The dynamics of our family is such that we have event collisions more frequently than one would like. In this case, Chika had a business trip in Japan and had a follow-on opportunity AND the boys were off for winter break. Usually, this would have been a straight forward ski trip week, but, among other factors, Teo was recovering from a badly sprained ankle.
While Chika’s plan were in the initial phase, I decided to check in with my college roommate Ranjeev based in Dubai whether he would be around during the first week in February. He offered to hold the dates, I booked some frequent flyer tickets (unfortunately from Frankfurt, but at least direct) and hotels on points, and then waited to see what happened. Finally, Chika got the green light for her project and operations began.
I had prepared 2 options: to drive directly to the airport on the day we flew, or to fly out the night before and stay in the airport hotel. As there was a lot of complexities involved in the trip, adding stress to day 1 wasn’t worth it. We were able to drive out on our own schedule (after a great dim sum lunch), visit our favorite Japanese cafe, Imori, in Frankfurt, and even fit in a workout in the hotel gym in the morning.
While I generally do not really like flying out of Frankfurt airport (it’s too big, long queues, etc.), it was a simple walk from the hotel to the terminal — experience couldn’t have been better. While we had some delay on our departure, our flight was in general very smooth. It did take us a while to get through immigration and get a taxi to our hotel, which when combined with our delay resulted in arriving at our hotel, the VOCO on the Palm, around 1am local time (10pm German time).
The next morning, I needed to manage my regular meetings while changing hotels. I opted for the late checkout which allowed time to do a little grocery shopping for breakfast, and was able to drop the kids off a the rooftop pool for a short visit before jumping onto calls. I was able to successfully checkout and get us into the taxi so I could take the next meeting before checking-in during regular Munich lunch hour.
Our main location for the visit was the Double Tree Hotel at Jumeirah Beach. It’s a short drive to my friend Ranjeev’s place, it had both a pool and beach access (so kids could do something besides video games while I was working), and with Diamond Hilton status we would get some nice perks. It turned out to be even better than expected — we got upgraded to a 2 bedroom suite with a kitchen (and a washing machine!), free breakfast for the 3 of us every morning, and a $200 credit (from my Hilton credit card).
What I realized from workcation perspective is that the 3 hour time zone difference was golden. That meant we had time to go to the pool, hit the gym, go for a walk, and of course have long leisurely brunches (with unlimited eggs benedict) at the buffet. And then at lunchtime (or 3pm Dubai time) I could reconnect with the kids at the pool or the beach. The weather could have been a bit warmer (was in low 20s), but we managed to get into the water every day.
On our first night, the boys wanted to go for sushi. Ranjeev came by and took us to his go-to spot. I couldn’t believe it when it came — the epic 84 piece collassal sushi boat. It was so much, they needed to bring a side tray to carry all the pieces over. The team did very well, with only a few that got away. The next 2 days were fairly basic, eating locally on the beach side (some Shake Shack of course, and then we tried the hotel restaurant).
Finally the big day came on Thursday. I had taken the Thursday and Friday off so we decided to plan a big excursion. Due to some technical difficulties (we weren’t sure if Teo was 40kg yet), we decided not to go to the Jebel Jais zipline experience (with top speeds of 160km per hour!!!). Instead we went to Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, one of the most famous amusement parks in the world. Unfortunately, the fastest rollercoast and main attraction was closed that day. But we managed to spend over 6 hours there and enjoyed a great lunch break at PF Changs.
On the Friday, we decided to do some pool time and then head up to the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Mall. What I realized was that I needed to book tickets a few days in advance… But we did get to see the building at day and night, plus the great fountain show in the plaza in front. Ranjeev and I got to have a nice late dinner at a great seafood restaurant next door to our hotel and close out the solid week.
Saturday was departure day which would usually be a waste. Except in Dubai, when our flight wasn’t leaving until Sunday at 1.35am. We packed up all our stuff, with the exception of a change of clothes, and hung out at the pool for the whole day. For late lunch, we did an excursion over to Bluewaters Island, a nice man-made island with lots of shops and restaurants. We had some nice (but expensive) Japanese tapas and bought a nice plane pillow for Teo.
Afterwards we headed over to Ranjeev’s house for some chess and to say hello to his wife Sukaina, who unfortunately been sick and couldn’t join for our events. Some last minute shopping needs (figs for Yukie and hot sauce for Chika) prompted the final excursion to the mall, with a stop at the food court for dinner.
As Ranjeev dropped us at the airport, it was a bit sad to leave this happy place. We will definitely come back. As Teo kept noting, people were super nice. They even allowed us to have one extra person into the lounge before flying back.
The next morning after the redeye, we met Chika at the airport hotel which was great to have a cat nap and freshen up. Unfortunately, due to a parade we couldn’t make it to Imori for breakfast, but we did manage to get some crepes at the train station before their departure back to Berlin (I was off to Munich).
Bottom-line: Dubai is clearly a great destination for the family, and we intend to be back more often.
Burj Khalifa