The Dubai Series: Day 2 - Burj Al Arab

To read about Day 1, click here

The second day in Dubai started with a few business meetings, therefore the morning hours went by quite fast. However, one of the company's bosses gave us his driver for the day so we could go and do a little more sightseeing without having to use taxis all the time. I decided that I wanted to see the famous Burj Al Arab (Tower of the Arabs) which is one of the most luxurious and expensive hotels in the world and also the 4th highest hotel in the world.

Unfortunately they changed the rules for going inside the hotel, you have to have at least a reservation for the restaurant in there. We tried to get one for that exact day but they told us that you have to call at least a day in advance. I didn't really need to see the hotel from the inside, so the driver drove us to Jumeirah Beach where I got a perfect view of this iconic building. The only downside of this experience: I didn't plan ahead and still wore my high heels that I wore to the business meetings before. Have you ever been at the beach in high heels? I definitely do not recommend it. That being said, I teetered through the sand, managed to jump up and down a little wall and all that without breaking my legs.

After staying at this beach for a little while, I went back to the hotel. Even though it was quite close, it took us a little while because traffic in Dubai is insane. But I won't complain since I didn't have to drive and I could snap a few photos on the way. We also passed a water park called Wild Wadi and it looked so much fun! If I had more time in Dubai, I would've definitely went. Maybe there is a next time.

The rest of the day, I decided to relax a little bit at the beach and the pool but before heading out again, I wanted to have a small meal. And since the portions there were pretty huge (not American huge but European huge), I ordered two kid's meals. They were the perfect size and I even got everything with kid's plates and silverware. I still have to giggle about it when I think back.

Then it was time for relaxation. What I loved about the hotel was, that they give you towels and sun lounger covers with a pillow. Furthermore, they give you cold bottled water whenever you want or you can ask for a refrigerated container where you can store some bottles. The ocean water was amazingly warm, like a bath tub. I enjoyed just floating around and forget all the stress that I had and that is coming up.

It was the most perfect afternoon in a long time.

As usual, see more pictures when you click "Read More"

The Dubai Series: Day 1 - Dubai Mall

Endlich endlich habe ich die meisten Fotos fertig bearbeitet! Und jetzt koennen die blogposts auch kommen, allerdings werde ich es so machen, dass ich die Texte zu meinen Dubai-Erlebnissen ganz auf Englisch schreibe, da es sonst einfach zuviel Schreiberei wird und die Fotos wohl in den Texten untergehen. Danach geht es aber wie gewohnt mit Deutsch-Englisch weiter :)

Finally I am done editing most of the photos! That means I am able to write my posts about Dubai and show you guys what I experienced. There will be one special thing about "The Dubai Series": All text will be in English, otherwise it would just be too much text.

Dubai is known for its shopping opportunities and it is home of the biggest mall in the world: The Dubai Mall. It has 1,200 stores - ranging from luxury to every day, you and me shops, an aquarium with an underwater zoo, an ice rink, a theme park and of course a movie theatre. I am not really a fan of such huge malls simply because I always manage to get lost in them. For that reason, my first stop was the aquarium. I have been to aquariums before but this one was the first time that I was able to walk through the tunnel section. It was a wee bit scary because my overly active imagination always had that picture of broken glass and me getting eaten by sharks - but as you can see, I am alive. After the tunnel, you had to go up two levels to get to the underwater zoo. Up there, they had a bunch of tropical, colorful fish, crabs and crocodiles. My favourite were the jellyfish that changed their colours every now and then.

After the aquarium, I went to the waterfall inside the mall. It is an art installation that reaches from the top of the mall all the way down to the ground level. An amazing sight and I am so sad that my pictures didn't really catch its beauty. Another beautiful part was the Denim District: A little village inside the mall only for shops that sell denim, like Levi's or Pepe Jeans London. It really looked like a small Arabian village and I especially liked the light colours. After the Denim District, I visited The Souk. Souks are open air market places, kind of like bazaars, just this one was inside the mall. It was the more traditional part and I enjoyed strolling through the stores and finally got to see some real Arabian clothing and jewellery pieces. I mentioned it before: When I travel, I want to see things of the nation's culture and not something I have right around the corner in my town at home. And let me tell you, Arabians know how to design jewellery! I am already a huge fan of Israeli gold pieces and a visit to the gold souk took my breath away. Twice. Once when I saw beautiful pieces and then when I discovered the price and converted it. 

