Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Day 2

On our second day we started out with a quick swim on the beach.    Our hotel sits right behind the world famous Burj Al Arab hotel, which is the famous "sailboat" hotel.  I was totally blown away watching my kids swim in the Persian Gulf.  I would have never thought that would happen.  The water was really warm, but we had fun splashing around in the waves.

Our main highlight of the day (and the entire trip) was an "Arabian Desert Safari."  Our guide Viktor came and picked us up at our hotel and drove us out to a desert conservation reserve about an hour out of the city.  Once there we put on our "Ghutras," and hopped in our Land Rover and went for a drive into the desert.  We got to learn about the plants and animals that inhabit the desert, we got to see a falcon display, and then we ended up at a Bedouin camp where we had a traditional dinner and got to watch traditional dancing.  We even got to ride a camel.  The night was a blast.  The kids loved it…especially the falcon and the camels.  The tour company really went out of their way to show us a special time.  Not only did they have photographers following us around taking our picture, but they even made us a video of the afternoon (look for it below.)  The video is pretty funny.  At one moment our guide told us to climb a dune and see the scenery.  As we started climbing we saw a drone hovering our way taking our picture.  So you'll see that in the video.  It's pretty funny.  The kids were freaking out at this thing hovering above us.