This is Part 1 of the series “Middle East 2024” which took place in Dubai in November 2024.

I’ve always wanted to visit the desert and experience those dreamy Arabian nights. Egypt was thus a natural choice to experience a whole new culture and history. It certainly helps that it’s much cooler in November. Thus, I went on a solo trip to Egypt.

Route

There are no direct flights from Singapore to Egypt. The most convenient way is to transit in one of the Gulf cities.

As such, I chose to do a 2D1N stop in Dubai before moving on to Egypt and then ending my trip with the Qatar Stopover from Egypt back to Singapore. At least I get to visit two more countries in one trip!

This time, I did not redeem any miles for any of the flights. All were on economy except the flydubai flight from Dubai to Alexandria which I upgraded to Business Class for US$275 (just US$5 above the minimum bid).

As this trip to Dubai was rather short, I mainly explored the more glitzy parts of Dubai (Burj Khalifa, Palm Jumeirah) and went on an overnight desert safari. I also tried the flydubai Business Class flight to Alexandria. There were some highs and lows which I will explain further.

Arriving in Dubai

The 7.5-hour red-eye flight from Singapore to Dubai on Emirates was uneventful where I managed to get some sleep. At immigration, I received a complimentary 24-hour SIM card with 1GB of data, a nice welcome gift! Since I was staying in Dubai for more than 24 hours, I used SIMBA roaming which was S$8/GB (charged in 10 MB blocks) first before activating the complimentary SIM card. I then withdrew some cash using Emirates NBD ATM, which did not charge ATM withdrawal fees.

I took the metro to Novotel World Trade Centre to store my luggage (found on Bounce.com), especially since I did not book a hotel as I was staying in the desert for the night. It is nice to continue exploring luggage-free!

Burj Khalifa

I bought my Burj Khalifa ticket on Klook which included access to Levels 124, 125 and 148. The physical ticket had to be collected from the counter. Even though my ticket was for 10am, I reached earlier than expected at around 9am and was thankfully allowed to join the 9am group.

Access to Level 148, 555 metres high, also grants you access to a waiting lounge where you can enjoy a drink and a more comfortable seating area before starting the fast-track tour with fewer crowds. There is also an option to visit The Lounge at Levels 152, 153 & 154 which is the highest lounge in the world at 585 metres high.

We went to the 148th floor first where we enjoyed the panoramic view from the outdoor terrace and could look down on the skyscrapers. I even had the whole terrace to myself when the other visitors stayed in the lounge or went down. The lounge also provided coffee and some light snacks.

I then took the lift down to the 125th floor which was much more crowded. The perspective from the 124/125th floor is different from the one from the 148th floor so I’d recommend visiting the higher floors at least once. Helps that the higher floors are much less crowded and are more luxurious.

I then took a walk around Dubai Mall which even has a Chinatown zone! My first meal was Chinese food which is funny given that I came from Singapore…

Finally some action in the desert!

After lunch, I started on an overnight desert safari tour that I booked online. This included a quad biking stop (the quad biking is NOT included in the tour price), a 4×4 red dune bashing, sandboarding while watching the sunset, a buffet dinner with live entertainment and an overnight stay at the desert.

Our first stop was at a quad biking stop where quad biking was optional. It is also possible to get souvenirs and have some snacks there. I paid 160 AED for a quad bike ride in a large enclosed area that lasted around 30 minutes. It was pretty fun to speed around on the sand! I bought a printed photo (with a digital copy received via WhatsApp) for 50 AED. Thankfully, they accepted card for the ride and photo! Dubai is generally card-friendly so there isn’t a need to withdraw too much cash.

We then went sand dune bashing which felt like a roller coaster on land. We were driven really quickly up and down the dune. All those swerves engulfed our vehicle with sand! The music that he blasted was such a vibe too.

We went up the sand dune where we did sandboarding (I’m not too good at it oops) and watched the amazing sunset.

Dinner in the desert

I was separated from the group and brought to another desert camp with another group where we were seated at a table very close to the stage. Depending on the package you select, you may be seated on the ground (with those thick mats and cushions) or at a table.

I enjoyed dinner with 2 new friends who were seated with me and these were at the campsite:

• A wide variety of appetisers, mains and desserts
• Complimentary canned drinks and water
• Live shows from bellydancing to fire shows
• A complimentary camel ride just outside the camp where we walked in circles (or was it just one circle) for less than 5 minutes
• Paid add-ons such as taking photos with a falcon (I paid 20 AED for it), henna and shisha

Not a great idea to stay overnight…

After the great dinner, I was brought to another desert camp for the overnight stay. I should have guessed that it was not a good idea when they kept asking me if I was sure about this and that they could still send me back to my (non-existent) hotel back in the city.

I was driven to another campsite (where they have those dinners and shows) where I saw a simple tent pitched outside the camp. There was a red carpet outside the tent but I certainly did not feel like royalty. There were mattresses, hard pillows and a sleeping bag in the tent. The mattresses and pillows seemed to be the ones used by the guests during the dinner which did not feel so clean. I ended up using the sleeping bag as the barrier between them and my body.

