Out to the Desert.

We went a mere half mile in an Uber to the Aloft airport hotel for the remainder of the evening. We finally arrived near 3 A.M. The website says they run a shuttle service to the airport, but the sign at the front desk reveals they run the shuttle at three specific times during the day. Taxi lobby is strong here!

Dubai is brightly lit in the distance, but the hotel felt like dimly lit millennial factory, void of any actual character besides that of a steel and concrete box. The bed was nice and the room was large and comfortable. Just a bit on the tacky side of Scandinavian styling. We passed out in short order.

In the morning, we called the car for a 50min ride to the edge of the largest Nature reserve in the Middle East.

The ride felt like a protracted journey from a futuristic metropolis to an under developed nation. As we went the buildings became smaller and further antiquated until they looked uninhabited. Soon the terrain also looked uninhabited and harsh.
Even after the turn off to the resort there was little to suggest that humans had ever been to this place. The wind driven sands covered even the most recent tracks of the increasingly present oryx.Read more