Keith's Trip to Dubai 2017

[Keethos 842]

So as some of you may know, I’ve spent the past week over in Dubai as a part business trip (which is very rare for me to travel outside of the UK) part holiday (which is again quite rare as a holiday is usually either car related or just resting at home, but since I was already out there I thought why not) so a massive thanks to my bosses for allowing me to stay on on the company.

So I left for Dubai on the 1^st arrive early morning on the Monday, the airport was quite nice, rather fancy looking and I didn’t have to wait too long for my baggage to turn up.  Then it was time to grab a taxi….which was quite the opposite, I had to wait bloody ages.  Massive queues of people waiting with a constant stream of taxis. And once I did get a taxi….my god….the standard of driving....jeeebus, I don't know if it was because it was late but people would forever indicate, not turning them off when they no longer need to turn or change lanes any more, changing lanes for no reason with literally no one around, saddling two lanes, stopping on a roundabout to exchange some words with someone, then speed off, jump on a roundabout the wrong way, then when we get to the hotel, matie who stopped on the roundabout with us decides to pull up behind us and start revving his engine and stuff.....but which point it was about 2 in the morning……no idea what was going on there!  I definitely would not last long out there, while I continue to travel around as well as to and from work, I saw more and more terrible driving.  So besides forever indicating, lane hogging, twin lane saddling etc. I also witnessed some serious tailgating, people cutting in at the last minute for a turn off (and I’m not talking about the one dick head, its usually a lot of them which means causing traffic to back up) as well as overtaking on the hard shoulder and even bloody going off road in order to cut in front of traffic!!

Not only that, but when it’s foggy, which it was a lot of the times while I was there (supposedly very rare but it’s been foggy for a good couple of weeks), all that goes right out the window as people there don’t know how to drive in the fog, accidents left right and centre….they don’t use their fog lights….oh no….they turn on the hazards and then either drive extremely slowly or extremely quickly.

There’s load of weird laws out there and for a place that many petrol heads dream of, it’s actually not that great of a place to be for petrol heads in my opinion, mods are limited as a lot of it is restricted by law (most modified cars are actually imported as the police don’t know that it didn’t actually come from the factory like that from that country) and the roads are all straight pretty much, just 3-8 lanes everywhere.

 

 

Day 1

So enough ranting about the driving in the UAE, after a late night and a good sleep in, I woke up and randomly chose a place to go to and one thing that popped up was that there was a Sega Republic, a massive arcade place I thought, how wrong was I, turns out Sega Republic was just a small section of the world’s second biggest mall in the world, that is The Dubai Mall.  I rocked up to the front entrance to see a rather nice Ferrari, 2 Lamborghini’s, 2 Rolls Royce’s and a Bentley all parked up at the front or driving past.  Headed on inside and it was MASSIVE, a bit of a maze, hell, it’s got a bloomin aquarium in the middle of the Mall.  Rows and rows of jewellery shops (never seen sooooo many watches in my life)…..and security guards by each door trying to open the door for me…..I AIN’T GOT THAT TYPE OF MONEY BUDDY!!!  Restaurants dotted all around but also a massive food court on the top floor, indoor ice rink, a massive fountain and lots more.  I reckon I spent a good 6 hours in there and still didn’t see everything.

I took this opportunity to take lots of pics, most of these won’t be of any interest to most people but there were a lot of stuff imported in from Japan in terms of characters, statues and figurines….stuff I would classify as Cool!  Up top, beside a big Cinema, there was as I mention, a Sega Republic there, to be fair, not as packed with arcades as say Trocadero in London but it did have some big rides in there.  What was cool though was the Initial D simulator which I had a go in….and obviously you can guess which car I went into   Though I sucked at it cos the handling was well weird.

 

I also wondering out around the back and saw a massive crowd of people just looking up, bemused by what was going on, I wondered further out and finally saw what people were looking at, a pretty cool and well lit up Burj Khalifa (as by now it was about 6/7 in the evening), luckily I had just caught it as it soon went off again and didn’t come back on while I was still wondering outside taking pics.  Would have liked to head up the Burj Khalifa but you have to book a time slots in advance.  Anyhoo, I then settled down to have some sushi after watching my mate Alex’s Vlogs in Japan, making me crave Japanese food.  It was an all you can eat off a conveyor belt which I’m ashamed to say, I only took one item off them belt, the reason being was because the people making the sushi and what not behind the conveyor belt kept on making other dishes and just handing them to me, I was stuffed to the point where I didn’t even want any desert whatsoever.

