Day 2

Understandably, we crashed when we finally got to our Dubai hotel after the long flight. While we were very eager to enjoy the hotel's pretty tropical surroundings, we were all extremely exhausted. We ended up sleeping 3 or 4 hours to replenish our energy, but since we didn't want to remain jetlagged for the rest of the trip, we forced ourselves to wake up after that.

Since it was already late afternoon Dubai time by then, we spent the rest of the day relaxing poolside and beachside. As you can see, the setting of the hotel was similar to many Caribbean beach resorts, but hearing the chantings from the mosques and seeing women clad head-to-toe in black in the ridiculous heat (more on this later) gave us more of a feeling that we were truly not in Kansas (or Connecticut) anymore. Outside of the hotel walls, it was a very different place from anywhere we had traveled before. But for that day, we let ourselves catch our breaths and relax for a bit- the last day that we would all be truly at leisure (story to be continued! :-))

I apologize if these videos are a bit hard to watch. I had to cut out parts of it here and there in order to preserve family privacy and also because filming was difficult at times due to the condensation that collected on the camera (it is RIDICULOUSLY hot and humid there!) Dividing the video into smaller videos was also the only way I was able to post all of it here, so again, I'm sorry if the production isn't quite as flawless as that of a huge-budget Hollywood film (hopefully I'll reach that level of videotaping perfection with time and experience :-))