I was lucky enough to travel around Greece, Turkey, Israel, and Egypt for several months post-college. One of my travel buddies was of Greek heritage, and as a result, we got to stay on a tiny Greek island sleeping on his great aunt’s roof, after she met us at the ferry in her babushka outfit crying and babbling in Greek at meeting my friend for the first time. Truly we were the only Americans on this tiny island, and basically had Greeks, donkeys, and the Mediterranean Sea for company. One of our other traveling companions had emigrated to the US and come to our high school from Beirut so spoke Arabic. Traveling with him around Egypt, Turkey and Israel was fantastic because he could really gain us entry to non-tourist experiences simply by being able to speak the language. We felt like “insiders” and scoffed at “tourists” with their huge cameras and knee socks and tour busses. We were having Authentic Travel Experiences.
I loved the middle east - the people in Turkey and Egypt were among the most hospitable, open, friendly people I have ever encountered. I loved the call to prayer at 5am, I loved having apple tea in carpet shops while chatting with young Arab men (admittedly, not too many women were seen anywhere but the marketplaces or doing laundry), I loved the art and architecture. I loved being invited by the guide who helped us climb to the top of the Great Pyramid at Cheops (no, not legal), into his home to meet his wife and children. I told myself that no matter what, I would return there some day.
But that was 1992, almost a full decade before 9/11. And when we were planning this trip, I so badly wanted to include Turkey and Egypt on our itinerary, but I’ll be honest when I say I was just too afraid. Too many bombings, too crazy president, too much unrest. And I felt sad to not show the kids another side to Islamic culture, a counter to the media representations of terrorists and our president’s shameful comments and ridiculous travel bans. So when Greg said we could fly through Dubai, I thought WOW! At least we will be able to have a brief introduction to this amazing culture, I can show the kids a glimmer of what I had seen decades earlier.
But planning a 24 hour layover, how can you have a really “authentic” experience? And what does that even mean anymore? Pre-internet, it used to be that you’d roll into a town armed with your Lonely Planet guidebook and figure it out as you went. You had to talk to locals, maybe get a referral to someone’s cousin brother’s hostel or to his aunt’s restaurant. Now we've got Trip Advisor, travel blogs, and Air B&B and everything seems pre-packaged and, well, almost predetermined. Nevertheless, I will admit I jumped into Trip Advisor with glee to sort out some fun, if not necessary authentic, experiences for our quick stop.
Dubai is a city in a desert, quite literally built on oil. Oil was discovered in 1966, and a mere 5 years later, the UAE was born. Its population is only 20% citizens, the rest are immigrants and expats. Commerce is king; it boasts the largest mall in the world, as well as the tallest skyscraper. Environmentally, it is incredibly forward thinking, pledging to generate 75% of its energy from renewable resources by 2050 (and we pulled out of the Paris Accords and have an EPA chief who denies global warming? Hmmmmm) It is seriously over the top so of course, we chose to go to Aquaventure Water Park, an enormous water park in the midst of the Arabian Desert. And even 12 year old Griffin wondered “how do they get this much water in a desert?”
But what an amazing place! Yes, it’s much cooler than Wild Waves. But water rides and lazy rivers aside, I had never seen such a diverse group of people in one place. Women in full on burka-style bathing suits floating next to tan blond Aussie girls in string bikinis. Throngs of Indian families in colorful old timey bathing suits on lounge chairs next to huge groups of African women with their hair tied up in kente cloth. Plump and sunburned Germans chatting with young international hipsters of unknown origin. It was incredible! So maybe I wasn’t hanging out with Bedouins (the government had provided them all with free homes, education, and health care so they no longer lived a nomadic lifestyle), but wasn’t this authentic? Wasn’t this a microcosm of modernity, at least in a middle eastern city dedicated to commerce and built on oil revenues?
Determined to make the most of our 24 hours, we went from water park to desert safari! We were picked up at the water park by our driver Saeed, driven out to the desert where we went 4 wheeling in jeeps all over the dunes. The kids LOVED it, and I have to say it was exhilarating to be cruising over dunes in the middle of nowhere fearing that you may roll at any moment! This was followed by a falcon show, as apparently the royal family are fans of hunting with falcons, and the bedouins used to hunt with falcons before they were granted the aforementioned free homes. This was followed by more 4-wheeling, and then over to the Bedouin “camp” for sand boarding, camel riding, hookah-smoking (no, the kids were not allowed), a lamb BBQ, and a belly dance show. I think the idea was to educate tourists regarding Arab ways of life long passed. I was torn, as here I was engaging in the type of cheesy pre-packaged experience that I once mocked. But the kids loved it, and I once again struggled with what I was exposing them to, what they were really learning from all of this, and what type of experiences are “worthy” to have on this year long journey.
As we watched the sunset over the dunes in the Arabian desert with about 100 other tourists chatting away (fantastic fodder for my “Selfies Around the World” project), I told the kids about the time I rode a camel out into the desert from Cairo to Saqqara and slept in the Bedouin camp under stars so bright the sky almost looked like day. And I hope they get to have Authentic Travel Experiences like that one day. Fingers crossed for them.
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