Kenyan Safari: Departure and Dubai

The travel blog is resurrected for a Lang-Newkirk family Kenyan safari! But first, a 15-hour flight, one night in Dubai, a 5-hour flight, and one night in Nairobi. Then on to the Kenyan parks: Tsavo National Park, Loisaba Conservancy, and Maasai Mara. We are excited.

We pack our neutral-colored, synthetic clothing carefully and weigh our bags to ensure we’re within the 33-pound limit for African bush planes. No one is going to look good on this trip, but Matt is excited to wear his mysterious collection of pants that zip-off into shorts.

We are ready! I suggest to Xander that red and black-checked flannel pajama bottoms are inappropriate for this trip, only to learn later that these are the colors of the Maasai people.

After numerous awful flights to Albany and DC on United Airlines, Emirates is a joy. I finally watch Oppenheimer (I have mixed feelings) and drink champagne. I try and fail to sleep; the boys do better.

We arrive rumpled and groggy in Dubai on Sunday at 9 pm and find our way outside to the long line of black BMWs ready for transport.

We’re told that we MUST take two cars to our hotel and we’re too tired to argue. Xander and my driver directs his one comment at Xander: “How are you tonight sir?” “Fine” Xander says. Matt and Jacob’s driver is, by contrast, a chatty Cathy, describing all the sights and the 80 million people who live in Dubai (there are 3.3 million people in Dubai).

On the ten-minute drive to the JW Marriott that Emirates comps for layovers (screw you United Airlines!), we get a glimpse of vertiginous, modern Dubai. Everything seems to have been built in the last 20 years.

Our jet lag plan is to tour Dubai, stay out late and sleep in before our next flight. Our mission: the Dubai mall, the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Fountain.

I LOVE a good mall! And this is a good mall, packed with people shopping Sunday night at 10:30. So why am I racing behind as my three men practically run through the mall to the Burj Khalifa entrance?

With 164 floors, the neo-futurist Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest structure. We head to the observation deck on the 124th floor.

It is a cool view. We take many photos of Dubai’s skyscrapers. Matt’s phone magically captures a photo of Jacob, floating in space. We begin to wonder about Jacob.

There is a longish line for the elevator down. Matt threatens the stairs. We are grumpy about different cultures’ approaches to lines and sense of personal space as the grandmas behind us press into us in an increasingly invasive way. At one point one grandma reaches over and touches Xander’s new Billy Idol/Guy Fieri hair and says something we don’t understand. “Thanks,” Xander responds amiably.

We finally get down and catch a glimpse of the Dubai Fountain light show before it shuts down at 11 pm. We have a meal by the Fountain and admire Burj Khalifa from ground level.

Then it is back to the hotel and another effort to sleep (another fail). I’m not sure we love Dubai, but it was cool to see. We are ready for Kenya!