PCR test complete!

Antigen test complete!

Pack!

Last walk down JBR for our final Dubai meal—all the delights of a Lebanese feast!  Oh look!  Cruise ships now dock by Sky Dubai!

And then on our walk back to our flat, we passed by all the fancy cars that make Dubai Dubai!  Ya just have to LOVE IT!  These are for you, Jonathan!

And then it was time to say good bye and make our way to the airport for the long journey back to the States!

It is 2:00AM, we have boarded the plane for our first of three legs home and we are ready to SLEEP!  

This is the second and longest leg of our trip home — Zurich to Washington!

We arrived safely and soundly to Indianapolis!  What an AMAZING trip we just had back to our dear Dubai!  The changes that we saw after being gone for eight years were nothing less than REMARKABLE!  Oh Dubai, you will always have our heart!

Thanks, everyone, for riding along with us to the land of BIG, BETTER, BEST!

POOLSIDE, HAPPY HOUR, PEKING DUCK, DUBAI FRAME, MUSEUM OF THE FUTURE, NAKHEEL MALL, WEST BEACH (2-16-2022)

We spent some time RELAXING by our beautiful Park Island pool overlooking the Dubai Marina.  I stayed longer (lucky me!) while John met a business associate for coffee!  

I read for a while sitting on our balcony!  I’ll never get tired of the view!

It wasn’t long before I spotted John walking back from the Metro!

That’s when Happy Hour got started!

We hopped the Metro to head to one of our favorite restaurants, a true treasure for Peking Duck, called Lang Kwai Fong.  We passed the brand spanking new Museum of the Future, set to open later this month.

We also passed the Dubai Frame!

We Googled the restaurant to see what time they opened and the restaurant site posted, “Open Now!”  However, when we got there, our favorite restaurant was GONE!  Oh no—only in Dubai!

We opted to take a cab all the way back to the Palm Jumeriah’s new addition, Nakheel Mall.  It is beautiful and is located on the trunk of the Palm!!  These photos were taken from the rooftop!

We asked if we could walk to West Beach, a new area we had heard about.  We were thrilled to be told to walk through this beautiful new park and turn right!  We did just that!

WOW!  What an AMAZING area of shops and restaurants and beach areas with the unbeatable view of JBR and the Dubai Marina!  

Well done, Dubai, well done!

John’s total steps: 17,107  John’s miles walked: 7.3

Jani’s steps taken: 10,447  Jani’s miles walked:  4.4 🤪

WORLD EXPO DAY TWO! (2-15-2022)

Apparently, being a “Person of Determination” (handicapped) and/or a “Senior” (old), is a very good thing at the World Expo!  We walked in this morning and only waited a minute to be picked up by our driver, Bran, in our very own golf cart.  We had it for two hours!  On top of that, we got to go to the front of each pavilion line—called a Fast Track!  It was totally free and we got it for the simple reason that we are OLD!  We got free water as well and 30% off a bunch of restaurants!

With our escort’s help, we made it to 15 pavilions total, making our grand total 25!  

Russia had, by far, the most impressive pavilion of the ones we saw!  And Saudi Arabia’s was amazing as well!

Germany’s pavilion had the most information and was the most interactive.  It was John’s favorite—of course, since Germany is his “Mother Country”! 🙄

We stayed at the park all day long!  We ate lunch in Thailand and dinner in Germany!  We saw a light and drone show over the Chinese Pavilion (turned out to only be a light show).  And at 9:00PM, Coldplay began to play!  

What an AWESOME ending to a fantastic day!  We loved what we saw at WORLD EXPO 2022 

Total steps taken: 20,128         Total miles walked: 9.1

VALENTINES DAY, DUBAI MALL, BURJ KHALIFA, ADDRESS SKY VIEW, THE OBSERVATORY! (2-14-2022)

Facebook reminded me this morning that EIGHT YEARS AGO I, along with three daring friends, jumped out of a Sky Dubai airplane over Palm Jumeriah!  Oh, what a Valentine’s Day that was!!

Our time is flying here in the U.A.E., so we are frantically trying to cover as many miles as we can while here!  Today we headed to the Dubai Mall to walk around the area and see the Burj Khalifa up close and personal!  But first, a bite of breakfast at The Social House overlooking the Dubai Fountain!

The yellow squares show where you should stand during the fountain shows—social distancing at its’ best!  Masks are required here everywhere—even while out walking alone.  We heard this is to be lifted next week due to low number of COVID cases here!

We walked into the Dubai Mall as I had to take a quick glance at the humongous aquarium where I, along with some CRAZY friends, dove WITH THE SHARKS!  The aquarium now has the largest video wall I THE WORLD above it! (Of course it does!)

There’s something new on the grounds by the Dubai Fountain—the Dubai Opera House.  It is a beautiful add to the area!

John and I walked over (through one of the Metro walkways) to the new Address Sky View Hotel.  (It kind of resembles the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore!)

On the 53rd floor of the new Address Hotel, John and I both road a glass slide down to the 52nd floor!

On the 52nd floor you could harness up and walk the outside ridge of the building.  We opted not to do it because we didn’t want to put the heavy jumpsuit on and we still had places to go!  No one else was doing it while we were there, so I couldn’t get a picture!  It looked like it would be AMAZING!

Sandra suggested we go up to Ce La Vi — the rooftop bar with an infinity pool!  We did, and the views were spectacular! (Thanks for the reco, Sandra!)

We made it back to the flat with just enough time to change and make it to The Observatory, (one of our old hangouts), a restaurant on the 52nd floor of the Marina Marriott!  We opted for an early booking so we could watch the sunset!  We got a table with a view, that’s for sure!

But here was our sunset view!  In typical Dubai style, a building is being built, blocking the sunset from the Marriott!  The dinner was fabulous, the view was spectacular, and the music was LOUD!  OMG, we felt like we were in a disco!  We opted to leave right after dinner and walk around the Marina!  

I’d say we made the right choice!  

Total steps taken: 17,834  Total miles walked: 8 miles