July 19, 2024
Day D3: Cooling Off
Not much happened today which is probably a good thing. The arrival in Dubai had been a whirlwind, and now the weekend on Friday and Saturday meant some time to chill. Learning from the mistakes over the past few days, it was mostly sticking to the shopping mall near my Airbnb and taking strategic taxis to get to places. Otherwise if you try and walk or bike in this heat you'll burn out.
A big part of the morning was talking to my host and trying to plan complex logistics. I don't know how she does it honestly, her Airbnb is booked solid and she uses a paper-based calendar system to keep track of everything instead of the apps. But she has the system down pat and never makes a mistake. Things get very complicated when people like me throw a wrench into the works and ask to extend, as well as other guests coming and going for 1-2 nights a time. What we figured out is that many people use Dubai as a stopover for the flights to/from Australia and England, then the Airbnb is treated as a crash pad. In many ways it wasn't much different from the family using my sister's place in Tokyo as a transition pad.
But it all got sorted and we also discussed details at length including how to manage the laundry, the garbage, and how to get around the kitchen. She is a remarkable host, and when it comes to Airbnb I think a lot of people don't understand the concept of how it works. This isn't a hotel. It is primarily a social experience. Success revolves around relationships with the hosts. Every stay is always a little different, and the more experience you get the better you can navigate.
After some more shopping and keeping up the place in tip top shape, it was time for another fitness class. I was already becoming quite popular at the Orange Theory near the shopping mall, and by now all three coaches knew me as well as several members The coaches effectively called themselves the catwoman team. They knew I was visiting from the US and wanted to know my impressions of Dubai so far. When I asked what the nightclub situation was like, they got all excited. Apparently it's an absolutely huge thing around here.
Next it was time to switch gears and attempt the tourist thing. It wouldn't be a trip to Dubai without checking out the world's tallest building: Burj Khalifa. The only problem is tickets were all sold except for the ones at night and they wanted 800 fucking dirhams for the top floor. So I booked something the next day for a much more reasonable price at 170 dirhams and it would be in the daytime which is better anyway.
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The famous shopping mall 'Dubai Mall' was also slam packed with people and this was supposedly low season. This was probably best avoided in future after the tower visit.
Later on I got a call from a new friend I met at the social event last night and she wanted to organize nightclub tours for tomorrow. Alright then, that would be the plan. For now I was going to catch up on sleep.
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