Ready to go back in time? Trick question really.
The video highlighting our tour of the world-famous Burj Al Arab, was the second video released in the ‘Big Adventure’, months before the more recent, Episode Six featured in this post.
But it’s the same day?
It would be science-fiction sexy to blame it on some time anomaly, but the answer lies partly with amazing moments, and marketing. We released the video highlighting our tour of the world-famous Burj Al Arab early in the ‘Big Adventure’ series simply because it was stunning moment. True luxury.
Far from an effort to correct any Youtube timeline, this episode simply details our last day in the ‘Jewel of the Desert’, the before and after of the Burj Al Arab tour with unseen footage telling the story of how we ended up on one of the highlights of our time in Dubai.
Even with all the additional footage, there’s still some behind the scenes stuff that didn’t make it into the video, revealed later in this article.
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Jewel of the Desert?
While it may be subtle, the video reflects our energy level on the last day in Dubai.
By this point we had braved the midday sun on our first day, spent a day exploring old and new souks, the following day saw us at Downtown Dubai and all it offers, and then traveled to Abu Dhabi for day. Understanding each one of those days involved seven to nine miles of walking, it’s fair to say we were a little tired rolling into our final full day in Dubai.
Underlining the exhaustion was a creeping feeling Dubai was more ‘Disney in the Desert’ than a ‘Jewel of the Desert’.
There’s no doubt Dubai is a new city, pretty much enjoying the growth its known for today in the late 1970’s and since. But it was more the nature of the attractions that gives the Disney impression. For many the Disney vibe is fine. Disney became an international economic powerhouse by attracting tourists from around the world to its American bi-coastal parks.
Indeed, other emirates in the UAE are following Dubai’s lead. An overwhelming sense during our trip to Abu Dhabi was an apparent focus and push to build its tourism.
With all this in mind, we were quite happy to spend more time exploring than taking on another attraction with a gift shop at the end of the ride. This is what led to a day of looking for locations to grab unique shots of the iconic Burj Al Arab.
Touring the Burj Al Arab (Travel Tips)
We gave a brief overview of the Burj Al Arab hotel here, on the page featuring our tour video. But there are other reasons, and certainly things to look for when considering touring the Burj Al Arab.
First is to look beyond the luxury, the building itself is simply remarkable so take a moment to appreciate the effort it took to make the hotel happen.
Managed by Jumeirah hotel group, the Burj Al Arab is one of the tallest hotels in the world, with the caveat 39% of its total height is made up of non-occupiable space. That said, and even putting the structure aside, it’s an engineering marvel. When researching the hotel for our video, the top google hits for the Burj Al Arab were on architectural and engineering specific websites.
To start, the hotel rests on an artificial island constructed 280 m (920 ft) offshore. To secure a foundation, the builders drove 230 40-metre-long (130 ft) concrete piles into the sand by drilling method. Creating a suitable foundation took longer than it did to build the hotel itself!
Inside the building, the atrium is 180 m (590 ft) tall. The 18 storied atrium is enclosed by 12 individually tensioned two-layer membrane panels form the north facing facade. It was built to resemble the billowing spinnaker sail of a J-class yacht. Two “wings” spread in a V to form a vast “mast”, while the space between them is enclosed in a massive atrium.
Between the soil-structure interaction, effect of water, high winds, and helipad among other loads, there were many hurdles to overcome, so when on the tour take a moment and look around.
Secondly, enjoy where you are not where you’re going. While this could be a mantra for life, it works well for the ‘Inside the Burj Al Arab’ tour.
When we went, visitors are taken to the Experience Suite before heading up to the more glamourous Royal Suite. The Experience Suite was formerly a Royal Suite, and it enjoys the same layout and decor. Whether from others trying to rush through the Experience Suite, or browsing several display rooms the more picturesque areas are free of people! There are opportunities to grab great photos and selfies of decor or in front of the stunning staircases. The incredibly use of color and materials featured throughout the two-story suite makes for a picture-rich environment.