After that, it was straight back to the hotel for some rest before work the next day.  Didn’t really do anything at all over the next 3 days besides going to and from work, by the time I got back to the hotel, I didn’t want to do anything and there was nothing nearby to do anyways, Dubai seems to be a place that you have to drive or take taxis everywhere.

[Keethos 842]

Day 5

So all week, I was trying to plan out what I would do on the last two days I would be in Dubai for, which were the 2 days I had free to myself after the training course had been completed.  The three main activities that I wanted to do while I was out here was Dune Buggying, visiting Ferrari World and visiting Yas Marina Circuit.  So after a load of emails to and from companies and a last minute booking, I did an Evenings Dune Buggy in Dubai with the North Tour group which would pick you up from anywhere in Dubai, take you out into the desert, drop you off at their camp site, get you in a buggy and then you follow an instructor out into the desert.  Got to say, it was awesome and lots of fun (though it would have been a lot more fun with friends  )

I don’t know why I thought I would be around only other buggies but turns out I would also be around other massive 4x4’s and even people on horses, to the point where a 4x4 and myself were on a direct course for a good old T Boning....I say T Boning.....he'd probably have just ran over me to be fair….I just kept my foot down and got ahead of it before out paths met.  Saw another 4x4 empty, smashed up and all air bags deployed….think the car had rolled down a dune and to top it all off, the instructor in front of me broke down and I almost rear end him since the brakes don’t do anything.  But still lots of fun and also gave me a chance to take some quick snaps.  A bit gutted I didn't get to drive the yellow buggy but also glad as it would have been me who would have broken down.  We waited a short while for the instructor’s colleague top rock up in his pickup which I ended up following for the rest of the way.  Because it’s a lot of fun drive up Dunes etc. the pickup would drive up them and I just had the fear that it would just roll down it right in front of me but luckily all was good, again….lots of fun, highly recommended.

Once back at the campsite, if you wanted to, you could hop onto a camel for a camel ride, I wasn’t really fussed about camel rides so I didn’t bother, instead, I tried to climb up a dune with great difficulty, once I got to the top, while struggling to catch my breath, I took some more pics and then just moped around before it was dinner time.  For more money, you could have also jumped onto a quad bike and ragged around a small area for a bit but I wasn’t bothered about riding around in circles.  As part of the package, the tour would also supply a BBQ meal as well as watching a guy dance around in a lit-up skirt and a busty lady doing some belly dancing.  To be fair, after the buggy drive, I was ready to head back to the hotel but you had to stay till the end before getting a lift back.  The food was alright but you had to sit on the floor on a cushion around a boat load of strangers while eating and trying to watch the show, it wasn’t very comfortable……especially for a big guy who can barely cross is legs.  And what even worse was that you had to get up to get your own food and drinks…..again…big fella trying to get up off the floor after sitting with his legs cross is always a mission.  And again, it wouldn’t have been too bad if you were with friends etc. but when you sat there with no one to chat to (people I sat with were a family of Italians who didn’t really speak English   Though it did give me time to experiment with some of the features of my phone's camera.  But still, for around £160 for all that, it’s highly recommended.  There are other tours you could have done, quad bikes, 2 seater buggies, 4x4’s (though those you get chauffeured around) and even horse riding.

 

[Keethos 842]

Day 6

So the last full day I had left in Dubai was actually spent down in Abu Dhabi doing various activities, sadly, instead of getting up at 8am, I didn’t actually wake up till 11am and it was just over an hour’s drive to Abu Dhabi.  I was originally going to spend the whole day at Ferrari World on the Friday and then do a morning Dune Buggying on the Saturday before heading down to Abu Dhabi again to visit Yas Marina Circuit, however since it was just over an hour’s drive without any real public transport (no trains, just coaches which meant having to get taxis to the coach stations etc. as well which would have taken even longer) so I had to take a taxi, but since each way was about £60, I had to cram both Ferrari World and Yas Marina into just one day instead.  Luckily though, Yas Marina is open till about 10/11 in the evening so plenty of time, however for what I wanted to do, I had to book certain slots which was at 17:30 and 19:00 which really didn’t give me much time at Ferrari World, especially as I woke up late.

