It’s no secret that I love to travel. There have certainly been many hiccups in this process when traveling with The Children. But the older they get, the easier it gets.
Or maybe I have just grown increasingly numb.
We usually go on a big trip every summer but this year we will likely discover all that Colorado has to offer. It could be worse. We could be living in Saskatchewan and my explorations would be limited to frozen tundra and wheat fields.
Note: No offense to any of my Saskwatch readers. It’s just your province kind of sucks. I know. I’ve driven through trying to get to my dad’s hometown in Manitoba, which is almost as bad. Dad–not that I’m trying to rip on where you grew up, just to thank you moving to Alberta, The Land of Milk, Honey and Rockies, before I was born.
In The Denver Post, there was a feature on Dubai. If you’re not familiar with it, it is located along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula. Last year Jamie and I watched a special about the over-the-top development going on in this city, the most populous of the United Arab Emirates.
It boasted about their indoor ski resort and the soon-to-be completed tallest building on the world. Oh, and don’t forget Dubai Hydropolis, the world’s first luxury underwater hotel, with 220 suites. They featured all this development that is moving forward at break-neck speed and then juxtaposed this against the squalor people were living in at the work camps.
A high price to pay.
But it was The Denver Post’s article that struck me as over-the-top as they attempt to topple Las Vegas as the entertainment epicenter of the world. Of course, I should explain that I loath Vegas and my idea of fun is carrying 30 pounds on my back as I journey into the back-country without toilets and with wild animals and bugs.
Though I could do without the latter.
Also, Dubai is hot. And if you have ever been around me when it is hotter than 85 degrees, you will know I automatically combust.
That said, let me introduce you to Dubailand:
Dubailand, twice as big as Walt Disney World, with the final stage to be completed in 2020, featuring theme parks, planetariums, more than 50 hotels, golf courses (including the one by Tiger Woods) and retail outlets. Among highlights: The Great Dubai Wheel, bigger than the London Eye, a Ferris-wheel-type tourist attraction on the south bank of the River Thames, which carries passengers in enclosed observation capsules; a see-through Snowdome, with a rotating ski deck, mountain run, training area, snow play area, toboggan run, ice skating rink and a theater with a virtual flight over Antarctica; a DreamWorks animation park; a Six Flags theme park; Restless Planet, a Jurassic theme park with more than 100 animatronic dinosaurs; Motor City, with an “autodrome” for motor sports races and a Formula One theme park; Sports City, with four stadiums for soccer, cricket, rugby and hockey; and Mall of Arabia, at 10 million square feet the world’s biggest mall.
Just a wee bit excessive or totally appealing to you? What’s your opinion on the matter and would you ever go? Also, do you have any travel plans this summer?
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 