Let’s catch-up on our study abroad journey through Dubai. I was looking forward to our visit with the Department of Tourism and Marketing. I did find the discussion there very interesting. We learned that it has not all been smooth sailing in the rapid development in Dubai, how they plan to catch-up infrastructure, and plan for the continued re-branding and new market expansion. These are things that I will take to heart and incorporate into my own career strategy when dealing with difficult times. We also had the chance to visit with the digital media team.
Finally I made it to Expo 2020, the visit I was most looking forward to. I learned great information and would still like to visit again during the Expo. A visit in 2018 would probably have provided more concrete programming ideas that could relate back to my profession in event management. Expo 2020 is still so far in the future they are still working on building, utilities, and legacy planning for after the Expo.
We visited Ski Dubai I found the staffing to fall short here compared to all the other customer service experiences provided throughout Dubai. I conquered the cold and participated in all the snow park events. I did make a snowball, but it was nothing to the snowball I took to the face from a little boy in line.
Two new activities to report since the last time were the visit to L’altelier des Chefs of Dubai and the Desert Safari and Dinner Show. The dinner was quite interesting and gave me a chance to utilize the proper cooking techniques I learned during my FIU cooking class. The chef was also different then most of the other interactions in that he was looking forward to leaving Dubai and return to Istanbul.
The finale event to our trip was a Desert Safari and Dinner Show. While I loved the dune driving, the trip was extremely rough for my motion sickness. We had the chance to watch the sunset over the dunes and even with all of us there it was still such an isolated area and you could imagine no one had ever been there before.
After sunset we had a short drive to the base camp. I really wanted to try the dune surfing, but I was not feeling up to it by the time the driving was done. Even though there was no show since it was a holiday, much fun was had by all. We enjoyed camel riding, hookahs, henna tattooing, and star gazing. I also was delighted by the fact that base camp had been invaded by a litter of gray tabby kittens.
So this concludes our adventures in Dubai. Hopefully the friends we made are not fleeting and we keep in touch. While Dubai was grand, I think its character can be repeated by all of us if we strive to please in our hospitality careers and remember that their theme of “nothing is impossible.”
P.S. While I have never needed it in the past, there will definitely be prescription Dramamine for all future flights. Apologies if you got stuck next to me while we experienced turbulence into or out of Atlanta.