For
an early 'summer' holiday I was looking for a 7/8 day-trip, to places
i've never been before. At first I checked to combine 2/3 European
cities, but the fares to cities I had on my list (like Athens, Rome,
Lisbon) weren't that lowcost and the flights would cost well over
200€, especially with the check-in luggage needed for a trip like
this. Soon after that I stumbled upon an option for relatively cheap
intercontinental flights, with either a change-over somewhere in
Europe or leaving from Belgium or Germany.
I
was checking out flights to Dubai, and the cost of living over there.
With the cost of hotels being lower than Rome for example, food like
shoarma or Indian cuisine (one of my favorite cuisine) for a couple
of euro's and public transport capped at 14 AED (2.8€) a day, which is insanely cheap given the fact Dubai's metro covers the distance of places located about 50 km away, the
city I thought to be a get-away place for the rich and famous, could
well be an option!
So
Dubai it is, my first time ever to visit a non-European country! Concerning the flight there were in fact the two options
mentioned before, getting the change-over somewhere or leaving from
Belgium, both costing around 400€ for a returntrip. For the trip to
Dubai both options are fine, you're full of energy, so spending two
or three hours extra isn't that big of a deal. The return made the
decision for us. Spending about three hours on Bucharest, Istanbul or
Moscow airports during the night, or flying back to Amsterdam
directly, quite a no-brainer.
And
yes, I booked a return from Belgium, but since KLM gives you the
option to take the Antwerp – Schiphol route by train (and thereby
saving 200€ a person to get on the same direct flight as you would
get booking Amsterdam – Dubai), I took that option and will go to
Antwerp, collect my ticket there, go to Schiphol with the trainticket
included in the fare, fly to Dubai, fly back to Amsterdam and take
the train back.
Of
course you can throw away all the money you have in Dubai, but
research shows me being a little budget sensitive can make a trip to
Dubai possible. Since it's not likely i'll be in that region very
often I also checked the options to make this trip a sort of a round
trip. Buses to Oman would take about 6 /7 hours (and 6/7 hours back)
and would be too much of a hassle for a relatively short trip. Abu
Dhabi is only 2 hours away and with buses going every 40 minutes, for
about 4€, we also decided to visit Abu Dhabi for a day.
So
to summarize the trip a little: taking a Eurolines bus to Antwerp,
spending some time there, train to Schiphol, getting a night-flight
from Amsterdam to Dubai, 3 nights in an apartment in the Bur Dubai
area, 1 night in a **** hotel in Abu Dhabi and 2 more nights in a
75sqm apartment in the Al Barsha/Jumeirah area of Dubai before we
take another night-flight back.
Activities
we've planned right now: wandering through the markets/souks of old
Dubai, taking snowboard lessons (yeah, it's something you really need
to do in 35 degrees, and costing 30€ for an hour, why not, it's a once
in a lifetime experience), going to the highest building in the
world, Burj Khalifa and visit the observation deck, chilling in one
of the beach parks for a day, some (window) shopping in the huge
malls, taking a ride on the monorail on one of the palm islands (the
artificial ones in the shape of a palm as shown on the picture), taking the obligatory
pictures of the worlds only 7-star hotel, Sheikh Zajed Mosque in Abu
Dhabi and desert safari/dune bashing.
Utrecht
– Antwerpen (Eurolines): 10€
Antwerpen
– Amsterdam – Dubai vice versa (KLM): 416€
3
nights in a Bur Dubai apartment: 64€
Dubai
– Abu Dhabi bus return: 7,5€
1
night in a Abu Dhabi ****-hotel: 34€
2
nights in a 75 sqm in Al Barsha (Dubai): 62€