So by the time I got down to Ferrari World, it was about 12:30/1pm, then since I missed breakfast, I had to get some food in me first so I didn’t actually get into Ferrari World until about 2pm.  I brought myself a bronze ticket for about £70 which lets you on almost all the rides but you have to queue for them all (silver is about £80odd which gives you 3 fast passes to jump the queues and a small voucher for the gift shop which to be fair is what I should have brought because there were only 3 main rides there, gold is about £120 which gives you unlimited fast passes and a bigger gift voucher).  So with my limited time left, I did a quick lap around, to be fair, there isn’t actually a massive amount there, it’s one of the biggest indoor theme parks but because it’s indoors, don’t expect anything like Alton Towers.  Not only that, but majority of the rides in there were more of a family ride or shows to watch which I wasn’t too fussed about.

What I did do first though was to head to the Scuderia Challenge which is their Sim racing area.  For an extra £20odd you could also have a go on their bigger simulators which initially looked awesome.  I paid my £20odd extra, booked my slot and because the F1 Sim was pretty much fully booked, I went for the Ferrari F430 instead but before that, I managed to jump onto one of the smaller simulators (which are free but still required a booking slot but they managed to squeeze me in….the only real benefit of doing things on your tod) and I’ve got to say…..what a bag of shit!  Yup, it was terrible!  The sim/game itself wasn’t great, the visuals were a bit poor, physics felt off and if you hit a wall, the car would bounce around for half an hour before you could drive on.  Not only that but it would only last for about 2 minutes (which to be fair any longer and I’d probably have thrown) which meant that you could only get just over a lap in.  The rig itself wasn’t great either, there was paddle shifters which didn’t do anything, the force feedback was a way too strong, the pedal travel was a mile long, the brakes did naff all and the actual movements of the rig were over the top.  All this pretty much applies to the big rig too though the brakes were better and both pedals travelled a lot less but what was worst was the screen, it was a big curved screen which would have been awesome if it wasn’t a blurry mess.  Really not worth the extra money at all!

From there, I went on the main attraction there which was the Formula Rossa which is the fastest rollercoaster in the world and I admit, was pretty epic.  The queue was a bit long, waited a good 45 mins but again, once I got near the end, being on my own meant I could fill any gaps since you sit in pairs.  You have to empty your pockets and then put on some wet googles, you wear them to protect your eyes in case anything flies into which at that speed would be quite painful and wet because the railings are constantly being cooled with water and that just sprays up so you get a lil wet in the face which means the googles get a bit wet too.  You start off with a massive shove in the face as the kart accelerates up to 149mph in 4.9 seconds followed but a big hump that wants to throw you out of seat, couple of big banks left and right and more humps before you’re back at the start again…..and that’s it….people start cheering and whooping like they’re all Americans or something  

Sadly after that, I only really had time to have a quick look around at the car museum and what not before having to head over to Yas Marina which was next door, the other two rides I would have like to try was the Fiorano GT Challenge which looked interesting, there are 2 karts that go at the same time and essentially race against each other so the rollercoaster intertwines the two etc. which would have been cool.  The other was the Flying Aces which was more of your loop the loop rollercoaster which again would have been fun if I had the time, again should have gotten the silver ticket so I could jump the queues for these 3 rides, probably could have squeezed them in then.  The only other thing I would have liked to do would be an driving experience in a California for an extra £160 but after watching some of the vids on YouTube, they put me off because you could end up with a bit of an arse of an instructor plus you’ll be driving on public roads, you won’t be able to do much anyways.