When you leave The Souk and go outside, you get to the Dubai Fountains and the Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world). Honestly, the Burj Khalifa doesn't look that tall because it is quite "skinny" but I am sure once you get to the top, you will realise how tall that building is (especially if you're like me and afraid of heights). I did not go to the top because I did not want to pay a fortune. Furthermore the humidity was very high all the time and because of that, the air always seemed really foggy so you could not see far anyway. So a look from the outside and the ground was good enough for me. Next to this area they have another small shopping centre called "Souk Al Bahar" where they sell more traditional but also a lot of touristy stuff. It is worth a visit because the architecture is gorgeous! At the entrance they also have a throne but unfortunately I didn't catch details about it and I could not find information about it online either. But yes, there is a throne.

Since I still had enough time until the fountain show started, I decided to do a little shopping and eating. They had bazillions of food places and restaurants there, it was hard to decide. It ranged from the typical American restaurants (iHop, Red Lobster, Rainforest Cafe, Cheesecake Factory up to Texas Roadhouse which made me feel like I was back in Texas) to a few Chinese and Italian places to restaurants for vegetarians. I decided to try something new but not too exotic and ended up at The Noddle Company. After stuffing my face with the most delicious Lo-Mein and Chicken Satay, I explored some stores until it was time for the fountain show. And let me tell you, I imagined it to be quite boring - "It's just moving water" - but boy, was I wrong! They chose the perfect music so that it made the whole fountain show quite dramatic. I loved it! The fountain shows start at 18:00 o'clock and from them on, they're every hour and every time with a different music. If you ever visit the Dubai Mall, be sure to check it out.

As you can see there is so much to do in that mall, I really spent my entire first day there. Also, I got a lot of questions about the clothing guidelines there. Even though there are signs at the door stating that you should wear respectful clothing (knees and shoulders covered), a lot of tourists did not care. I saw hot pants, tube tops, short dresses and all you can imagine. However, I would not encourage to do this. While they didn't get taken aside by the security (except one but you could really see her butt fall out of her shorts), you will get looks from the locals. I wore a maxi skirt and a tank top and didn't get any looks at all. I even got a few smiles from local women. It is all about respect: Cover yourself and you won't have any problems and locals will be so much more friendly to you.

Click "Read more" to get the rest of the pictures. I tried to keep my blog a little bit organised n_n

New In: Dubai Edition

Wenn ich verreise, geht es mir nur in zweiter oder gar dritter Linie ums Shoppen. Heutzutage ist es doch sowieso so, dass man alles online bestellen kann. Daher gehe ich nur wirklich shoppen, wenn ich sightseeing-maessig schon alles gesehen habe und mir nicht nach Relaxen am Strand oder Pool ist. Unser Konto freut sich sehr ueber diese Einstellung. Gerade in Dubai war es so, dass die Laeden in der Mall tatsaechlich ueberall sonst auch vertreten sind, ausser eben die traditionellen Laeden mit arabischen Gewaendern und Dies Das; die eigentliche Attraktion ist die Dubai Mall selbst. Aber dazu komme ich in einem seperaten Post, denn ich habe wirklich fast den kompletten ersten Tag dort verbracht und auch wirklich ohne grossartig zu shoppen - nur eine Stunde lang, um die Zeit zur Fontaenenshow zu ueberbruecken. Und in dieser Zeit sind drei der vier Errungenschaften in meinen Besitz uebergewandert. Der Sale war in Dubai schon im vollen Gange und auch die Umrechnung von Dirham zu US-Dollar (da unser Konto auch in Deutschland ueber den Dollar laeuft) war relativ einfach, sofern ich Mathe-Genie mein Handy dabei- und aufgeladen hatte. Die ueblichen Laeden interessieren mich im Ausland schon gar nicht mehr: H&M, Forever 21, Bershka, Stradivarius, Victoria's Secret (diesen Laden kann ich sowieso absolut nicht leiden) und und und. Wegen unserer Army APO Adresse bin ich aber auch verwoehnt, denn die Lieferkosten fallen gerade bei US Onlineshops wesentlich geringer aus. Somit ging ich in Laeden, denen ich bisher keine grosse Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt habe. Einer davon war Pull & Bear. Ich erinnerte mich vage an die Zeit, in der ich in Spanien gelebt hatte und dort ab und zu etwas gekauft habe. Und ich wurde auch sofort fuendig: Band-, bzw. Musikershirts. Ich trauere meinen alten Bandshirts noch immer hinterher, aber da ich viel abgenommen habe, sieht sackig und unfoermig einfach doof aus. Auch fuer Dustin habe ich eins mitgenommen, der Gute soll ja nicht zu kurz kommen.

