Millionaire for a day! (Part One)
This time last year I got a glimpse into the life of luxury, a vacation to a cosmopolitan city known for its high population of millionaires: Dubai!
My wonderful boyfriend surprised me with this adventure when we were planning an adventure to Sri Lanka. We had would have been a painfully long layover in Dubai—about ten hours of stewing around the airport—but he decided to take advantage of it. Layovers between flights could be a respite or an unholy purgatory before reaching your final destination. So let me ask you, why sit around for hours waiting for the next flight when you can take a mini vacation?
My boyfriend had stopped through Dubai on numerous occasions for work, so he knew exactly where to go which saved us precious time. We decided to go on a day trip to see the most famous building in Dubai (as well as the world’s tallest manmade structure) the Burj Khalifa. It’s also conveniently located directly adjacent to the Dubai Mall.
The roads were quite empty for being such a massive city (it was like 9 a.m.), you would think it would have more traffic but--nope! It made it easy to capture a few photos of the fancy-looking architecture. We hopped out of the taxi on a pedestrian street leading to the mall. I was lucky that on this day, the temperature was only 36 degrees Celsius (that’s about 98 Fahrenheit) and it was overcast. By Dubai’s standard it was “chilly.” The cloud cover enabled me to gaze with awe at this mega tall shining structure jutting up from the rest of the city. I instantly felt on the same level as ants in the grass. It was impossible to get a full picture of it from where were standing—that’s how large it is.
Burj Khalifa = 829.8 m tall... Your author= 1.5 m depending on hairstyle
My boyfriend led me around to a manmade canal system flanked by restaurants and high-rise apartments. He told me at night this area would be lit up and they sometimes had the fountains perform a water show choreographed with music. I could only imagine how decadent that had to be—especially if you viewed it from the top floor. I watched a couple of people paddle calmly by in a pair of kayaks before following my boyfriend inside.
Me taking this terrible shot of the canal/fountain
That my friends is why you always check your ISO and white balance!
Source
Dubai Fountain
Once inside I gaped at all the familiar American fast food chains that we significantly glammed up. I instantly felt like more of a pauper the deeper we walked into the mall. The floors were marbled but so sleek and shiny they were like mirrors. I saw wealthy people from every corner of the world gathered at the cafes and queuing in line to explore the Burj Khalifa.
Since I probably will not (or ever) get the opportunity to visit this place again, we paid for tickets to see the very top floors. I recommend you spend the extra $85 to buy “At the Top Sky” access. For one thing you have more, and more time to explore. You also get a little VIP treatment! We were lead into a small lounge where we were served tea and snacks while we waited for the previous group to come down. It was a nice little place to relax and leave our heavy backpacks.
We were ushered to the elevator and sped in the fastest elevator I’ve ever been in. This thing travels at 10 m/s and you don’t even get inertia sickness. Seemed like only a few seconds went by and we stepped onto the 148 floor. It was decked out in a modern sleek design. The staff offered us fresh squeezed juice to sip as we took in the sights.
I felt like a millionaire even though I know I didn’t look like one. Everyone else in our group looked like the burst out of the latest fashions from Armani, Prada, and Gucci. I found it comical and didn’t let that spoil my fun. In fact, we took a photo shoot of ourselves looking “regal.”
The fountain/canal from 555 m up
We casually wandered the decks below taking a good look at all the interactive information placards. For example, I learned it took five long years to complete the building (from 2004-2009). During that time they kept revising the plans to make it taller and taller before finally settling on it becoming 829.8 meters (2,722ft) at the antenna. It showed a layout of how the building was divided into residences, corporate space, mechanical utility floors, and the Armani Hotel (there’s that name again).
I marveled at a group of brave window washers dangling precariously next to the building scraping the dust from the glass. I wandered into the gift shop thinking how their job must be never ending (as well as nerve-wracking). After fooling about trying to choose a trinket for far too long, my boyfriend pulled me away so he could show me the Dubai Mall.
We took one last chance to nibble on the complementary snacks as we collected our bags and struck out to perhaps one of the most luxurious entertainment locations.
Thanks for reading ! See you all in Millionaire for a Day (Part Two)!
I almost forgot! If you want more information on the Burj Khalifa or you want to buy tickets ahead of time, head to their official website.