 

As I mentioned, Yas Marina Circuit was next to Ferrari World so I thought I’d give myself 15mins to get there 30mins early……an hour later and I’m still bloody walking….turns out Yas Marina is on the complete opposite side of the Entrance/Exit to Ferrari World so you have to walk all the way around Ferrari World, plus I end up walking around the longer side of the Ferrari World.  This then lead to walking over to the wrong side of Yas Marina as well so all in all, a massive ballache.  By the time I found the entrance to Yas Marina, the security guy said I still needed to get to the Yas Marina Central which I was better off getting a cab the rest of the way for as it would require walking around to the opposite side of the track.  I should have taken a bloody taxi from the very beginning….so I end up taking a cab for the last little bit of the journey  Turns out, this wasn’t uncommon and other people have made the same mistake too

So in the end, what should have been a rough 15 mins walk turned into a good hour walk which also meant I missed my 5:30pm slot for a passenger ride in a Mercedes AMG GTS for 3 laps around the south side of the Yas Marina Circuit.  Luckily, since I had also booked something for 7pm and that I had to wait around for that, they managed to squeeze me in and what an awesome car.  They look awesome inside and out, sound awesome and the performance was epic.  The guy driving me around really knew how to throw the car around, I’m gutted that I didn’t try filming it in the end as at the time, I was worried about losing my phone into the driver face or something.  To be fair, the guy was pushing it a lil harder than usual that you could tell that he over cooked a couple of the last corners, even the passenger safety feature kicked in where the seatbelt starts to retract and strangle you while the seat raised your knees etc…..that was weird that, not been in a car that would do that before.

After a short wait, it was time for the main event, an actual 20min drivers experience in an fully striped out race machine, a beast that is an Aston Martin Vantage GT4…..what a machine……I mentioned how awesome the AMG sounded, but that was nothing compared to the Aston, proper loud rumbling, pops and bangs….it was epic.  I had a quick briefing, then hopped into the Aston which was a bit of a squeeze with the full roll cage inside.  Sadly, I had a European instructor which was a bit pants cos his English wasn’t great and also, the major gripe was that he didn’t let me manually change gears, instead he would change them for me which was really annoying and or some reason he kept on changing me up around the 5k mark rather than reving out to 7-8k.  I suppose they don’t really want everyone to be raging the life out of the car considering it spends all day and night going around the circuit almost none stop but still…..a bit annoyed.  But enough ranting, it was still bloody epic, on semi slicks the car had boat loads of grip, it was so easy to drive.  Literally point and squirt, then stamp on the brakes and the car really stops hard.  I actually pushed the car a lil too hard on one corner, didn’t brake enough and ran wide a lil and kill some cones in the process…..but in doing so, the car lost grip and I almost shat the bed…..imagine binning a £100k race car….but I swiftly counter steered and caught it easy enough but still….I just imagined how easily it could have just span out or tank slapped….especially with my history   Though I also witnessed a guy in front who ploughed straight across the first chicane after the pit….lucky for him that area is just open space with no barriers or anything.  Eventually I pulled in after a couple more laps, luckily I didn’t make too much of a hash getting out of the car, it’s a good thing that the steering wheel was removable….would not have gotten out otherwise   Such an awesome experience!

 

 

Annoyingly they also do a drifting school there in 86’s but sadly it wasn’t available while I was there, they also do drift sprints so you can complete with each other in a small auto circuit and also a drift taxi as a passenger ride but again, none of these were available that day which was a shame   But still, an awesome day, even with waking up late and walking a million miles.  Overall a pretty pricy day as I even brought the on-board footage from the Aston (sadly it’s bloody crooked and the quality is pretty pants, considering how much they charge, you’d think they’d get a better camera), the passenger ride was about £170, the Driving Experience was about £400 and then the video was an extra £50 but it was a once in a life time opportunity for me, Yas Marina is a pretty epic place, you’ve got a nice American style burger restaurant or a fancy sushi place upstairs which I ended up having….unlike your small cafes or burger vans in the UK tracks.  And all this starts late morning until 10/11pm in the evening….what a place!  Even the journey back was…..interesting….had to use the Taxi drivers phone to navigate him to my hotel since he’s never driven to Dubai before

 

 

[Keethos 842]

Journey Home

The next morning, I had a bit of a lie in before packing my gear and grabbing a taxi home.  I was kind of excited about the journey home as it was going to be the first time I had ever flown via business class (I flew economy to Dubai, not sure if my colleague accidentally booked business back but thanks either way).  Getting dropped off in a separate section where you check in specifically for first class or business class people.  Though unlike economy where you need to go to a specific check in line, you can just wonder to any of the check lines which I didn’t know until I asked someone.

