Discover Dubai with the Ireland Family

By Herb Ireland

 

     Can you answer these questions about Dubai? In what year did the citizens of this country celebrate their 50th anniversary as an official nation? How many countries make up the United Arab Emirates? Before the discovery of petroleum what dangerous occupation brought wealth to this sleepy little city? What is the name of the world's tallest building? Do Christians have any rights in this Islamic country? How many countries participated in the World Exposition in Dubai? Are there different types of world expositions? If so, can you name some of them? What country is the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque located? How many people can participate in a prayer service in this mosque? What is the name of the most expensive hotel in the world? Is the topography of Dubai mainly sand dunes? Name an unusual venue found inside a mall that is located in a city known for its heat and humidity. If the United Arab Emirates were 100 people how many would actually be Emirati? According to the Guinness Book of World Records where is the largest gold ring in the world located? What is the name of the family dynasty that rules Dubai to this day?

     You will find the answers to these questions and more in the daily journal of Herb and Carolyn who spent three weeks in Dubai. Join them as they make exciting discoveries and learn the customs of the people of Dubai. Enjoy the pictures that accompany this travel log. Purchase this journal and expand your knowledge of this small nation that is filled with exquisitely designed skyscrapers and is so advance technologically. Learn about their self-driving metro line that is super clean and how a person is not to swear, chew gum, eat or drink while riding in the metro.  

    

• Language: English
• Publisher: H. E. Coale Press
• Release date: Apr 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201660840

Herb Ireland

Along with reading all kinds of literature one of my favorite hobbies is to travel and discover new places. Augustine expressed it best when he declared, "The world is a book. Those who do not travel read only a page." 

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Preface

Following Jesus Christ can lead to some surprising adventures. It was so for us when we attended the first adult class called All Nations at Wheaton College Church on September 12, 2021. The leader of the class is Dr. Jim Tebbe who was formerly involved in missions and education in many different nations. He was president of Forman Christian College founded in 1864 in Pakistan that was for Christians and Muslims and the attendance grew to 8,000 people. The All Nations Sunday class includes not only a study of the Bible but also introducing a different nation each week and praying for the advancement of the Christian faith in that nation.

It was on this Sunday that Jim shared that Dubai was hosting the World Exposition 2020. Because of the pandemic the Expo had to wait until October 2021 to officially open. As a World Exposition it would run for six months until March 31, 2022. Carolyn and I listened with great interest because in 1986 we took our family to Expo 86 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In addition, we had attended a lecture about the 1893 World Expo in Chicago and visited a museum about the 1904 World Expo in Saint Louis, Missouri.

After prayer and much discussion, we decided to attend the World Expo in Dubai which is the first one ever held in the Middle East. Slowly the dream trip began to expand as we found out that Spring break was the same for our son, son-in-law, and grandson. It was exciting to see how work schedules were adjusted and, in the end, all eight of our immediate family could join us for this trip of a lifetime. This then is the story of the Ireland family’s adventure in a nation that in 1960 had no electricity and today is one of the most advanced nations of the world.

Daily Dubai Journal

Saturday

2/26/2022

It has been great to have the time to slowly pack and then add or subtract items that we think are important to have in Dubai. Since we will be gone for 24 days we have added additional items like our old phones that maybe we can use in Dubai with a new SIM card to call one another. Carolyn did one last shifting of items in the three bags and one carry on and all weighed less than the 50 pounds maximum.

Ginger and John picked us up at 3:30 p.m. and took us to O’Hare International Airport. Our flight did not leave until 8:15 p.m. but we were to be at the airport three hours before the flight leaves. The line to check in was very long and it took a lot of time. It was interesting that later the line was much shorter. When we arrived at the check in desk the Emirates Airways employee helped by giving Carolyn the SkyMiles and also put us next to a window and aisle seat with the middle seat empty in row 36. When we tried to check in 48 hours early it showed someone sitting in the aisle seat when in reality there was no one!

While we waited to board the airplane, we walked to see what restaurants were available for the Vessey family when they leave O Hare to join us in Dubai. Knowing it was going to be a thirteen-hour flight I walked around and achieved 10,393 steps.

We took off in the giant Boeing 777-300 Boeing plane holding over 350 people and it was a smooth take off. At first, I read the book The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. It is a historical novel about the Civil War battle of Gettysburg and highly acclaimed. Next, I looked at the television monitor in front of me and it had over 1,400 things to do from live television, movies, games, documentaries, etc.

Sunday

2/27/2020

Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean we slipped into Sunday. During this part of the trip we tried to sleep, read, watch live BBC news, followed the path of the plane over the curvature of the earth, and ate two delicious meals and a pizza snack. We often were up to walk and drank a lot of water to keep hydrated at the altitude of 40,000 feet with minus 50 degrees outside. This airplane is so fantastic with cameras on the belly showing what is below so you don’t have to look out of the windows which have the shades drawn so people can sleep when it is light outside.  It was fun to see the desert of Saudi Arabia as we flew over it. We are ten time zones away from Chicago and after thirteen hours in the plane we landed softly in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. There are seven emirates that make up the U.A.E. with a sheikh over each. The largest and richest by far is Abu Dhabi and the second largest is Dubai.

When we landed it took a long time to disembark the plane and walk the long, long way to customs and then to pick up our bags and get on the metro. For those interested here is a time line upon arriving in Dubai: We landed at 7:20 p.m. Dubai time. It took twenty minutes to leave the plane. We then stood in line for Dubai customs who asked for our passports and took our picture with masks off. Visitors from the United States are automatically given a thirty-day visa. Next, we picked up our luggage and used a luggage rack to go to an ATM machine to secure Dubai money known as UAE dirham (Dhs) or AED. The exchange rate varies a little bit but is

about $1.00 equals 3.62 Dhs. Next, we had to purchase the Nol card to use the metro and after such a long day it was nice to have an employee help us. We purchased the silver Nol card with pre-loaded credit. Fares are Dhs 3 for traveling in one zone, Dhs 5 for two zones and Dhs 7.50 for three or more zones. We later discovered that at the different metro stops there were often metro employees willing to help any and all travelers catch the correct train. It took two hours and forty minutes from touch down to arrival at the metro station situated right next to the airport terminal. We then traveled to the very southern end of the metro line where our Airbnb was located.

However, our day was not yet over as when we finally arrived at our hotel room right across from the metro station a cleaning crew was busy cleaning up the apartment. Thankfully, they had called us while we were in line for customs and warned us that cleaners might be at our rental when we arrived. They were finally done at 10:30 and we were now ready to relax. Then our phone rang and it was an employee representing the owner of the Airbnb and he wanted