Dubai

My trip was from 16th December to 27th December.

It was my first time flying with Emirates. It was a CRAZY GOOD experience!!!

• Leg space was much better than what I'm used to with Indigo etc.
• Complimentary meal was crazy good.
• In-flight entertainment system was great, with shows like FRIENDS etc as well as flight info to follow along and keep you occupied.

I reached Dubai airport at 17th December 00:00 AM (Dubai time, also referred to as GST).

Visa on Arrival

Since I have a B1/B2 US Visa, I had decided to opt in for Visa on Arrival.

1. Went to Marhaba counter, paid 240 AED there. Barely took 2 minutes.
2. Took me 5 minutes to search for immigration (I mistakenly went in the smart gates initially, that's on me)
3. Took 2 minutes in the immigration itself.

Reaching my friend's place

I had plans to stay with my friend at his place for the entire duration of the trip.

1. I booked an Uber Green from the airport to JLT Cluster L. It cost 130 AED but I was just too excited at the prospect of sitting in a Tesla so eh worth it.
2. A Tesla Model Y arrived. It was my first time looking at a Tesla in-person, let alone sitting in it.
3. Also caught a glimpse of Burj Khalifa on the way to my friend's place.

Day 1 (17th December, 2025)

Went to DMCC metro station. It was 10-15 minutes walk from my friend's place. Got a silver tier Nol card. It cost 25 AED, but gives 19 AED as balance.

Went to Mall of the Emirates:

1. Cost 3 AED (crazy cheap!) to go from DMCC metro station to Mall of the Emirates metro station.
2. Booked ticket for Avatar movie for 18th December 12 PM in VOX Cinemas Mall of the Emirates for IMAX 3D, cost me 109 AED.

Went to Dubai Mall:

1. Cost 5 AED to go from Mall of the Emirates metro station to Dubai Mall metro station, but I had mistakenly not checked in at Mall of the Emirates so I had to pay 10.5 AED as the exit charge.
2. Took the bus from Dubai Mall metro station to Dubai Mall (for free using the exit card).
3. Reached Dubai Mall, went to 6th floor, crossed the bridge, came down 3 floors to Lower Ground floor, and went to see Dubai Fountain at the 1 PM slot. I knew Dubai Mall is big but I was still not prepared for how insanely big and time-consuming and tiring it was, sighs only.

Went to Dubai fountain:

1. Somehow rushed through the infinite-length Dubai Mall to make it in time for the 1 PM fountain show.
2. The 1 PM fountain show was AMAZING! I was just mesmerised at the amazing show and the song they were playing. The song was this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5M7fPSWz8A
3. Saw 1:30 PM show also while eating at Pizza Hut. 1:30 PM show had a different song, I didn't like it as much as the previous one but anyway. That Pizza Hut seemed to have some exclusive menu for drinks, I tried Pepsi Coffee Boost and that is the best drink I've had in my life so far. Insanely good!

Went to Apple Store at the Dubai Mall:

1. Tried Airpods Pro 3, they were great. Let's see when I buy them.
2. Booked a demo session for Apple Vision Pro, luckily got a timeslot for just a few minutes later. Did the session, Apple Vision Pro is CRAZY GOOD. A piece of technology has blown my mind away after a long long long period of time.

Went to inquire Dubai Ice Rink in Dubai Mall, but decided not to do it as it had decent chances of causing injuries.

Walked and walked and walked to find Emirates simulator in the Dubai Mall, finally found it but it had waiting for 1.5 hours so I gave up and decided to come home.

Took a taxi from Dubai Mall to my friend's place. Meter started at 5 AED. Car was Exeed 2025 (some Chinese EV hybrid car). It cost 70.5 AED (and Uber was showing 110-140 AED).

Taxis seem to have coloured roofs, each colour representing a company. There are 5 companies (that RTA overlooks or something), that is, 5 colours at the moment.

Came home, then went to Dubai Marina in a Lexus with my friend for casual strolling and dinner.

