#dubaigotitright

Have you ever finished a long day of shopping at the mall, your feet and legs aching, your fingers calloused from carrying so many bags, and all you can think about is getting to the comfort of your own home where you can rest your weary body and soul.....but for the life of you, you cannot remember where you parked your car?  Heck, I actually run into this problem even on my quick trips to the mall - either the kids are fussing or I’m in such a hurry that I forget to snap a pic of my garage section and row - and since I frequent the mall so often, my brain can’t sort out whether it was today, yesterday, or last week that I was in P2D, P5N or P8C, nor can I remember which entrance I came through!  

This issue is not a problem for people in Dubai.  Not only do they have signs everywhere reminding people to take a pic of their parking section, they also have machines that give little numbered tickets at all entrances so people remember where they entered the malls.  But for those of us who are too hasty to accept this help, there is a magical life line -- the Car Finder!  All you have to do is enter in your license plate number, and this machine will consult its eyes in the sky to pinpoint exactly where your car is parked, problem solved.  Kinda cool, kinda scary.  Unfortunately there is no help for people who don’t have their license plates memorized....

Dubai has installed indoor air-conditioned cabins at nearly all of its bus stops which is super cool because it gets super hot here.  Seriously, all bus commuters should give a huge shout out to the Dubai Transport Authority because there’s nothing worse than being on a hot bus full of sweaty smelly passengers.  

While Dubai got this one right, it also compels me to point out something Dubai got wrong - public transportation. Clearly the need for an icebox at all stops indicates the bus routes are inadequate and time tables unreliable.  Otherwise people would arrive at their stop only minutes before the bus arrived to minimize waiting time and sun exposure.

At this point I’m going to reminisce about my past and compliment the Germans for what I’d call the best public transportation system in the world. I rarely ever needed to drive my car because not only were there so many public transport options, but I could count on them to be there and be on time. It’s clear that in Dubai, my icebox will be our trusty little Prius because driving is the way to get from here to there. Let’s just hope the AC still works considering it hasn’t been turned on in the past five years…yikes.

Apparently the policemen in Dubai get to choose whichever car tickles their fancy.  And really, it makes perfect sense.  I mean, shouldn’t the ones who have to chase the bad guys be driving the fastest cars on the market?  Here I’ve spotted two souped up police cars, one an Audi and the other a BMW.  Still waiting to see the Lamborghini cop car that I’ve heard rumors about...

There is only one word for this:  Genius.  How many times do you forget your bottle of sunscreen when you go to the beach and either waste precious beach time finding a store that carries it (only to pay a small fortune) or embarrassingly ask to borrow some from your seaside neighbor?  In Dubai, less than 3 dollars will get you 10 seconds of sunscreen sprayed from a handy dandy hose that gets even those hard to reach places.  What will they think of next?