Am letzten Tag in Dubai ging es in die Dubai Festival City, zum Essen und da ich noch genug Zeit hatte, zu einer anderen Mall. Kaufen wollte ich eigentlich nichts. Eigentlich. Bis ich den kleinen Stand von Sal Y Limon mit der neusten Kollektion sah. Sal Y Limon habe ich zwar ein paar Mal in der Naehe (in Nuernberg und Erlangen), aber wenn man den Stand doch tatsaechlich direkt vor die Nase gesetzt bekommtl, dann darf man auch gucken. Und kaufen. Und da ich wirklich noch einen schwarz-goldenen Armreif brauchte/wollte, wurde dann auch einer mitgenommen. 

Wie ist es mit euch? Wie bei mir, im Urlaub lieber Sightseeing als Shopping? Oder sucht ihr euch Reiseziele nach Shoppingmoeglichkeiten aus?

When I travel, I don't really want to go shopping. Nowadays, it is so easy to buy everything online and therefore I only go shopping when I am done sightseeing and don't want to relax on the beach or pool. Our bank account is very happy about my thinking. In Dubai, they really had all the stores you can find worldwide, except for the traditional Arabic stores with dresses or this that; the actual tourist attraction is the Dubai Mall itself. But I'll get to that in a separate post since I spent an entire day there and only went shopping for an hour while I had some time to kill until the fountain show started. During that time, three of the four things became mine. Summer Sale was already thriving and the conversion from Dirham to US-Dollar (since our bank account is, even in Germany, in Dollar) was super easy, at least when I remembered to bring and charge my phone. When I'm abroad, I show no interest in the usual stores like H&M, Forever 21, Bershka, Stradivarius, Victoria's Secret (I can't stand this store anyways) and so on and so forth. However, I am relatively spoiled because of our Army APO address because the shipping costs are so much cheaper when I order from US Onlineshops. Therefore I only went to stores that I didn't pay a lot of attention to in the past. One of those stores was Pull & Bear. I remembered that store from the time when I was living in Spain and sometimes went shopping there. Surprisingly, I hit the jackpot real fast: Band-/Musician shirts. I'm still sad about my old bandshirts but since I lost a lot of weight, they didn't look good on me anymore. I also bought one for Dustin, I can't come home empty handed for that poor guy.

On my last day in Dubai, we went to the Dubai Festival City to grab a quick lunch and since I had more than enough time, I went to the mall there. I wasn't planning on buying anything there until that nifty, little Sal y Limon stand popped into my sight. I do have Sal Y Limon stores quite nearby, in Nuremberg and Erlangen but when they place the stand directly in front of you, you are allowed to look. And buy. And because I really needed/wanted a black-gold bangle, I took one with me.

What's your stand on shopping while on vacation? Are you like me and prefer Sightseeing over Shopping? Or are you selecting your vacation destination because of the shopping opportunities?

Gerade in der Mall wird auf den dress code geachtet. Allerdings sind schulterfreie Tanktops definitiv okay, es sollten nur keine tube tops sein. Habt immer einen Schal oder einen Cardigan dabei, falls ihr von den Sicherheitsleuten angesprochen werden solltet // It's really important to dress according to the dress code at the mall. tank tops are okay though, tube tops are not. Always have a scarf or cardigan with you, in case the security guys say something to you

Dieses kleine Tuetchen enthaelt eine Ueberraschung fuer meine liebe Freundin Laura von Inspiration Sparks und kommt in ihr care package n_n // This little baggy contains a surprise for my lovely friend Laura from Inspiration Sparks and will go into her nifty care package n_n

