5 Abroad: Dubai

Our first layover in Dubai was about 4.5 hours long. The girls colored and played with stickers. My son just watched movies/listened to music on his video mp3 player. When the girls got bored, I broke out the Polly Pocket toys and that entertained them for the rest of the time.

On our way back to Jakarta, we had a 9 hour layover in Dubai. We flew on Emirates Airlines. If you have a layover longer than 8 hours, Emirates will give you a complimentary hotel room. We arrived at the Dubai airport around 7pm and arrived at the hotel around 8pm. We unloaded our things and went downstairs to the hotel lobby where we were able to book a night bus tour of Dubai.

Our tour was with an outfit called Sun Tours. From my understanding, there are many different tours available at all different hours. We originally thought about taking a bus tour with a company called The Big Bus Company since you can purchase tickets online or at the airport. We did not purchase tickets online since we did not know if our flight would be delayed and the last night tour with this outfit was at 8:30pm.

The night tour was a really great way to see the city of Dubai. The airport itself is quite ritzy with chrome everywhere. The city itself is totally lit up. We saw some amazing buildings with amazing architecture and designs. For example, there was a flight school near the hotel and the building was made to look like an airplane.

The tour took approximately 2 hours. It was not a bad way to see the city in an air-conditioned bus as it is still quite hot at night in Dubai. The cost was $30 US for adults. We didn't have to pay for the kids although the Sun Tours brochure says that the price for children ages 4-10 is $18 US.

The tour stopped a few places. We got to get out at the Atlantis Hotel that is located on the man-made/artificial island of Palm Jumeirah. The island looks like a palm tree from above. The hotel rates are $1500 per night...crazy right?

We also stopped at Burj Al Arab, the hotel that looks like a sailboat that is also on an artificial island in the Persian Gulf. There was one more brief stop at the world's tallest building in the world which happens to be in Dubai. The rest of the tour was from the bus.

It was difficult to get good pictures from a moving bus and at night with our Panasonic point-and-shoot camera. We just really enjoyed the opportunity to get out and see the city.

After we got back from the tour, we ate dinner at the hotel, compliments of Emirates Airlines. We rested for about an hour in the hotel room and then headed to the airport since we had a 4am flight. Getting out of the airport was a lifesaver. I wasn't sure how we were going to survive 9 hours in the airport with 3 kids!

If you ever have a few hours in Dubai, definitely check out the bus tours. We thought it was well worth the cost and the time.

Flying into Dubai all you see are large buildings and lots of sand.

Dubai International Airport...Emirates Terminal

Largest elevator I've ever been on...it was huge inside!

Everywhere you look, it's chrome!

Lots of opportunities to shop.

Dubai International Airport is the 13th busiest in the world by total passenger traffic and 4th busiest in terms of international passenger traffic (Wikipedia)