Days 1 & 2: Travel time and Dubai

Saturday May 21-Sunday, May 22, 2016

Highlights:

-Best airline E'ER!

-Dubai tour

-Rob's first sleeptalking/sleepwalking episode

Holy Hannah! We finally made it! I feel like we've been traveling for weeks to get here but we are officially in Bali!

We traveled from Boston to Dubai for a long layover yesterday and then Dubai to Bali today, arriving at 9:40pm Sunday night. And man, if we thought we got spoiled on JetBlue, that was NOTHING compared to our new favorite airline, Emirates! Robbie had heard amazing things about this airline when he booked our flights and has had really high hopes ever since. So much that he's been trying to brace himself incase of disappointment. There was no need. It lived up to the hype! So many gifts and meals and friendly staff and brand new movies and complimentary sleep masks and toothbrushes and warm towels to moisten your face and free hotel night and need I go on?!

We are soooooooo classy. (Really, I felt like Adam Sandler in the Wedding Singer when he gets handed a warm towel in first class and has literally no idea what he's supposed to do with it. They had to know we were imposters.)

Plus, the flight attendants wore these pretty bomb diggity hats:

The flight was a huge win, and Dubai is SO cool! It is one of the seven United Arab Emirates and is actually pretty ritzy. It was a bummer we were only there for nighttime hours, but it was still beautiful!

Though we were exhausted when we got in at 9pm, we still really wanted to see what we could of Dubai since we had a 13 hr layover and very little knowledge of this new place. It just so happened that there was a 2-hour bus tour leaving from our hotel that started at 9:30pm so we signed right up! In hindsight, we should have realized that this is how we would spend most of the tour:

(Not posed)

Regardless, it was worth it because we got to see....

THE BURJ KHALIFA!! 

(aka The Tallest Building in the World)

It was crazy!! And so so so so SO tall! It felt like it was going to fall on top of us. It is 2,722 feet tall. That's like a half mile, straight up!

Ermagersh! The Burj!

We saw other super cool sights on this tour, like a man-made island in the shape of a palm tree that houses the ritziest resort Atlantis (which was on this season of Amazing Race for those that watch it. The water slide of death!). Picture is from Google, obvi

We also saw a beautiful mosque, the beach, and a hotel that costs $28,000 a night. TWENTY EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS A NIGHT!! What in the world?!

Being in Dubai was so awesome, partly because the strong Muslim culture brought back so many feelings and memories of Jerusalem. When we first got to the airport, we heard the call to prayer and I was filled with that familiar sense of respect and devotion. Not to mention nostalgia. For a second, I even closed my eyes and felt like I was standing on the balcony at the Jerusalem Center overlooking the Old City. 

PLUS, our one night in our Dubai hotel brought on Robbie's first sleep talking episode of the trip! Boo ya. 

When we finally got to bed around midnight, we found ourselves sleeping in separate twin beds. Rob of course fell right to sleep but my system was off so I laid awake for over an hour, which turned out to be a blessing because I was 100% alert when I hear Robbie shout from his side of the room, 

"Whatchoo talkin 'bout?! Whatchoo talkin 'bout WILLIS?!"

On that last, shouted word he jumped out of bed and just stood there, frozen.  Holding back any sign of amusement from my voice (because that only tends to upset him in these situations), I asked, "You doin okay, babe?" To which he responded, "Just showin' off." And then he climbed back into bed and fell back into deep sleep within 10 seconds. Gosh, I love this weirdo. 

Aaaand I'm glad he loves me too because I still couldn't fall asleep after that so I climbed into his twin size bed and, of course, fell asleep within five minutes. And we both slept like rocks for the rest of the night. On a twin size bed. THAT, my friends, is exhaustion. 

This morning we got on another SUPER long flight from Dubai to Bali, (meeting a new friend from Switzerland on the way) and just arrived at our hotel! And what's awesome is our taxi driver spent the drive telling us all about Hinduism and Balinese naming tradition (there are four basic names children are given, depending on birth order. His name is Wayan which means first born). We are already pretty big fans of this place and people!

That's all for now! We are excited to start the real vacay tomorrow!