Bree Leaves: Dubai

When I turned 25 back in 2019, I made a promise to myself. As long as I am physically able, I will celebrate my birthday out of the country. I turned 25 in Toronto, 26 in Amsterdam, 27 in Costa Rica, and this year for my 28th; I went to Dubai. This year was going to be drastically different. I set out to have this trip be a solo trip; I just knew I would explore Dubai by myself. And before you think, "Is that safe," please remember I live in America, and I am a black woman. This country is not safe. We Americans tend to think other people care more about us than they do and let's be real, they don't care. So I set out to explore the UAE alone, but my line sister asked if she could come, and I agreed. I did not know a decision would bring us closer and leave me with photos and memories of a lifetime. From Feb 20-22, I set out to explore Dubai.

For many people visiting Dubai seems expensive, but I am here to show you how that is a lie. I tend to follow the rule of- Don't spend more than $750 for domestic trips and $1500 for international. So with a budget of $1500 in mind, I started to plan. The first part of traveling is finding out how you will get to your destination. My flight to Dubai ended up being $470 on Qatar Airways. I would be leaving Dallas at 10:45 pm on Thursday the 18th, and I arrived in Dubai at 4 am on the 20th. The original flight I wanted was a non-stop flight on Emirates for $535, but I waited too late, and it jumped up to $805, so that was a no. My original plan was to get to Dubai a day early to wander, explore and see the things I wanted to experience alone, but that did not happen. We all know there is a pandemic still outside, and while countries are loosening the restrictions, they still have some in place that must be followed. For Dubai, they require a Covid test within 48 hours of departure. However, Dubai specifically wants a PCR test. I had taken one the day before; however, my results did not come back in time. I went to the airport because they have testing there; I paid $80 for an airport test, thinking that the rapid test would be OK and I would have my PCR results before landing in Dubai. Unfortunately for Dubai, it's PCR or nothing. So sadly, I had to go home, pay for another ticket, with the help of my sister, and leave out the following night. I was shortening my trip by 24 hours.

Okay, so now housing. Dubai has the game figured out. Throughout the country, they have a host of Airbnb's, hotels and the country even has hotel apartments, which is what we ended up staying in. Hotel apartments give you the 24-hour concierge convenience of a hotel. Still, the space and the amenities of an apartment: a kitchen, you can do laundry, a living room, a dining room, etc. Initially, I was going to use my discount for one of the major hotel brands. But the day before, they had told us they accidentally overbooked themselves, and we would ultimately end up with a smaller room than the one I had initially requested. However, they had a workaround, so I looked at another hotel apartment, and we were able to find a room for $700 for three days for three people. We ended up staying at The View Al Barsha. A very spacious 2b/2b hotel apartment. The room was paid for through booking.com, so when we arrived, we just gave them our passport to make a copy of it for their internal records. They gave us the key, and we went to our room. The check-in process was maybe all of seven minutes.

The following day was when the fun began. We set out to start exploring the city. The first stop was food. A few months ago, I stumbled across an IG page with these beautiful cocktail trees. Me being me, I checked the location saw it was Dubai, and that is how I picked Dubai as my birthday trip. Well, the restaurant is named Vibe (IG- @VibeUAE). The restaurant specializes in healthy but delicious and very Instagram-able food and drinks. The restaurant also has a delicious vegan menu (My line sister approved, and she's vegan.) The menu is reasonably priced and full of flavor. Honestly, I would have been content dining there every day. We also visited the Dubai Miracle Garden. According to their website, they are "The world's largest natural flower garden and is home to over 150 million flowers arranged in colorful arches and patterns," and lord is it breathtaking. Admission is only (55AED/15USD).

I would talk about the World Expo, but it will not be back in Dubai for many years, so that tidbit is not necessary. Just know 2025, Osaka, Japan will be seeing me. While in Dubai, we also went to the REAL Palm Beach, Palm Beach Jumeirah. (Sorry, South Florida). While we only went to the beach in that area, they have Atlantis Aquaventure, but we didn't go. The beach was beautiful and offered a fantastic view of the Dubai skyline. We did also go to this bar/lounge. It was for an older crowd. But by far, one of the best experiences we had came on my final day. Before coming to Dubai, my LS mentioned ATVs in the desert. And while that is a part of the "I went on vacation in Dubai" starter pack, I had done ATVs in the rainforest in Costa Rica last year. I also flipped off that same ATVc; I did not want to do that again. But I ultimately agreed, so we set out to go on a desert excursion.

Let me tell you Booking/Tripadvisor/Viator. Are your friends when it comes to excursions. They have specialized tours and excursions that often include pickup and drop-off to your hotel or a hotel close to you. My LS found a company that charged $55 for our Desert excursion through booking.com. The tour company sent a driver to pick us up from our hotel, bring us back, and take us to the desert where we went dune-bashing. Although our tour did not come with ATVs, they were available. The tour also included unlimited soft drinks and water. You could also purchase liquor. A free dinner buffet, a live show, free henna, and free hookah were all included. I got to smoke hookah in the desert in Dubai.

I did not get to see a few places and things, like the Dubai Frame the Burj Khalifa. I am indifferent to Dinner in the Sky, but I would gladly do it if somebody else paid and other places I see over social media. And there are a few places I am keeping close to my chest until I can experience them for the first time. I also want to experience some cultural stuff like Abu Dhabi, the Museum of the Future that opened on 2/22/22, and a few other things.

But enough about me, let's do a cost breakdown since that is usually what people want to see. Also, remember you can use your card if you do not want to take any cash out. We could use our cards everywhere in Dubai, even in the desert.

Flight: DFW to DXB (originally $470 on Qatar Airways)

Hotel: The View Al Barsha- $200 pp. Not the most photographic place, but still lovely. I would probably pick somewhere else next time.

Food: We ate a lot of local food, so we weren't spending more than $15 a meal outside of the two times we went to a restaurant. So all together we spent maybe $120 on food and drink.

Transportation: We ubered the bulk of the time. Rides were no more than 15-20 a ride, So maybe $75pp. We did catch the train to the expo. That was cool; that ticket was AED 20, so $10 roundtrip.

Excursions and activities: About $100, If I had done everything, I wanted $200.

Souvenirs: This cost me the most; my abaya was about $220, but the photos are worth it. So let's say $350

Total= $470+ $200 + $120 + $85 + $100 + $350= $1,275. I had one of the most fun trips I have gone on in a while for under my budget of $1,500. And if I did not spend so much on Souvenirs, I would have been right around 1k. Traveling to Dubai is not expensive at all. You need to find things within your price range and create a trip that will be memorable for you. The IG photos will come. Remember, let your travel meet your reality.