Insta-Dubai

Kennt ihr das, wenn ihr aus dem Urlaub wieder zu Hause seid und die komplette Urlaubszeit eigentlich eher wie ein Traum als erlebte Wirklichkeit erscheint? So geht es mir jedenfalls immer. Es ist, als waere man niemals weg gewesen. Ich bin seit etwas ueber einer Woche wieder zu Hause und der Alltag hat mich bereits am Tag der Rueckkehr wieder eingeholt, denn nachdem Dustin mich morgens vom Muenchner Flughafen abgeholt hatte, ging es ein paar Stunden spaeter auch schon zu einem 4th of July-BBQ. An dem Zeitpunkt war ich schon ueber 24 Stunden auf den Beinen und es war doch eine willkommende Ausrede, sich fruehzeitig von dem BBQ zu verabschieden.

Seitdem musste ich ein paar Mal auf dem Campus antreten, unter anderem um einen Test zu schreiben, der zeigen soll, dass ich auch Englisch kann. Dazu kommen die Vorbereitungen auf das kommende deployment und natuerlich der Versuch, die verbleibende Zeit sinnvoll zusammen zu nutzen. Und auch die Bildbearbeitung meiner Dubai-Fotos. Da ich aber wie eine Wilde losfotografiert habe und in 4 Tagen mehr als 250 Fotos entstanden sind, dauert es ein bisschen, im Moment bin ich nicht einmal mit den Bildern des ersten Tags fertig. Aber um euch einen kleinen Einblick zu verschaffen, zeige ich euch die Fotos, die ich waehrend meiner Reise auf Instagram veroeffentlich habe (demnach duerften einige von euch diese Fotos schon kennen). Viel Spass beim Angucken und ich verspreche euch, ich werde mich die naechsten Tage hinsetzen und zumindest die Fotos vom ersten Tag fertig bekommen!

Do you know this phenomena, where you come home from your vacation and your whole stay seems more like a dream than reality? That's always the case when I get home from a trip. It seems like you've never really been gone. I came home over a week ago and I was thrown back into my normal daily life the day I got home. Dustin picked me up at the airport in Munich in the early morning and a few hours later, we attended a 4th of July BBQ. At that time, I was awake and on the go for over 24 hours which was a brilliant reason to leave the BBQ a bit early.

Since then, I had to go on campus a few times and among other things, I had to take a test to show that I am able to speak English. Additionally, we are preparing for the upcoming deployment and the attempt to make the most out of the time we still have together. And of course I am editing the photos of my Dubai trip. The problem is that I took pictures like a maniac (over 250 photos within 4 days) and therefore it takes a little bit of time to edit everything - I'm not even done with the photos of the first day. However, I really want to show you some impressions and so I decided to publish my Instagram-photos on my blog (some of you have seen them already). Have fun looking at these little collages and I promise that I'll sit down and at least finish editing the photos of the first day!

The hotel I stayed at "Fairmont The Palm" // Waiting for boarding at Frankfurt International Airport // Waiting for boarding at Doha International Airport Qatar // First breakfast in my room in Dubai. Let me tell you, beef bacon is the shit!

Relaxing on the beach with skyline-view // I loved my nifty little balcony // Stealing hotel shampoos, body lotions and shower gels is my thing // View of the hotel from the pool

Getting ready for the beach // white square - I was an idiot and accidentally forgot to insert a photo... // the gem I bought from Sal y Limon // sneak peek off of my camera screen from the trip to the Burj Al Arab

Last day's OOTD // Another sneak peek, this time in front of the Burj Khalifa // Feeling important at the Hard Rock Cafe // 2 am at the Doha International Airport in Qatar, waiting for my final flight back home

What I Would Wear: Vacation Edition

Dieser WIWW-Post hat einen ganz besonderen Hintergrund. Ja, es steht der Sommer vor der Tuer. Ja, viele fahren in den Urlaub. Und ich bin eine der vielen Menschen, die sich voller Fernweh in den Flieger (oder das Auto) setzen und ein paar Tage abschalten und Neues kennenlernen.

