20 hours in Dubai – My layover journal

I love flying with Emirates. It’s my #1 airline for my travels to Asia and while I had a fair amount of layovers at DXB, I never had enough time to actually go into the city. This finally changed on my last trip from Bangkok, where I purposely booked a ticket with a 20-hour layover in Dubai. That also was the chance to finally meet two amazing ladies I know from the blogosphere: Sanne from mitziemee.com and Hanna from tripsnkids.com who took great care of me during my time in Dubai (definitely check out their blogs!) 🙂 Unfortunately I was totally knackered and had a little stomach issue when I arrived, so I had to skip dinner at the Anantara The Palm but at least we had some nice conversations. Also the weather wasn’t too happy about my arrival – Dubai welcomed me with a crazy thunderstorm and lots of rain…

Early morning at the Dubai Marina, when the after-effects of the storm were still visible…

After a proper sleep (and the storm cleared) I felt much better and I was ready to hit the metro to make my way to the Burj Khalifa! Right away I got introduced to Dubai distances! Little did I know when I got off the metro, thinking the Burj will be right there…. I first had to walk through never-ending, air-conditioned corridors until I finally reached the Dubai Mall, the biggest mall in the world. You name it, it’s not like your neighbourhood mall… It took me another 30 minutes to find the entrance to the BK. Tickets for the observation deck need to be booked in advance through their website, so at least that part was hassle-free. The elevators are super-fast and catapult you to the 124th floor in a minute, and although this is by far not the highest floor of the world’s tallest building (total of 160 floors) – the views are quite impressive and you can spot some of Dubai’s iconic landmarks like the Burj Al Arab and the (unfinished) “World”!

I wasn’t much into shopping, but I couldn’t resist to have a glimpse of their gigantic aquarium inside the mall…

And no, these fish weren’t part the aquarium but belong to the storefront of the Discovery Channel’s store – yup, they know how to splurge!

In the afternoon I had a few hours left to meet up with Hanna and her kids who showed me around the old part of the city. Indeed it was an entirely different atmosphere in the old town, which felt more exotic and authentic. For a budget-friendly fare of 1 Dirham (25 cents) we got on one of those rustic boats for a little cruise on the Dubai creek, probably the cheapest activity of all Dubai 😉

That’s how fast 20 hours went by… I can’t wait for my next layover!

Also have a look at my previous destinations on this trip:

Visiting Mu Koh Surin National Park

Kuraburi and Si Phang Nga – welcome to the jungle

From Sukhumvit to Khao San