Nomadiando: February 2013

First leg of my around the world trip- Dubai.

If Paris is known as “the city of lights”, New York City as “the big apple”, Dubai should be known as “the city where money can buy it all”. Located in the middle of the desert, it seems as if the people of Dubai said “middle of the desert? Who cares, let’s build sky scrapers that rise to infinity, fake ski resorts, man- made wave parks, simulated sky diving, man-made island communities, and 7 star hotels among other things." I wouldn’t be surprise if in the near future Dubai will have an underwater world or the first flying unicorns in the world. Maybe a rainbow land? I don’t know.

Producing bewteen 50,000 and 70,000 barrels of oil a day I guess come with its perks! :-)

Some other interesting facts about Dubai include the absence of sales tax on all of their products, and the absence of personal Income tax as well. Health care is free (I was told health costs are covered by the Sheik himself) and if you happen to lose your job, you better find another one within two months, otherwise you are kindly escorted out of the country. Immigration reform anybody?

I also learned that Dubai is only an 8 hour flight to 85% of the world’s destinations. Dubai along with Abu Dhabi and Doha have made a tremendous effort to capitalize in their unique location. Their three major airlines (Emirates, Qatar, and Etihad) are among the top in the industry and have created some of the most impressive terminals in the world. In addition to that, Qatar is already getting ready to host the biggest sporting event in the world, that is off course the 2022 soccer World Cup.

I've already started saving for this event. I'm not gonna lie, soccer is one of my biggest passions, but what I'm really looking forward to, is seeing the flying unicorns. I'm sure they would have developed them by then!