Writing to you from the Dubai airport in the Emirates Business Lounge. I’m going to let Jeff cover the First Class experience on that flight but let me just say…taking a shower at 35,000 feet was quite the experience (the floors were heated).

We landed last night at around 8pm and little to our surprise they “take care of your checked bags” so we were not given them to take to the hotel. While that was fine for Jeff who packed a change of clothes in his backpack, it was not for me; more to come later.

Emirates Airlines really knows how to wow their passengers though with their Dubai Connect program. Upon arrival we were guided to the chauffeur service that Emirates provides to all Business and First Class passengers – it was a sea of BMWs emblazoned with the Emirates logo and quite a sight to see. From there we were taken to the hotel they put us up in, the Dubai JW Marriott, and got checked into our room. Not so fun facts about Dubai / United Arab Emirates (UAE): Homosexuality is illegal and under the federal criminal provisions, consensual same-sex sexual activity is punishable by imprisonment; extra-marital sexual activity between persons of different sexes is also illegal. So to be extra careful while here we requested our room with single beds so we could each sleep in one and not raise any flags. The hotel though was gorgeous with a spacious room, gorgeous shower as well as a massive soaking tub that could actually fit the likes of a 6’1 individual like myself.

Now that check-in was done we needed to get a change of clothes for me so we figured why not go to the Dubai Mall. What they really should have called this place was the Dubai City that is fronting as a Mall because it was SO massive. Think of a store and they will have had it…maybe even two such as the two story Prada, two story Hermes, an Hermes just for beauty, and so much more. I also have to mention that at this point it is about 10:30pm over here and the mall was packed with it open till midnight. We dashed into Lululemon for a new polo and new underwear for me and then walked around in awe till we found a place to eat. Oh! But before eating we stepped outside (104 degrees btw) and we got to watch the Dubai Fountain, which gave me very Vegas vibes but cool nonetheless. We also got to see the Burj Khalifa in all its glory and it was actually lit up in tandem to the Dubai Fountain show.

We ended up eating inside but with a view of the fountain show. The dining options were a bit overwhelming but we figured while in the Middle East we should enjoy the cuisine so that is exactly what we did. Jeff got this amazing chicken fette baked dish and I ordered lamb shoulder with rice. Now I should have known something was up when Jeff’s dish was under $20 and mine was closer to $50. When they say ‘lamb shoulder’ they really were not kidding – you can see how surprised I was with the portion size and sadly could not finish it all.

After eating we aimlessly walked around trying to find where Uber’s picked up at the mall. Of course we should have known they have an entire designated area just for them! We hopped into our Uber for our hotel, winded down around midnight, and shut our eyes for around 6hrs of sleep. We woke up, took a lovely shower, got ready and then realized Jeff had lost our pack of charging adapters at some point from plane to hotel. So that part sucks but there is always going to be something while traveling and at least those are replaceable once we get to Bangkok. We just got a ping on the phone that they are boarding our plane so we are going to head to the counter and see if we can slip into First Class with points one last time – wish us luck!

P.S. – We both started our Malaria pills today and they are known to cause nausea – also wish us luck that our stomachs are made of iron and we don’t have any side effect!