This Is Convenient

I leave for Dubai on Wednesday night. I'm on my way to Intersec Middle East, a huge exposition for the fire, safety, security and police industries. If you're looking for a CAFS system to fight oil well fires, or perhaps some new biometric equipment, this is the place you'll want to be.


Photo by Makz

I'm getting ready for the trip, getting my dry cleaning done, checking books out of the library, making sure my overseas cell phone is charged, and of course surfing the web to find out what to see, what to avoid, and where to eat while I'm there.

So it sure was nice to see this big article about Dubai on the front page of Slate. It looks like I won't have to spend too much time boning up on the history of Dubai, because there isn't a whole lot. I definitely will try to get to the Dubai Museum, though, and I hope we can get out of the city and into the desert for a quick drive, like we did when we were in Bahrain -- we visited Oil Well #1 (to quote Homer Simpson: the cause of, and solution to, all our problems) and got a feel for the non-city part of the country, which is mostly just sand. I hope we can do the same in Dubai.

I've been reading Secret Dubai Diary, One Big Construction Site, and a few other Dubai blogs, and checking out Flickr members like this guy. I've sort of struck out as far as restaurants, except for the advice to "eat as much Lebanese food as you can," which is actually advice I try to follow all the time, not just when I'm travelling to Dubai.

This is a pretty quick trip, only about two days of non-work time, so I don't know how much sightseeing I'll get to do, but I'm really looking forward to the trip. It's been eight months since my last overseas trip so I'm not burned out on travel right now, and the weather looks to be fantastic. If nothing else, I'll enjoy a couple of nights in a luxury hotel.