Megan's Great Adventure!

Our teammate, Megan, decided to really bust out this past weekend and went to....Dubai!  She departed Bozeman at 11:45am on Wednesday morning, and arrived in Dubai Thursday evening at 9pm (a 14 hour flight).  She went with her friend, Danielle, who is a Delta agent in Norfolk, Virginia (Caitlin met Danielle while in Norfolk--see previous post).  They had a room booked at the Holiday Inn Express, and Megan was expecting it to be "just your basic Holiday Inn Express" but in Dubai, nothing is "just your basic" anything!  Megan said the hotel was very beautiful and luxurious, and their room was very comfortable.  All this for $93 dollars per night!  This included a breakfast of fresh fruit and olives.  Delicious!
 

Megan and Danielle ventured out into Dubai early Friday morning.  Megan was able to complete Task #66--With the tallest building in the world in the background (point value:  25)

Here is a little information about this building.  It's called the Burj Khalifa.  It is 160 stories tall and measures 2,700 feet.  As a comparison, the Empire State Building is 102 stories and is LESS THAN HALF the height (1,250 feet tall).

With her main task complete, Megan and Danielle spent the day sightseeing.  They went to see the Burj Al Arab.  This is a hotel that measures over 1,000 feet tall (again, think Empire State Building) but only has a little over 200 hotel suites.  The smallest hotel suite is 1800 square feet and the largest one is 8400 square feet.

The Burj Al Arab is built on its own artificial island that is 1,000 feet off the coast.  It is connected to the mainland by a bridge and a guard booth.  Unless you are a guest of the hotel, you are not allowed to cross.  There are large cement blockades that rise up out of the ground to block any vehicles from crossing.  Once it has been determined that you are allowed to be there, the blockades sink into the ground and you can pass.

Megan and Danielle also spent some time at the Mall of the Emirates.  This is a GIANT mall that definitely has something for everyone!  It has a multiplex cinema, an indoor ski park, a 500-seat community theater for live performances, 2 hotels (with a combined 900 rooms available), an amusement park, 520 stores (The Gap, Brooks Brothers, Borders Books, Versace, Tiffany, and Gucci as well as "traditional" clothing stores), and over 80 cafes/restaurants.  Here are a few photos of the Mall, the indoor ski hill (which Megan described as "a bunny slope but with actual ski lifts"), and the toboggan park.

After a day of sightseeing, it was time to head to the airport to fly home.  Yes, you read that correctly--Megan and Danielle spend 24 hours on the ground in Dubai!  Their flight departed Friday evening at 10:30pm and Megan arrived home to Bozeman at 12:45pm on Saturday.  Just in time to go to work Sunday morning!

Megan's general comments about Dubai:  SHE LOVED IT!  She said she would return "in a heartbeat" but would definitely stay longer.  She said she felt very safe, the city is very clean, all signs are in both Arabic and English, and the people she interacted with all spoke English and were very helpful.  Prices are very reasonable and it is an easy city to navigate (excellent train system).

Here are some of Megan's additional photos.  Since many of our Blog readers may opt never to travel to Dubai, we thought we'd bring a little bit of Dubai to you--Enjoy!