"One day between flights...for the time being" United Arab Emirates by josephescu

My ignorant mind has always associated the United Arab Emirates with Dubai, and Dubai with the world capital of leisure life and with the luxuries shopping paradise. And because of these prejudices, I did not particularly seek to add the Emirates to my travel list, at least not for the near future. No offence, but with limited holidays per annum, destinations tend to become a sort of a sad trade-off issue to me….does this happen to you as well?

Dubai doesn't mean always cars

And the story is that I came to spend one day in the UAE by accident….between flights, courtesy of Air Arabia. And I can be all but grateful for that day, which I spent strolling around a charming pre-oil atmosphere in Umm al Qaywayn, searching for the historic roots of Sharjah, and catching a glimpse of the future around Jumeirah in the “New" Dubai.

Of course time was too short and we did not have enough to understand what we saw. But the most striking and memorable thoughts from that day were related to the ambiguous multiculturalism present even in the smallest corner, whether things have been moving too fast or too far, and of course, speculations on the future and on the extend in which the current “rules of the game” will be able to survive likely events.

Umm al Qaywayn, a pre-oil emirate

Nevertheless, I know I will return.

Most likely, as long as Air Arabia keeps doing such a great job with its cheap flights around Asia and linking them to Istanbul, I will be having round trips around the Emirates on some transit between flights (no headache transit means 96 hours).

• Pros:remains of the pre-oil world
• Cons:traffic jams on the Dubai - Sharjah road
• In a nutshell:the world is not enough