I arrived in the UAE, spent the night in Dubai, and spent $55 in two hours
Firstly, I want to say that I don’t like Dubai. If I compare it with Singapore, Singapore is more comfortable, and I would choose Singapore. Next, I will try to describe what I like and dislike. Also, this trip started very badly because while I was on the flight, I started to feel a little bit sick. It happened after the food. I had a headache and felt uncomfortable.
First minus: I want to say it felt like a scam, or even more than a scam. I left the airport and went to the taxi pickup point. There, one man came up to me and told me to go with him. I asked the price, and he said 150 AED. I was surprised, because on Uber I could order a taxi for 80–90 AED ($25). So that man thought I was stupid and would accept his price. That guy ruined my mood.
Second minus: the prices. In just 4 hours, I spent $55 on taxis — just from the airport and back to the airport. I think it’s my most expensive taxi story ever. Even in Europe, I never spent so much money on a taxi. Yeah, you could say I could have taken a bus, but at 2 AM I couldn’t find a convenient one. And according to the information I saw, most buses start from 4 or 5 AM.
Third minus: the weather. At 2 AM it was already 33 degrees, which was awful. On top of that, the humidity was very high. While I was walking, I got wet from my head down to my legs. Now I’m sitting in the airport smelling like a pig.
Fourth minus: I couldn’t find any available toilets near the Burj Khalifa area. I even asked people, and they told me, ‘You won’t find toilets at this time.’ What the hell? In all the countries I’ve visited, I never had this problem.
I spent about two hours in Dubai, from 2 AM to 4 AM. After a while, everything started to irritate me, so I called a taxi and left the city. I think it was a very unsuccessful and unplanned visit. However, at least I saw the Burj Khalifa, some nearby buildings, the main attractions, and also the Museum of the Future. But I don’t plan to come back here again.
Finally, even my taxi driver was a bit of a donkey. When I came back to the airport, instead of taking me to Departures, he dropped me at Arrivals. He just said, ‘Sorry, I took the wrong way.’ Well, okay — if you took the wrong way, then I clicked the wrong button. I gave him 1 star as feedback.
Also, I couldn’t take a normal photo of the Burj Khalifa the way I wanted, in horizontal format. The building is so big, and that pissed me off even more.