Day 2 (18th December, 2025)

Took an Uber Lux to DMCC metro station for 44 AED, an Audi came. I topped up my Nol card with 30 AED.

Went to Mall of the Emirates to watch the Avatar movie. Movie itself was meh, but the IMAX experience was crazy good.

Then went to do Ski Dubai in the same mall.

1. Got 335 AED ticket at a 20% discount thanks to the Emirates boarding pass.
2. I got day access to snow park, and 6:30 PM session for skiing discovery lesson for which I had to report at 6 PM to the Ski School thing to get skiing clothes/gear etc.
3. I got gloves for 35 AED, lanyard for 10 AED - will get to keep them later. Only need to change shoes later for the skiing lesson.
4. Snow park was good. It was my first time seeing snow in my life. It's a bizarre/great experience going from desert heat to literal sub-zero temperature zone, that was fun. I did an ice sled ride but that idiotic ride caused my right knee and right elbow to hit against the snow wall during the ride. Was scared for my right knee because of the ACL history. It was bad for a couple of days but luckily it got better post that.
5. Did the Skiing lesson thing after that. Let's just say that I have a profound respect for people who are able to ski. Skiing is difficult af, the skates are just super heavy. (I also got 6 feet skates because of my height, sighs only)
6. Collected 2 photos digitally along with the corresponding leather album for 160 AED each.

There were some weather warnings about rain while I was doing all these indoor activities. Luckily it didn't mess up my travel plans on the subsequent days.

Day 3 (19th December, 2025)

Went to see Museum of the Future (from DMCC metro station to Emirates Tower station), didn't get tickets as they were sold out till mid January, but got to see the entrance and the lobby area which was pretty cool.

Had my lunch at Capri Italian Grill (https://www.instagram.com/capriitaliangrill), the pizza was dope!

Went to Dubai Frame after that. Really enjoyed Dubai Frame. The ticket was also cheap enough, 50 AED if I remember correctly.

Day 4 (20th December, 2025)

Went to Abu Dhabi (in a Lexus) with my friend. Cost around 300 AED one-way. I went to Ferrari World, my friend didn't like rides so he went shopping in Yas Mall.

Ferrari World was nice.

1. Sat in Formula Rossa, world's fastest roller-coaster. In the first attempt, all of us were asked to get out for a routine check, and then we sat again, and damn it was FASTTTT. The initial acceleration was CRAZY FAST. It was 175 AED for one digital photo and album, but I didn't take it as the photo itself wasn't good.
2. Did the F1 simulator. It was a 7 minutes thing, took 3-4 minutes just to get used to it. I came 2nd in the race out of the 3 people doing the F1 simulator at that time.
3. Then I did Ferrari World Roof Walk in a group of 8 people. That was really awesome! Digital photos were 315 AED, I ended up taking the physical album (which had 4 photos) + all digital photos for 420 AED. The album itself was supreme quality.

Yas Marina Circuit tickets seemed sold out for the passenger experience thing. Cycling the Grand Prix track also seemed to be Monday and Wednesday only. Hence I ended up skipping visiting the track, I should've planned better. But eh there's always next time. There's plenty more things in Abu Dhabi that I should've kept another day for but I didn't, left those also for next time.

Day 5 (21st December, 2025)

Me and my friend went to The View At the Palm, we had booked tickets for 11 AM for 185 AED each (these were the VIP tickets, the normal ones cost 105 AED I think). Overall, it was a nice experience, although I'd definitely recommend going either earlier in the morning or around sunset, as it was too sunny at the time we went.

Post that, we came home and rested for a bit. Then I had plans to do the Sky Views Edge Walk thing. It cost 500 AED, I had booked it for 5 PM. Sky Views Edge Walk was AWESOME! Completely unobstructed views to Downtown and Burj Khalifa etc etc. It also gave me one of my favourite pictures from the trip:

I had thought I'd also lean back on the edge (like you're supposed to do), but I just couldn't do that lol. It was too scary so I chickened out of it. The 2 other people in my group were both Russians, and they both did everything lol, just built different. I wish they had made us do some sitting practice etc with the harness inside, instead of directly asking us to do xyz outside on the edge, as I think I would've been able to lean back on the edge if I had done a little bit of practice before and developed trust on the harness lol. But anyway, still an extremely worthy experience nonetheless.