The itinerary claimed that the bathroom was a private bathroom which made me think that it would be glamping. Unfortunately, it was actually a huge toilet with just one cubicle with a shower (which came from a bidet) which did not inspire confidence that it would be a comfortable shower. I ended up using wet wipes to clean myself instead of showering. The workers offered to light a campfire outside my tent. I declined as I wanted to be left alone at that point.

Against these odds, I somehow managed to sleep. It was thankfully not too cold at night. I woke up at around 6am and went to the toilet. The toilet was pitch black even when I fiddled around with the switches.

I then woke one of the workers to ask, to which he replied that electricity is not available in the morning! He ended up using his phone as a torch so that I could use the toilet. Disappointing that this happened given that I paid to stay overnight. I was served a simple breakfast and I was picked up to return to the city.

I also did not like that the tour was not so flexible in the pick-up and drop-off, that both had to be the same place. My original plan was to head to Dubai Marina directly after the desert but I could only be dropped off at Burj Khalifa, after which I had to make my own way to Dubai Marina.

In conclusion, for such tours, it would be best to just get a hotel in the city centre and get the non-overnight desert safari tour. The quad biking, dune bashing and dinner are still great experiences.

Palm Jumeirah

After being dropped off at Burj Khalifa, I sat at a café to have a nice cup of latte, charged as many devices as I could and washed up at the washroom. I spent a really long time finding the way to go up to the linkway to walk to Dubai Mall metro station. I then took the metro and tram to Palm Gateway to take the Palm Monorail to Nakheel Mall station. This is where The View at The Palm is, at the top of Palm Tower.

I bought my ticket for The View at The Palm from Klook on the spot, specifically the General ticket that only had access to Level 52. Klook also sells the ticket with both Levels 52 and 54 (the latter providing a more unobstructed view) with a price premium. Level 52 still provided great panoramic views of Palm Jumeirah and beyond, albeit with the glass windows. It is amazing how the archipelago (shaped like a date palm) was reclaimed and developed. It would have been cool to take a speedboat ride around the Marina too, hope to do so in future!

Remaining few hours in Dubai

I then met a friend for lunch at Tibba Mandi Restaurant where we had a great catch-up over a huge plate of mandi. We also enjoyed karak chai outside the restaurant, such simple pleasures of life!

I collected my luggage from Novotel World Trade Centre seamlessly before heading to the airport. As of writing, Bounce is the largest luggage storage network with at least 15,000 partners spread out across 4,000+ cities in 100+ countries. You can easily book in advance or on the spot with changes made for free. Sign up here today!

On-ground experience on flydubai Business Class

As my flydubai flight to Alexandria was from DXB Terminal 2, it was not convenient to take the metro which only stopped at Terminals 1 and 3, thus I just took the Uber. As I was flying business, I headed straight to the flydubai Business Class check-in where I could take a seat while checking in with some coffee and dates instead of standing in the queue.

There did not seem to be a special queue for immigration and security screening but it still proceeded really quickly. I then headed to the Business Class Lounge which had quite a lot of people across the two floors. It was rather basic with a toilet without showers (which was cleaned very frequently), food bars and charging stations.

Outside the lounge, there is a separate boarding area for business class passengers with some snacks and drinks. We then boarded a bus with only Business Class passengers to the plane.

Apparently, a new Business Class Lounge opened one month after my visit which looks so much better with direct access to the bus to the plane, shower facilities and workstations. If only it opened when I was there!

In-flight experience with flydubai

The business class seats were in a 2-2 configuration with a comfortable amount of legroom and a fluffy pillow. I wanted to charge all my devices at the provided charging ports but they somehow did not work. The screens did not work too. It seemed to be common across all the business class passengers. I asked the air stewardess who just said that it was not working. This was a bummer as all my devices were low on battery, especially since I did not manage to charge since my visit to the café.

They served some chips and champagne. We could choose from salmon, chicken or pasta ravioli. I requested for roasted salmon but was somehow served chicken instead (probably misheard me). There came a garden salad, chicken kebab (came with rice and vegetables), bread and mango delice which tasted decent (I am not a fussy eater though). Other than the tablecloth which I guess added a posh touch, the meal seemed ordinary like economy meals on other full-service carriers.

Thankfully, I managed to get some rest.

Epilogue

Dubai was my first foray into the Middle East where I finally saw the world’s tallest building and other engineering marvels. I also finally saw and experienced the desert although the overnight stay was not the best idea. Loved the magical sunsets and sunrises though! I would love to revisit and I’m sure it won’t be hard to do so since Dubai is a major transit hub.

This was also my first time paying to upgrade to business class. To be very honest, I was underwhelmed by the flydubai Business Class and would likely not upgrade my flydubai seat again even with the new lounge. I wrote to flydubai about the lack of in-flight entertainment, to which they replied that my e-mail would be shared with the relevant department. I asked two weeks later if there were any updates, to which they replied that “your email was shared with relevant department for internal review who will use it to maintain and improve the service for your future travel with us”. Guess this is essentially “noted with thanks”?

Off to more adventures in Egypt!