I recently returned from a visit to Dubai. First off - A big thanks goes to my friend Shk. Saeed Almaktoum for being an incredible host!

If I succeeded with my intentions, nobody reading the blog knew I was gone since I wrote blog posts for nearly every day I was in Dubai. Hopefully everyone enjoyed the various posts…

Now that I’m back, I felt it would be a good blog post to explain just how unique Dubai is. I’ll keep this condensed, and hopefully it will be an interesting read for those of you who are interested in travel, culture and world leading achievement that Dubai has become known for. Also I’m sharing some of the pictures I took on the trip in hi-res.

The easiest way to explain Dubai to those not familiar is to compare it to Las Vegas. Much like Vegas, Dubai was built rapidly and on top of somewhat undesirable land (extremely hot, lots of desert). Also much like Las Vegas, Dubai depends greatly on travel, specifically tourism and foreign investment/participation in Dubai business. As Las Vegas has built some extravagant hotels and features to attract millions from all over the world, Dubai has done a similar strategy although at an almost incomprehensibly greater degree.

The level of growth, innovation, and unprecedented landmarks that Dubai has achieved in such a short time (most of it in the past 30 years) is unlike anything I thought I would ever witness in my lifetime. Despite a common misconception, the Dubai economy is not prospering from Oil which was depleted in Dubai long ago. Dubai’s model of growth is much like Las Vegas, but without two key advantages of Vegas, there is no gambling and very little alcohol in Dubai.

So how does Dubai out grow, out prosper and impress visitors perhaps even more than Las Vegas? This can be a long answer but here are some the highlights:

1. They established from personal experience what I consider to be the best quality airlines in the world, Emirates. This successful and profitable business laid down the infrastructure to gain access and presence as a global travel destination. What impressed me especially from my background/interest in business is that Emirates Airlines grew organically from a humble start of only two planes and steadily expanded as the country it supported also expanded simultaneously from the increased access and ease of transportation.

2. Great city planning and an international multicultural acceptance -Tax free zones for enterprise and incentives to foster rapid business growth and foreign investment are part of this mix. Secondly is the fact that for Dubai to achieve its dreams, it relies on building a city and culture with arms open to foreign participation. In fact more than 80% of the population of Dubai are foreigners. Although local customs and religious beliefs remain important parts of life for the natives of Dubai, they are also accepting of other cultures and allow others to act as they normally would, unrestricted by local customs. For example alcohol is not traditionally accepted, nor are women wearing western outfits, however in Dubai you will see plenty of places to drink, to party and plenty of women wearing whatever they like out in public. The locals most likely do not participate in this, however they do not stop other cultures from doing what they would like to do (within obvious reason of law/morality).

3. Creating the biggest spectacles in the world that make Dubai a noteworthy destination.

Expanding on point 3 - Dubai has an ambitious goal of creating the biggest and best of everything in the world. More than just a point of national pride, doing so ensures that people around the world must become aware of Dubai, putting it on the map as a major destination for tourism and business.

Surely you must have heard of some of these things:

Burj Dubai - The worlds largest building which has 168 floors and is 2300 or so feet tall. (when I was growing up on the east coast, I visited the Empire State building as a child. It was the biggest thing I could ever imagine…now when I saw the Burj Dubai I realized that it is nearly twice as tall as the Empire State building. It is so tall that when I was in a helicopter I was still not above it, it is simply hard to fit into photographs it is so big)

The Palm Islands and the World Islands (and soon to be The Universe Islands) - These man made islands are so massive of a project that they have changed the layout of the earth when viewed from space.

The biggest shopping mall in the world which has more than 1200 stores, which by the way sits next to the biggest building in the world and which is separated by the biggest fountain in the world (think Bellagio fountain but bigger). And then there is of course a smaller shopping mall (but also MASSIVE) which contains an indoor ski slope.

The Burj Al Arab Hotel - The only 7 diamond hotel in the world, which is kept on its own man made island and is a huge building in the shape of a sail. Every room in there is two stories tall and has its own butler. I took a tour of it, its crazy over the top luxury.

Tomorrow I’ll share some photos and wrap up this report. It was a fascinating place to visit and I’m very happy to have made such great friends there.

For now I’ll leave you with this photo:

(you know you’ve arrived some place special when the baggage claim area at the airport looks like this)