Dubai July 2025

Once we had the safari planned, we had to decide what else to do with my summer break. I shared a few posts back about adding Germany to the beginning of the trip because we could fly direct from Frankfurt to Nairobi and going to Frankfurt meant we could visit Neuschwanstein Castle. In terms of what we decided to do after the safari, we originally planned to fly from Nairobi to Istanbul, but we ended up having so much trouble with Turkish Airlines not being able to assign us seats that we cancelled that leg of the trip (we had even gone to the airport to speak with someone in person to sort out the issues because we'd been having zero luck for weeks over the phone). The frustration was too much and we decided Istanbul was not in the cards this year!

Enter Dubai! We could fly direct from Nairobi and it would be another country to add to our list! We also had the opportunity to fly on Emirates for the first time.

We left the Retreat at Giraffe Manor around 7:15 on Thursday evening for our red-eye flight from Nairobi to Dubai, which left some time for us to enjoy the lounge at the airport before boarding. Our seats were in Economy, which is always absolutely fine with us as long as it's just a pair of seats, and we were happy to get going and see a new country! We'd heard so many great things about Emirates, but that was absolutely not our experience on this particular flight. There were so many people getting on the plane, looking lost, unable to figure out their seats, sitting in the wrong rows...just general chaos. Lots of language barriers. Nervous flyers. Lack of overhead bin space. All things the flight attendants should have been assisting with. And there were certainly enough of them in our section of the plane! But they weren't helping anyone. Just standing around chatting with each other for 20-25 minutes while the passengers struggled. Thankfully, people took pity on one another, helping each other get to the correct seats and store their carry-on bags. When I tell you I was thoroughly unimpressed with those flight attendants, I really mean it. Absolutely no customer service skills.

It was a five-hour flight to Dubai and I literally slept from right before takeoff until we landed, so thankfully I didn't have to have any direct dealings with the flight attendants. The one cool thing I will say is that at one point, I woke up for a minute to take a drink of water and I noticed that the ceiling of the plane looked like the night sky and I certainly loved that!

When we landed in Dubai just before 5:00 am and this was the temperature. Yikes! he Dubai airport is super modern, but it is massive and we had to deplane down a staircase and then take a very long bus ride over to the terminal! Thankfully it didn't take much time to get through passport control and pick up our bags!

5:00 am!!!

We took an uber to our hotel and the staff at the Conrad Dubai could not have been more accommodating! When we asked if there was any way our room was ready, their response was, "I will work something out for you!" before handing us our room keys, which was amazing, given that it was 6:45 am! They gave us a corner room on the 33rd floor and we loved every second we spent there!

Here's a random sampling of some of the temperatures we faced over our three-day visit. Obviously these two Canadians were not exactly in their element! To avoid the heat as best we could, we tried to find some indoor things to do during the day and then only wander around at night, but it was still so hot out!

11:30 am

8:30 pm

12:45 pm

4:15 pm

2:05 pm

9:55 pm

the metro system was great!

orderly!

clean!

the cool water feature
at the Dubai Mall

the mall had a huge
ice skating rink in it

and an aquarium

honestly, it was really clean
everywhere we went

another mall had an Egyptian theme

including displays like this

and a cool stained glass ceiling

this museum was all about UAE
establishing their independence

it was pretty fascinating

yet another mall had a ski hill inside

with talking reindeer

and a fully functioning chairlift

another domed ceiling...
these are the fanciest malls!

did not expect to find TH in Dubai!

this was a neat immersive experience

we also went to the Museum of the Future

to be honest, it was a very strange place,
but the building itself was amazing,
especially at night!

spent a few hours at a butterfly garden

for all three days we were there,
it was extremely hazy, which did not
make for very good photos!

Dubai is a cool city and I'm glad we visited for three days, but it's not a place I felt particularly comfortable while we were there. Nothing specific, but rather just a general vibe that doesn't really resonate with me...overt displays of wealth and a reverence toward overconsumption, maybe? I can't really put my finger on it. Not saying I wouldn't ever come back here, but there are definitely so many other places I want to see and revisit!

Happy Tails to you!