Finally, patience is your best friend when touring the Royal Suite.
The group is taken through the Royal Suite together, but none of the staff seemed to mind if Wendy and I stayed behind in a room while the group was taken onto the next. It took a few rooms for us to work this out, but once we did, we not only enjoyed rooms clear of tourists to take much better pictures but also the time to frame our shots more creatively.
Come for the Tour, Stay for the Drinks
Like every attraction in Dubai, the tour ends in the gift shop. But this is a gift shop in a seven-star hotel (see below for disclaimers) so hang onto your wallets! It’s a beautiful store full of very fine items, all of which are priced accordingly. Unless you see something that’s an absolute must-have, save the credit card for a nice meal or drink at the patio restaurant located on the other side of the gift shop doors.
Called Uma, it offers a wonderful view across Jumeriah Beach and of the Dubai skyline. As with the gift shop, nothing is cheap on the menu, not even the water, but is a great experience if fits in the travel budget.
The Dubai heat is overcome with large portable air conditioners which are surprisingly quiet. If there isn’t one positioned at your table, just ask the staff who were happy to roll one over to ours.
While not cheap, the food and drinks are very good, which helps with the guilt of splurging.
Best of all, we didn’t feel rushed. Not only is there time to enjoy the moment, but you can also get up to take in the views as well as a few displays dotted around the restaurant. There was a golden hookah on display we wanted in our videos, but the footage just wasn’t good enough.
Behind the Scenes (possible spoilers)
If this is your first time reading a ‘closer look’ at one of our YouTube videos, watch the video before reading any further. There may be possible spoilers!
As mentioned in other posts, this trip was the first travel adventure we knew would make it onto YouTube. While there aren’t as many moments of speaking to the camera as a modern travel Vlog, even one would’ve been more than seen in any prior trips. And yes, we do plan on publishing past travel adventures, low resolutions and all!
Turn it up to Eleven!
It’s not unusual for luxury hotels to claim seven-star rankings. This is seen in ‘The Big Adventure’ with the Burj Al Arab and Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Abu Dhabi. According to organizations that award such rankings, a seven-stars is impossible. Uniform hotel classification systems are used, such as the European Hotel Union (HSU) and its widely known they don’t award anything above five-stars.
Use that information how you will and while you’re thinking about it, consider the latest hotel marketing tactic of using the term of ‘ultra-luxury’.
New Scoops
We dished on some unseen but interesting stuff that happened on the Burj Al Arab tour on the video’s blog page here. Not surprisingly, there were other moments we wished the cameras had captured to feature in Episode Six.
As mentioned, this was meant to be a slower day. The idea of heading over to the Jumeirah Palms came to Wendy as we sat at Lux, the restaurant at the Burj Al Arab. We only agreed on the understanding a taxi to take us the short distance. If this had happened on day one, it would’ve certainly been walked!
Somehow, we ended up in a construction site. We’re not sure who was more confused, the driver, the construction workers as we pulled into the very busy site, or us.
We wanted to go to the monorail station to enjoy the ride onto the palm-designed islands. Whether it was from all the construction in Dubai or the destination being incorrectly typed in, the taxi sat in a dirt clearing among large equipment moving stuff around surrounded by confused men in hard hats.
It seems 70% of the population of Dubai are foreign workers with varying levels of proficiency in Arabic or English. In this particular situation, our driver’s English was limited, and the construction workers didn’t understand us or the driver. After a tense twenty-minutes, we learned the driver needed to take us back and up a nearby road.
Looking back, I think the driver dropped us off where he could pull over safely at something that resembled a monorail station. And to be honest, not necessarily in that order.
After some confused wandering, we found a parking garage that led to the monorail station, so all’s well that ends well!
Thank you for taking the time to join us on this travel adventure and we look forward to having you along on the next one!
