Having Fun in the United Arab Emirates

Alitalia and Amex "offer" me 50,000 miles to spend by June, and the furthest and most appealing destination I can find departing from Rome is Abu Dhabi; I pick the period to leave and study the combination with Oman, feasible economically only by renting a car in the United Arab Emirates and crossing the border into Oman with an insurance supplement. We set off as 4; the new companions on paper seem crazier than us (us = me and my other half!!), but they'll be put to the test by all the trials we'll subject them to. Travelling as 4 lets us save on the car rental and request a 4x4 (unfortunately, instead of the requested RAV4, we're given a Hyundai Tucson, which will prevent us from calmly tackling some of the challenges); the cost, including insurance also for Oman: about 600 euros for 7 days (unlimited km, we'll do 2,600 km).

In reality the car will serve us almost exclusively for the Oman Tour. With only a few days of holiday available, we decide to leave with a late-evening flight from Italy to land in Abu Dhabi already at 5:30 and reach Dubai by taxi in about an hour (cost of about 35 euros). The Akas Inn Apartment hotel lets us leave our luggage in storage before check-in, and by 8 we're already out and about in Dubai, starting from the Creek Park, then positioning ourselves at Bastakia and admiring the Museum of the city, the famous wind towers and the traditional suqs. Instead of using the normal Abra service to cross the Creek, for about 20 euros we take a boat just for us, which in an hour lets us sail along a good stretch of the Creek.

Then another round of the suqs in the Deira area, and a not-very-traditional lunch in a fast food place, then we return to the hotel to take possession of the very spacious apartment (with two bathrooms and a kitchen), and get ready for the evening. At 18:30 we're at the entrance of At the Top at the Burj Khalifa, for the ascent of the skyscraper; in less than an hour we already have enough photographic material and head down to film the show of the dancing fountains. We spend the rest of the evening at the Dubai Mall, admiring the immense aquarium and the ice rink, strolling among the more than 1000 shops present.

Second day devoted to leisure, and planned at the drawing board already from Italy. Times are hard and we should be saving, but we treat ourselves to an experience we'll hardly ever be able to repeat in our lives: meeting the dolphins at Dolphin Bay in the Atlantis water park. By 10 in the morning we're at the entrance of the monorail, which for about 2.50 euros will take us to the entrance of the hotel and the park, giving us the chance to admire the famous Palm, and the dream villas that are part of it; we're among the first to book the appointment with the dolphins (for 13:10) and after changing and depositing our backpacks in the lockers, we have plenty of time to try out the park's rides before moving on to Dolphin Bay.

The meeting with the dolphins takes place after a short introduction with videos and explanations from the staff, then we get to interact with them in the water, dancing, stroking them, playing and swimming with them; it's not possible to photograph or video these moments, so we're forced to buy a photo pack with the images taken of us by a professional photographer (truthfully of poor quality, and very expensively priced). We spend the rest of the day having lunch at the Atlantis (a sandwich place), visiting the aquarium inside the hotel, enjoying an ice cream at Cold Stone, an ice-cream parlour known for its juggling staff. Once the "The Palm" experience is over, we head towards the Burj Al Arab for the traditional photos, then spend a couple of hours at Madinat Jumeirah, admiring the characteristic covered suq and the venues with a view of the "Sail".

Dinner at the food court of the Emirates Mall, where we admire the very famous Sky Dubai slope.

Third day, we pick up the car at the Emirates Tower, at the Budget desk (terrible service!!), and set off straight away for Musandam, an Omani enclave. We'll spend more time at customs checks than driving the 190 km of road that separate Dubai from Khasab, the departure port for our 4-hour cruise, which will take us to spot dolphins on the open sea and go snorkelling at Telegraph Island. In the evening we return to Dubai and have dinner at Dubai Marina.

Fourth day, we leave for Oman, heading to Muscat via Hatta. The usual checks at the border crossings. Hatta leaves us puzzled by the contrast between the splendid canyons carved into the rock and the rubbish that has ravaged the natural pools; what's more, the road to get there is unpaved and completely unsigned; in a few months it will probably be easily reached by a road currently under construction.

We return to the Emirates after 7 days spent in Oman. Entry from the Al Ain border, then the last 2 days spent in Abu Dhabi. The first day devoted to the spectacular Ferrari World amusement park. We spend the last day of holiday around Abu Dhabi, visiting the splendid Grand Mosque in the morning, then moving first to the Heritage Village, then to the Emirates Palace. We spend the evening between shops and malls, before heading to the airport, from which we depart at 2 in the morning to return to Rome, and from there the last flight to Catania.