For the Sky Views Edge Walk, album + digital photo package was 150 AED per photo. All digital photos package was 660 AED. I took the 150 AED option for 3 photos.

There was a direct way to Dubai Mall from Sky Views building from inside the building only (because, duh, ofcourse). Re-convened with my friend at some cafe in Dubai Mall. We went to see Dubai Fountain's 8 PM and 8:30 PM shows. Then I Bought chocolates from Al Nassma shop in Souk al Bahar (in the waterfront area itself) for 838 AED (sighs only, was ordered to bring back chocolates). Then we had a nice dinner in Souk al Bahar itself.

Day 6 (22nd December, 2025)

I had booked Inside Burj Al Arab Tour for 11 AM. The tour was nice. Took physical album of 2 photos + all digital photos for 300 AED. Bought 2 tshirts and some postcards etc for 351 AED.

Then I had booked desert safari for the evening and had the pickup from my hotel at 3 PM. The desert safari itself was nice, but I didn't really like rest of the activities (dinner etc), mostly because the rest of the group was Turkish and Uzbek people and I felt isolated despite attempts of trying to socialise with them. Apparently Turkish and Uzbek languages are very similar so they could interact freely. Anyway, the whole desert safari cost just 100 AED so it was still worth it.

Day 7 (23rd December, 2025)

I had booked a helicopter ride (25 Minute Sharing Flight + Panoramic Seats package) from https://helicopterflight.ae/ for the 4:25 PM time slot. It cost 1649 AED, which is super expensive but I was too excited to sit in a helicopter for the first time in my life.

So I did my lunch at some random cafe in JLT Cluster L itself, then went to the helicopter ride place, that is, Falcon Helitours. While I had booked the panoramic seats, I learned that seats were going to be assigned based on the weight of the passengers, so I guess panoramic seats just guaranteed that I'd get one of the front row seats.

Anyway, I got a corner window seat in the front row which is what I wanted to get in the first place. The helicopter ride was nice, although I would say that it's certainly not worth it if you've been in a helicopter before. But for someone who hadn't been in a helicopter until then, it was worth it.

I paid 315 AED for all digital photos at Falcon Tours for the helicopter ride.

Went to nearby Starbucks, definitely one of the nice-ambience ones I've been to so far.

On exiting that area, I saw people walking along the shoreline. It was sunset so I also wanted to just go there and walk in the peace. Went to walk along the shoreline at Palm Jumeirah Boardwalk. It was AMAZING. It was the best thing I did in the whole trip which is a crazy thing to say considering I did so many other crazy good things. But hey you can be the judge:

I then had plans to go to Global Village with my friend, even booked a ride, but while booking the tickets for Global Village, it said that it is apparently reserved for couples and family etc etc on Tuesdays, so we ended up canceling the plan and I re-routed the Uber to home instead. We just ended up going to Dubai Marina area with for dinner and roaming around.

Day 8 (24th December, 2025)

I had booked Platinum ticket for At The Top, Burj Khalifa (cost 769 AED) for 5 PM, along with a VR experience add-on for 45 AED.

The wait queue was 45 minutes despite the fast track access via the platinum ticket. The normal-queue waiting must've been atleast 4-5 hours which is just insane. The throughput bottleneck is the presence of just 3 elevators for the entire crowd which is simply not enough.

Anyway, I took the lift to floor 125, then took another lift to floor 154. Floor 154 and 153 had glass-wall balconies, so I came down to floor 152 which had an open-air balcony. Got some photos clicked, enjoyed the view (as it was sunset time), just looked down at those "tiny" 70-80 floor buildings lol.

