Brunch

Listen, I've always loved brunch.  There is something amazing about getting to sleep in and still eat delicious food for breakfast and eat so much of it that you're full for the rest of the day. So I expected a Dubai brunch to be good, but in true Dubai fashion, these brunches go above and beyond anything I have ever seen. Brunch in Dubai is truly an iconic experience.

All the brunches have different vibes ranging from the crazy-party-dance-by-your-seat brunch to the relax-chat-indulge brunch. They're all insane though. It's usually on Fridays and it's usually 3-4 hours of all you can eat (and drink if you're into that).  People dress to impress and have a really great time.  I wish I was a millionaire so I could go to brunch every weekend.

Yesterday I went to a Halloween brunch at Atlantis on the Palm. 

Nonstop Sunny Days

This post is to inform you that you need to stop whatever you are doing right now and go book a flight to Dubai. It's like a constant vacation here. The weather is so hot that it has become normal for me to feel rivers of sweat running down my back, but the silver lining is that it's literally always good pool weather, and I love a good pool.

I apologize for the lame pictures.  This blogging things is teaching me that I need to be WAY better at taking pictures. I rarely remember to take pictures and when I do take them they're just like a quick snapchat. This post would be way cooler if I had good pictures.

Zero Gravity
This was my first pool/beach club experience in Dubai and it did not disappoint.  The pool was nice and cool and the sea is warm and relaxing. I can't get enough of view of the sea with the city skyline in the background. 

Nasimi 

This pool/beach is at Atlantis on the Palm and it's pretty amazing. I like it the most because it's free for girls to get into. Also the Atlantis building is stunning and I feel like it's Ariel's castle.  

I went to a beach party here one night, and it was amazing because they painted my face like a glittery mermaid.  At some point in the evening they suddenly stopped the music. Everyone was just standing around and we asked a security guy what was going on. He said they stopped the music for prayer time.  

Barasti 

I love this place at night. The huge skyscrapers right along the sand and lit up at night are lovely. 

JBR Beach

This is a free public beach with awesome views of Duai. Also sometimes camels walk by.  

Rooftop Pools

My apartment has a rooftop pool which is the pool I go to the most often, obviously. It's not the most exciting, but it gets the job done and it's a nice place to watch the sunset.

Pretty much every hotel has a nice rooftop pool that you can pay a bit to go to. 

Have I convinced you to come visit yet?

My Place

My school pays for my apartment, which is super nice. When I landed in Dubai they picked me up from the airport and took me straight to my apartment.  My first impression was that it was nicer than I was expecting and I felt a huge amount of relief because I had no idea what to expect.

My work had told me before I came that I would need to bring sheets for the bed, but as if I was going to take up precious suitcase space with sheets, so I had none when I got there. I had nothing, so the first night of sleep was done on the couch with my travel pillow and maxi skirts as blankets.

I don't understand why I didn't just sleep on my mattress with the maxi skirts and travel pillow.  Somehow in my head I felt like a random couch is better than a mattress with no sheets on the sketch scale.  Don't ask me to explain that, I had just survived a 14 hour flight and my brain was pretty mushy. 

I (super surprisingly) didn't get much sleep that way, and jet lag is a beast, so I was up in the middle of the night unpacking everything. 

I almost immediately went to IKEA the next morning and got some bedding and was a much happier camper the next night. It took me about two weeks to fully adjust to the time though. 11 hours is a huge difference.

Don't judge the following video too harshly. I took a lot of random videos for my family because I know they just missed my voice so much. I wasn't planning on sharing the videos with anyone but family, but it's way easier to upload the video of my apartment than to take a million pictures and upload them all. So there you go. Maybe if you just turn the sound off you won't realize what an awkward human I am.

The Flight

Ohhhh my goodness, the flight.  You guys, it was rough.  14 hours is too long to be on a plane.  I think I've blocked most of it from my memory, but I have some pictures to let us all experience it a bit together.

The sisters dropped me off at the airport and it was sad but I was able to quickly distract myself with some Jamba Juice. 

pulling away from home for the last time

last herm pic


I totally wasn't crying....totally...

last selfie in the states

last view of the mountains

My first flight was from SLC to Seattle. That flight was uneventful, I honestly can't remember a single thing about it.  Once I landed in Seattle I had an hour to walk around and distract myself from the upcoming 14 hours.

I flew Emirates and it was actually pretty nice for a 14 hour prison. The people were all super friendly and professional and everything was clean and lovely. 

I sat in the aisle and shared the row with a nice business woman at the window and a man that did construction work in Africa sitting in the middle.  The woman moved away from us about an hour into the flight. She told the flight attendant that she had back pain and needed to be moved to a more comfortable seat.  Does that work? Do you get free upgrades if you say you have back pain?  The man was a little too nice and didn't understand that he should move out of the middle seat and into the window seat now that it was empty. I had to gently suggest it. He also later did not understand that it is unacceptable to touch me with his feet while he's sprawled out sleeping and taking up the window seat and the aisle seat.

We were fed dinner and breakfast and that was honestly the most exciting part of the whole trip.  I tried so hard to sleep but it just wasn't happening, so I mostly just watched Improv Everywhere for hours and hours. 

the flight went directly north from Seattle which I somehow wasn't expecting

dinner

at night they turned off all of the lights and had a lovely starry night sky 

got to watch the sunrise from inside the plane

breakfast

Aaaand next thing I knew I was in Dubai!

everything I own in one picture

first selfie in Dubai!