However this guys I ask turned out to be a manged who proceeded to explain to me that some of the business seats were out of order and that they were now technically over booked in business class, and rather than down grading someone with medical problems or braking up a family, he asked if would be willing to downgrade….obviously not mentioned those who straight out refused to join the common folk.  But to compensate, they offered a £50 voucher to spend in duty free along with a round trip back to Dubai in business class which would be valid for a year.  So I agreed….which besides being gutted not being able to experience business class until the next time I decide to go to Dubai again, they made a right hash of the whole situation.  Issuing the voucher before they had even moved me which just kicked up errors on their system, (turns out they weren’t supposed to give me the voucher, it was supposed to be the people at the boarding gate instead) plus the duty free voucher they issues was a voucher for a voucher which meant I had to wonder over to customer services first to get the correct voucher before I could use it he left out when giving me the voucher in the first place.

After quickly picking up a boat load of goodies for friends and family with the duty free voucher I got, it left me with no time to get any food because at this point, I hadn’t even eaten yet, not only that, but the business class lounge was on the complete opposite end of the airport to my gate number so didn’t even get to see what goes on in there either  Instead I just went straight to my gate and tried to get the free voucher issued which again….took bloody ages cos the guy didn’t seem like he know what he was doing.  Eventually he gets the voucher issued and shortly after that I boarded the plane and found my seat with extra leg room in economy, got comfortable….then all of sudden over the tannoy, they called my name.  I had to bloody explain to the stewardess twice that I was the person that the tannoy was asking for…..she obviously wasn’t paying attention to the tannoy.  Turns out a space became available in business class so they take me up to my seat in business class….but then proceeded to ask for the voucher back  at least he didn’t ask for the £50 duty free voucher cos I had already spent that bugger…..least they could have done for messing me around all that time.

So….business class…..it’s nice….don’t think it’s quite three or four times the price of economy but it is nice.  More leg room, more seat adjustability with the option to lay flat, a bigger screen to watch films on, a tablet to control it with and then a separate smaller handheld remote with a touch screen to again, control the screen with….which I should add is already touch screen anyways…a lil over kill but cool either way.  Food was a lil nicer as well but most of all, you are sat in a cubical to yourself, no one else to bother you.  Even the toilets are nicer, not much bigger but just a lil classier….they even have aftershave in there for you to use.

After getting back into the UK, managed to get off the plane pretty swiftly considering there’s less of you in first and business class with their own exit, however all that pretty much ends there.  Once your back in the airport, the extra money one would pay for first or business class stops and you are left queuing to get through customs with everyone else (again when going through customs in Dubai, you in a separate area to economy so it’s typically a lot quicker to get though), but luckily with the new smart passports, it not long before you get through that…..however…..trying to get your baggage back and you have to wait a million years…..every time I flown through Birmingham, I’m always left waiting years to get my baggage through, their baggage handling system is really shocking.  I waited almost an hour before getting my bag back, I was even on the verge of going to customer services and asking if there was actually a separate line for first and business class cos I’d be proper vexed if I had paid for first or business class and had to wait this long to collect my belongings while people in economy were literally walking off the plane and picking their bags up straight away.  I wouldn’t have been as annoyed if it wasn’t so bloody hot in there….I was sweating my tits off…..while it was freezing outside….plus I had my brother waiting for me too…..not impressed, but at least I got my bag back and in one piece….I saw one bag with the handles ripped off and the handle just left next to the bag.

But anyways…..that’s it for my journey, I hope you enjoyed the long story/rants, if not for the journey, hopefully a bit of in sight as well as potential things you could do for petrol heads to do while you’re out there.  I read up that there were a couple of places in Dubai where most of the supercars roamed around, mainly at night and around the central areas of Dubai but sadly didn’t have the time to go.  Plus there’s a road either a hand full of supercar dealerships that I wanted to visit but again, didn’t get time.  Obviously I was also in the lookout for other 86’s and BRZ’s but only managed to spot one driving outside Ferrari World, a ginger 86 which looked pretty much stock, but I may have seen a white 86 parted up but it was dark and I was in a cab driving past it.  But I tell you what….there are a lot of American cars out there, supposedly they get them pretty cheap over there.

[Lauren 2259]

Sounds interesting and lots of pics, but I can't see any of them, unfortunately. 

[Deacon 1357]

Sounds epic @Keethos but no pictures for me either 😥

[rob275 1817]

Presume picture permissions where they are hosted is not set to public?  