Dieses Mal geht es fuer mich auf absolutes Neuland. Es geht naemlich nach Dubai. Sehr spontan und auch nicht sehr lange (nur 4 Tage), aber ich verbuche dies als "Mini-Urlaub". Nun war ich zwar schon in Marokko und Israel aber damit hoert es mit der arabischen Welt auch schon auf. Es sei denn, man zaehlt auch die Tuerkei dazu - dann kann ich das noch hinzufuegen. Aber so richtig auf der arabischen Halbinsel war ich noch nie. Dementsprechend nervoes bin ich auch, was die Kleidung betrifft, denn ich moechte auf keinen Fall irgendwo anecken. Im Internet habe ich gelesen, dass, solange es knielang ist und die Schultern bei Bedarf bedeckt werden koennen, alles in Ordnung ist. Dubai ist ja zum Glueck schon ziemlich westlich gepraegt, aber trotzdem will ich dort nicht als "typisch Westlicher" dort herausstechen.

Mein Flug geht am 30. Juni und ich komme am 4. Juli wieder zurueck. Gerade rechtzeitig zum Independence Day der Amerikaner. Ich schaetze mal, dass wir abends irgendwo zum BBQ eingeladen sind - wie ueblich. Ich fliege in Frankfurt los, komme aber in Muenchen an - spart Zeit auf dem Rueckweg, sodass ich dann vor dem BBQ noch Zeit zum duschen, ausruhen und wieder fertig machen habe. Leider gab es keine guenstigen Direktfluege mehr und somit habe ich jeweils einen (recht kurzen) Flugzeugwechsel in Katar. Viel einfacher waere es gewesen einen Direktflug nach Abu Dhabi zu nehmen und dann rund eine Stunde mit dem Bus nach Dubai, aber mein Papa und auch Dustin sind beide nicht sehr begeistert von der Idee, mich in der arabischen Welt alleine rumrennen zu sehen. Ich persoenlich traue mir das zwar zu, aber man will den Maennern in der Familie ja einen Gefallen tun. Mein Hotel wird das Fairmont The Palm - ausser, dass es dort kostenloses Wi-Fi gibt, habe ich noch nicht wirklich viel recherchiert.

Wart ihr schon einmal in Dubai und koennt mir vielleicht Kleidungstipps geben? Weiss jemand ob es okay ist Roecke/Kleider anzuziehen, die bis Mitte des Oberschenkels gehen, aber dann eine Strumpfhose darunter?

This WIWW-post has a special background story. Yes, summer is coming. Yes, a lot of people go on vacation. And I am one of those people who sit in a plane (or car) and afterwards relax a few days and explore the new country and culture.

This time, it's something absolutely new for me. I am going to Dubai. It is pretty spontaneous and not very long (only for 4 days) but I see it as a "mini- vacation". Now, I've already been to Morocco and Israel but that's about as Arabic as I went. Except if you count Turkey to it - then I can add this as well. But actually staying on the Arabian peninsula - that's a first. And therefore I am very nervous about clothing because I don't want to aggravate or even insult people with it. On the internet, I read that everything is fine as long as it is at least knee-length and that you can cover you shoulders if necessary. Fortunately, Dubai is already pretty "Western", however I do not want to stand out as the typical Westener.

My flight leaves on June 30th and I will be back on July 4th - just in time for Independence Day. I am pretty sure that we will be invited to a BBQ in the evening - as usual. I start my journey in Frankfurt but I will arrive in Munich which saves time on my way back home, so that I have enough time to shower, relax and get ready again for the BBQ. Unfortunately there were no reasonable priced direct flights so that I will have two (very short) layovers in Qatar. It would have been easier to just fly directly to Abu Dhabi and then take the bus and ride about an hour to Dubai but my dad and Dustin aren't very happy with the idea of me running around alone in the Arabic world. I personally am certain that I'm capable of doing so but I guess I will do the guys in the family a favour. My hotel will be the Fairmont The Palm - I haven't done much research on it except for the fact that they have free Wi-Fi.

Have you already been to Dubai and can help me out with clothing tips? Does anyone know if it would be okay to wear skirts/dresses that go to your thigh and then wear tights with it?

(I would wear this to explore the city and do all the typical touristy stuff - the scarf is ideal to cover the shoulders in case you have to)

(I found this gorgeous set on Polyvore. This would be something I'd wear to go to the mall)