That is the question.
During my brief Cairo layover, I’d indulged in some overly expensive cheese sticks and a couple glasses of rosé. Big mistake.
That was the end of me.
For most of the flight, I was either confined to the lavatory or seated, swaying back and forth while relying on the complimentary airsickness bag to try and steady my breathing.
At least I didn’t have anyone beside me speaking trivial drivel anymore.
We landed in Dubai around 3:45am and it was all I could do to keep my eyes open. After enduring the interminable wait in customs line, I was eager to collapse into bed.
My original intention had been to catch the metro into the city, but in my current condition, I couldn’t be bothered to try and figure it out.
I jumped in a taxi.
Well… I thought it was a taxi, anyway. It was parked in the taxi area… but had no signage, no metre, no credentials, no rules or regulations posted, no visible licensing…
There were taxis everywhere and, of course, I managed to set myself up with the most questionable one.
She was evasive with the pricing, she had no idea where she was going… though I suspect she did, but decided to drive me all over hell’s half acre in order to overcharge me.
I’ll admit… I was exhausted, cranky and hardly in the mood for incompetence, let alone games. It was infuriating, but I lacked the energy to engage in any kind of dispute.
Plus… it was my fault for climbing into her taxi… and staying there.
By the time I settled into my hotel room and hit my bed, it was 5:30.
I slept until 2:30pm.
When I awoke, I was still tired and could very well have gone right on sleeping… but this persistent little voice kept pestering me.
“Get up.”
“Go out and explore.”
“You’re in Dubai.”
“Get up.”
The obnoxious little voice was right. It won. I got out of bed…
As soon as I was up, composed and ready to go, I asked the gentleman at the front desk to call me a taxi.
Destination: Dubai Mall.
Another mall… I’m feel I’m eternally visiting malls. It’s become the bane of my travel existence. In my defence… I was desperate for camping gear. I needed a tent, a roll mat, a sleeping bag and a pillow.
True story.
Had someone asked me if I figured I’d ever find myself in the position of shopping for camping gear in Dubai, I would’ve had a jolly good laugh.
As if.
Well… never say never.
To give a little context… I was set to meet my Madventures group on November 22nd. Madventures is a tour company that offers epic overlander tours. I signed up… and had been planning this adventure for months. It was so close, I could almost taste it.
The excursion was set to see me through the Middle East for two months. Countries visited wound be the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan. I was ready to thrust myself, wholeheartedly, into a region of rich history, diverse cultures and stunning landscapes.
But first… I needed camping gear.
The tour was going to be 60% hotels… and 40% camping.
Hence the mall…
The Dubai Mall was unreal.
To put it simply ~ it was truly a spectacle of luxury, offering an experience of unparalleled shopping, dining and entertainment.
If one had to pick a mall to go to… this would probably be the top mall to try. Being the world’s largest mall, I was bound to get lost. A few times.
And I did.
Lucky for me, there were information/concierge booths scattered throughout each floor… and wing.
So… I don’t mean to ramble on & on about a mall, but bear with me a moment. This mall had an indoor waterfall, a tropical rainforest, an Olympic sized ice rink, a gold souk (market) and a cinema complex. In addition to that… and 1200 stores… they had an entire wing dedicated to Chinatown… AND an indoor aquarium… with live mermaids!
Couldn’t pay me enough money to do that job.
There were sharks.
While there, I successfully bought a tent, a roll mat, a sleeping bag and a pillow. What I’m going to do with this when the tour is over, is beyond me.
Money lost, I’m afraid.
I also had to hit the ATM… and the currency exchange. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this…. I probably did. It was something that weighed heavily on my mind and I sought out advice from almost everyone that crossed my path, leading up to the trip.
This was a budget tour… and cost me in total:
~ €3082.00
AND
~ $2750 … this had to be paid in American currency. Cash. $2750 USD CASH to be given to the driver at the beginning of the tour.
Cash?
You’re kidding me.
No.
Yep.
They wouldn’t take etransfer, PayPal, money order… nope. Cash only.
Oh, how I longed for the days of travellers cheques.
So… obviously being a Canadian, I’m not rollin’ with $2750USD cash. I did save up all my American tips from the summer, but that only got me to the $1000 mark.
I still needed another $1750.
Yes… I could’ve gone to any bank in Canada to ensure I had the correct amount, but there was something quite daunting about hauling that much cash around.
Unsettling.
I definitely was not comfortable traveling around Morocco for two weeks with such a monumental wad. I have enough of a problem keeping an eye on my passport and phone, let alone $2750 cash. No matter how many people I spoke to, I never came up with any other solution but… cold, hard cash.
It didn’t matter how many times I wrote to the company, expressing my concern, each answer that came back was “cash only.”
FML.
Ok…
I did meet a few Americans along the way that were anxious to exchange US dollars into local currency… which brought my total up to $1650.
I lost a lot of money going from Canadian dollars to UAE dirham in a tourist mall… and then swapping it over to American dollars at a currency exchange, in the world’s most touristic mall.
I lost a lot.
But I got it. I was ready.
$2750 US cash.
So if anyone is ever interested in started a life of crime, hit up a Madventures truck as it’s heading out on a new tour. 25 tourists sitting on the bus, all of them having just handed over $2750 cash…
I’ll let you all do the math.
Thug life is sounding pretty good, eh?
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