One of the friends I met in Tunisia was living in contrasting Dubai and when he invited me over I had to grab the opportunity. Wouldn’t you have done the same? But my Dubai trip was not as glamorous as you think.
I travelled there with $60 because my account got blocked soon after I got there. It was November 2014 and at the time I was teaching English online. PayPal decided to block my account, just like that. They’ve unblocked it just a few days before my leaving. I also got sick twice while there. Talking about living dangerously. I also remember borrowing money from a friend to pay for the plane ticket. Good old times, isn’t it?
The whole month of September, I will share 30 stories with you. One story each day. You will find out how I travelled, what countries I called home and how many times I repeated a travel in the same place. But most importantly, you will get to know my comfort zone stories. Would you share yours?
The trip to Dubai was one hell of a life lesson. I had accommodation for free because I was able to stay at my friend’s place. However, I might have not been allowed to crash there. We had the doorman follow us upstairs one time. I still don’t know what exactly was forbidden, but as my friend used to joke, I was. As a woman. By the way, he was the same friend I went to a bar with while in Tunisia.
Why am I calling it contrasting Dubai? I was there for around 10 days and it was my first time ever seeing so clearly the difference between rich and poor. We all know in theory people exist in both classes but seeing them so close together but live apart was heartbreaking to me. I understood then that life is way too short to settle in a job that makes you unhappy. And maybe this is why when things didn’t seem right in a job, I didn’t stay long.
At the same time, Dubai was a stunning place meant to overwhelm people with every single thing. From one of the biggest malls in the world, the Mall of Dubai to the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa. We have also been to the Dubai Global Village – an amazing around-the-world amusement park. I wrote more about it back when it happened on my Romanian blog, for those who speak the language. I am mentioning the nervousness of going on some of the rides, one of them taking us up to 60 m high and the view was simply unimaginable. A whole lot of darkness outside of Dubai. Makes you think.
What’s one place in Dubai that you don’t want to miss? Have you ever seen anything but the glamour of it? I will leave you with one show that will forever stay in my soul as one of the best memories. The Dubai Fountain show is a must in one’s life. Andrea Bocelli is one of my favourite artists and the fact that I got to listen to a song by him, simply incredible. And yeah, I teared up. Who wouldn’t have?
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10/30
