We flew to Dubai with Emirates Airlines, one of the top airlines in the world. Part of the good service is that the crew can together speak 18 different languages; sadly neither Russian nor Swedish was available. There was great food and drinks, a bar available, and dolmas (Arabic sweets), which were super yummy!

We arrived at 8 p.m. after a 12-hour flight (the flight back to NY is 2 hours longer). We got settled in our suite before heading out at to the Cavalli club. It’s a very beautiful large space and smoking both cigarettes and cigars are aloud. (“Forsa Saeeda” = nice to meet you.)

The next day, we were pretty jetlagged, so we spent the day tanning by the pool and beach facing the beautiful clear water and white sand. It was a hot 30 degrees Celsius. We did some water activities too like water skiing, and banana boating, which was amazingly fun. Jetskis are actually banned in this country.

Our third day, we went to the hotel across from the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. The hotel felt very warm and inviting with the smell of good men’s cologne. We went to a bar at the top of the hotel, which had an amazing view of the city. It was a great bar with the feel of the Boom Boom Room in NYC, except for man/woman ratio…Mainly just men in this bar.

Our fourth day, we did a Desert Safari. The drive there was the best roller coaster I had ever been on; I was not prepared for this crazy drive. And to tell you the truth I was scared, all of us were, but it was crazy fun too. It felt like the car almost flipped over several times. We stopped several times on the way to take pictures, it was pretty windy so I stayed in the car to keep the sand out of my face and mouth, wanted to still have an appetite for when I got there.

We got to ride camels and try on their traditional clothing. My friend Samantha and I got belly dancer outfits while the guys got the men’s traditional clothing. We wanted to take pictures but we were told that no pictures were allowed because that indicates mocking. We got some drinks, chips, popcorn and appetizers before the belly dancer came out. And after the belly dancer came a guy in a skirt, we all gave him weird looks completely unknowing of what he was about to do before he started spinning (for about a half an hour) and under that one skirt was another 6 skirts which shined bright in different colours. Wow he must have been dizzy after that spin! There were two different lines, one for girls and one for guys. The food was very good, traditional Arabic food like salads, lentil dips, hummus, etc.

Our last day we headed to the water park at the Jumerah Beach Hotel, which was a lot of fun. Surfing is also available and you get to wear a special shirt and lay on the surfboard going down on fake waves

That night we went to Barasti Bar, which was full of men again. I walked in wearing my Alaia dress, which obviously made me feel very overdressed. The place is a very casual, but at the same time its not your typical sports bar because it’s big and has a lot of seating’s both outside and inside for dinners.

Some of my other favorite places were Bar CinCin – Cigar Lounge at the Fairmont Hotel, which is a very nice, carpeted, upscale lounge; and Club 400, which is a clubbing legacy. I felt an amazing vibe as soon as I walked down the stairs! Everyone was dancing in that jumping way, even people at the bar to the house / hip-hop music. For extra entertainment they had a robot walking around double my size (see picture below) he was holding a weapon.