The kids were tired of seeing “old stuff” so we decided to go to Dubai for Spring Break – where everything is shiny and new.

A quick <6 hour flight from Frankfurt, 2 hour time difference
The Burj Khalifa – tallest building in the world. At about 2,750’ tall (a HALF MILE), this thing is massive. It makes all the other skyscrapers look like little babies, even though they are “normal” size. When the fountain show in front of it is doing its performance, the lights on the Burj Khalifa put in a performance of their own.
I could write an entire blog about the fancy bathrooms. This one is in the Dubai Mall.
We spent a few hours wandering around the Dubai Mall – the largest mall in the world. We walked 4 miles and I think we maybe saw a quarter of the mall.
Beautiful.

Ok so don’t judge. But we ate Texas Roadhouse for lunch. We walked by and Dierks was playing in the sound system, basically begging me to come inside (and we all know I can’t say no to Dierks). We haven’t had Texas Roadhouse for a year. The ROLLS and cinnamon butter!! Crispy cold salad with yellow cheese and RANCH DRESSING!!!! A loaded baked potato. We were all in our little quiet bliss while we savored every delicious bite.

Ty has reached the stage where he is interested in his appearance – and clothes. Since he and Jay separated from Lily and I for a bit, he modeled his purchases when we got back to our apartment. So handsome.
Our evening entertainment was a desert safari, hosted by Platinum Heritage Luxury Tours. We drove out of the city about 45 minutes and saw some interesting things. This is a camel taxi.

We passed a Camel Hospital and Camel Racetrack. The racetrack has 50,000 racing camels. That was not a typo. They only race during the winter months so we won’t be able to see one in person, but wouldn’t that be an amazing thing to see?!?!

We arrived at the base camp and transferred to our vintage Land Rover. Such a cool car!
So handsome!
I mean….he is so stinking cute.
We drove through a desert conservation area for about an hour.
Arabian Sand Gazelle
Can you spy the Mountain Gazelle?

We also saw Arabian Oryx, which is the national animal of United Arab Emirates. They were too far away to get a good photo of, though.

Best. Photo bomb. Ever
The sand was SO soft.
My little mini me
My babies
We had a chance to get a meet and greet with the star performer in the sunset falcon show. Ty wasn’t scared.
Jay didn’t mind holding it.
I liked it!
But Lily wasn’t so sure….
Desert selfie
We arrived at our evening camp and were greeted by these three beautiful creatures.

I was most looking forward to riding a camel. I mean, it’s not every day that I get to ride a camel in the desert. How do I describe what it is like to ride a camel? I assumed it would be somewhat similar to riding a horse. You climb on from the right side and straddle its back. From there the similarities end.

You don’t climb on a horse while it is laying on the ground. The camel has to go from it’s nice comfy resting place on the sand to standing, navigating its long legs to an upright position. It starts by straightening its rear legs, lurching you forward.
And then it kind of jumps to get its front legs straightened out, throwing you back in the seat. And when you finish your ride, you have to dismount from the laying down position, so you get to experience it in reverse – first the front legs, then the back legs. I don’t know if you can tell from the photos, but I loved it. Lily, not so much….
Jay chose to hang back and take photos/videos. Even though there was a professional photographer. Let’s be honest, folks. Jay was scared to ride the camel. We almost had him talked into it at one point but the camel guy was eating dinner. Maybe next time we are in the desert with camel rides available he will climb aboard.

The sand is not solid footing, so with every step they kind of slide around. We went at a slow walking pace. I cannot imagine how difficult it would be to avoid falling off on a race camel going 60 km/hr!

This isn’t an optical illusion. The neck of the camel is almost as tall as I am. They were such gentle giants. I tried not to take offense when they grunted and moaned when I climbed aboard, and tried to give them extra love when I got off to thank them for their service. So cool.

Yes, we rode the camels at night. The sunset is around 6:45. Because it is so hot when the sun is shining, the night brings a bit of relief. We spent a couple hours at our evening campsite, the weather a perfect temperature. While I’m sure it is fine to ride camels in the daylight, I wasn’t complaining about having a cooler experience.

Lily and I got henna tattoos
The men performed some traditional Arab songs and dances, but let’s be honest. The little girl stole the show.
Dinner was delicious and way too much food. Starters included lentil soup, hummus, baba ghanoush, salads, pita bread.
Main course included chicken skewers, chicken porridge, lamb, camel, and 3 different types of rice.

The chicken skewer was delicious. The chicken porridge was not my favorite. I had a few good pieces of lamb before I tasted the smell of the lambing shed (if you know, you know) and I couldn’t eat anymore. I tried the camel, which wasn’t terrible. It was tough, kind of tasted like a super lean not great cut of beef. Kind of.

After dinner Jay and I smoked a tobacco-free hookah, which they call Shisha here. I had to try it, but I can’t say I will do it again. It was a sweet flavor – Abid said it was apple but we think it was black licorice. I coughed after every inhale, like a true rookie. A stargazer gave us an astronomy lesson while we listened to the bubble of everyone’s shisha (and my occasional cough).

Dessert in the desert was not Strawberry Shortcake (see what I did there), but there was fruit (including strawberries) and these delicious little fried date syrup balls called luqaimat.

I couldn’t stop smiling the whole evening. Nor could I stop singing “Arabian nights” which was on repeat in my mind. This whole place is a real life Disney World. Over the top, magical, igniting all of your senses. It’s like nowhere else in the world.

Here is a link to Lily’s YouTube channel so you can see watch the video of our desert safari experience.

https://youtu.be/y-Lv-rDVBkI?si=ySf5ZjnFKhPlrgM9