Went back inside, went to eat something at the lounge on those 3 floors. Then went back outside when it was dark, and stayed there for a couple of hours. Just put on my headphones and listened to music while gazing at the view from that open-air balcony. I also wanted to leave late so as to avoid long queues while exiting.

I also ended up getting 1 picture in album + all digital photos for 426 AED. It was expensive but meh what to do.

Anyway I decided to leave at around 9 PM, as I also wanted to just check out the floors 148, 125 and 124 on my way down.

Came to floor 148, it was just so crowded and useless.

Came to floor 125, my VR experience thing was supposed to be on this floor, but the VR booth just didn't work for me or anyone else. Wasted 30 minutes chasing staff but eventually gave up. Came to floor 124. Both 124th and 125th floors were also fully crowded and were useless so I exited almost immediately. Luckily didn't have to wait too long to exit, the fast track queue for exit took only 10 minutes to exit.

All in all, I would recommend going for the platinum ticket as the only worthy thing was the open-air balcony on floor 152. Floors 153 and 154 were okay, had calm experience there. But floors 148, 125 and 124 were just plain useless. Just buy the platinum ticket, avoid super long queues, and embrace the open air at floor 152.

A cab driver had told me a few days back "Burj Khalifa is meh, Burj Al Arab is the real deal". I didn't understand him back then, but I could understand those words after having experienced both. Burj Khalifa was not a premium experience. The long queues, the too-much-crowd, the too-much-mismanagement, the small balconies, the boring elevators, etc etc in Burj Khalifa was just bad.

Day 9 (25th December, 2025)

Went to DMCC metro station, got a gold Nol card just to experience the gold class cabins. It also cost 25 AED, giving 19 AED as balance.

Went from DMCC metro station to Creek station (had to change lines from red to green line at BurJuman metro station). Cost 10 AED in gold Nol card.

It took 1.5 hours or so in metro which was much more than I had anticipated, so sunset was already over by the time I reached Creek station and booked a cab to reach Dubai Creek Harbour. Anyway, I just walked around the harbour for an hour or so, and took a cab back to home. Probably could've planned this better.

Day 10 (26th December, 2025)

This was the last day. My friend had his flight to London early morning, so he left. I spent the rest of the day relaxing at home, playing Forza, listening to music, sleeping. I left for airport at 11 PM, reached at 11:30 PM, and all the process was done within 15 minutes, so just sat in the lounge for a few hours.

Random other notes

Overall it was a fantastic trip. The entire trip cost me 3.6L INR, which is a lot, but I also went for the VIP tickets in everything, took cabs more often than not instead of metro, did shopping, took photo albums, etc etc. If I had to pay for accommodation, it would've cost me around 4L INR or so for a 10 day trip.

I realised towards the end of the trip that Careem app had a Hala Taxi option, which was the standard, affordable public taxi service with the coloured roofs. I should've been using that instead of Uber from the beginning of the trip lol. It was costing around 15-20% lesser compared to Uber.

I also could've used the Emirates boarding pass for more discounts, but that required me to book the xyz stuff in-person instead of online.

The entire set of apps that I downloaded were the following:

Out of these, I used the following primarily:

1. Careem for booking rides and ordering food.
2. Mapway for checking Dubai metro related information.
3. RTA Dubai for checking Nol card balance.

Oh also, WhatsApp calls don't work in Dubai, so I was using Google Meet for calling anyone.

Random song recommendations

I love listening to songs and some of the highlight songs of this trip for me were:

1. Mazaak by Anuv Jain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx0YGEi32r0. I listened to this song almost every day. I listened to this song on the 152nd floor balcony of Burj Khalifa, I listened to it while walking at the Palm Jumeirah Boardwalk, and so on. Lovely song!
2. Last Christmas by Taylor Swift: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4pTMZuAux4. Since it was Christmas time during my trip, I was introduced to this song at random places (cafes, malls, you name it). Good song!
3. The Lights of China: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5M7fPSWz8A. I got introduced to it at my first time watching the Dubai fountain show. What a crazy good song!