[Keethos 842]

Balls, sorry people, you'll have to wait till this evening before I can do anything, I tried using the pics from my Google account rather than up on Facebook, I'll have to go through and relink them from Facebook instead

Sent from my EDI-AL10 using Tapatalk

[Kodename47 446]

Nice little write up mate. I honestly thought I'd have enough of Dubai after a couple of nights but would happily go back again. Really want to do the desert experience stuff, sounds like fun. Some of the other big parks are also due to open within the next year too, like the Disney one. They will also hopefully have the train from Dubai to Abu Dhabi completed soon, not sure if soon is 2017 or the next 5 years though.

Last time I was out there I missed out on going on the "Road to Nowhere" in TBucket's (remember him?) DB9 by a day.... looks epic also. http://jalopnik.com/this-81-million-mountain-road-goes-nowhere-1693921303

My last thought on Dubai is that it's a really conflicted place, both culturally and financially.

The Burj is worth a trip up as you get to see how small Dubai is and how the city ends and the desert begins.... and doesn't end. Did you see the water fountain display? Also want to do the zip wire over the fountains but it's big money again.

[Keethos 842]

Right, can people see the pics now?  I've also put some videos in there now!

9 hours ago, knightryder said:

Nice little write up mate. I honestly thought I'd have enough of Dubai after a couple of nights but would happily go back again. Really want to do the desert experience stuff, sounds like fun. Some of the other big parks are also due to open within the next year too, like the Disney one. They will also hopefully have the train from Dubai to Abu Dhabi completed soon, not sure if soon is 2017 or the next 5 years though.

Last time I was out there I missed out on going on the "Road to Nowhere" in TBucket's (remember him?) DB9 by a day.... looks epic also. http://jalopnik.com/this-81-million-mountain-road-goes-nowhere-1693921303

My last thought on Dubai is that it's a really conflicted place, both culturally and financially.

The Burj is worth a trip up as you get to see how small Dubai is and how the city ends and the desert begins.... and doesn't end. Did you see the water fountain display? Also want to do the zip wire over the fountains but it's big money again.

I agree with you, the local who was driving me to and from work was telling me all sorts of stories out there of how Emirateians get paid to do nothing there, get a way with a lot of stuff and just live it large, while the whole country is pretty much ran by immigrants, Filipinos, South Africans, Indians etc.

Did I mention that I was mistaken for a Filipino twice while I was out there?  By actual Filipinos....that's just mental....of all the people out there, you'd think Asians would be able to tell the difference between other Asians.....I'm not even that dark 

But yeah, the whole country is one big construction yard, there's always something new being built so it'll definitely be worth another visit again in a couple of years.

I've slowly seen more and more things that I could potentially have done and it's scary how much there is out there.  Like those roads you posted up, they look epic, definitely worth a visit....might even look into hiring a car next time.

[Lauren 2259]

Thanks for sharing. That was some write up! Makes more sense with the pics.

Looks like an epic experience driving Yas Marinas, though I guess it's always going to come with the instructor approach to billies and not letting you really drive the car. Still very cool though. The Ferrari experience sounded like a mixed bag, but plenty to see by the looks of it. That shopping centre is bonkers, sort of looks like a lesson in extravagance for the sake of it. 

I must admit, given my loathing for places that are hot (though I hear from a friend who lives there that January is comfortable weather) and dusty and the whole class divisions there, do put me off somewhat. But it was interesting to read your thoughts nonetheless.

[Keethos 842]

Thanks Lauren, the thing is the UAE is littered with these massive shopping malls and stuff, just down the road from the Dubai Mall is another massive mall call Emirates Mall I think, and there's plenty around the outskirts too. And the weather was very comfortable, about a constant 18deg while I was there if I recall correctly. Its definitely somewhere I'd recommend visiting at least once in your life to see what it's like out there, at times it is just mental.

Sent from my EDI-AL10 using Tapatalk

[nerdstrike 186]

Bloody hell, that's a lot of pictures. I hardly need to go there now!

[Kodename47 446]

3 hours ago, Keethos said:

And the weather was very comfortable, about a constant 18deg while I was there if I recall correctly.

Wow, that's a massive contrast to the 38-43 I experienced.... We couldn't walk anywhere outside for literally more than 1 minute at a time even in the shade. That was September.