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Tags: New Routes / Etihad Airways / Abu Dhabi Travel / → All Tags

Etihad Slowly But Surely Getting The Word Out About Abu Dhabi

Dubai, Dubai, Dubai. The Middle Eastern city on everyone's lips these days is still Dubai, despite the economic beating they're currently taking. Nonetheless, inch by inch Abu Dhabi is eeking its way up there, and Etihad Airways is majorly helping the Emirati capital to capture the world's attention.

In the last few years, Etihad has scrambled up to serving 58 destinations, with a goal of 70 worldwide by 2010. Is it a ploy for world domination or what? Our guess is that Etihad just wants to make a profit, since they haven't yet. Here's the next few routes we can expect from this growing Abu Dhabi giant:

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Tags: Etihad Airways / Pilots / Women / Airline News / → All Tags

Etihad Now Comes Complete With Women Pilots

From a region of the world not exactly renowned for recognizing women in the work force, Etihad Airways is keen to let the world know that they have just graduated their first local female pilots from their flight training program.

Etihad is based in Abu Dhabi and has only been up and running since 2003—and their pilot cadet training program has only just taken on its 100th trainee, so the female-male ratio is not too tragic, especially since they've got four more local women still in training now.

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Tags: Dubai Travel / Landmarks / Travel News / Recession Travel / → All Tags

In Dubai, It's The End Of 'The World'

In order for Dubai to survive the worldwide recession and nurture their burgeoning reputation as a must-visit destination, the weak and frivolous projects must suffer in favor of things that actually contribute to the city. Thus, we are only somewhat surprised to learn of the failure of the multi-billion-dollar project of man-made islands called "The World."

After all, the islands were only due to be accessibly by the richest of the rich, with no dynamic plans for the future after the many moneyed residents built their homes on the islands. The Burj Dubai and Dubai metro system will however positively impact both locals and tourists—that's why they get the go-ahead during these rough times while The World ends.

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Tags: Dubai Travel / Landmarks / Travel News / Tourism / Skyscrapers / → All Tags

The Impossibly High Burj Dubai Will Have 124th-Floor Observation Deck

To tell you the truth, we're torn on the issue of tourism in Dubai. Is it a theme park of a city that caters to tourists versus travelers, or is it worth the visit for the unique experiences? Who knows when we'll find out since the place is so firmly out of budget anyways.

Just in case you also like to entertain the thought that a trip to Dubai is in your future, you'll either be delighted or scared shitless to learn that the famous Burj Dubai skyscraper is due to have its observation deck on the 124th floor. Of course the 160+ story building needs to be completed first, and that won't be happening until early December. In the meantime, the building is readying to open the world's first Armani Hotel in the first 37 stories. But let's hear a little more about that vertigo-inducing observation deck, shall we?

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Tags: Prime-Plane-Spotting-Map / Plane Spotting / Dubai Travel / DXB / Emirates / → All Tags

Plane-Spot In Private From Dubai's JW Marriott Hotel

As much as we would have loved to have a video of a plane landing over the JW Marriott Hotel in Dubai in this story, it seems as though there is a serious dearth of photos and videos from plane spotters at DXB-Dubai International Airport. So let us then recommend a spot at which to make some: the aforementioned JW Marriott Hotel.

By requesting a room facing the runways, which usually run around $250 per night, you will get for yourself a truly awesome view of takeoffs and landings at the neighboring airport. The hotel sits at the end of a runway, so you won't feel as though you are sleeping at the airport, and it's luxurious enough to banish all thoughts of airport concessions. The key, however, is in asking for that runway-facing room without seeming suspicious.

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Tags: Public Transportation / Dubai Travel / Subways / → All Tags

Dubai's First Subway Opens, And Not Of The Cold Cut Combo Variety

Dubai is a city of many superlatives, and as a result of their trying to build for themselves a great entertaining metropolis, the city seems constantly under construction. At least one major product was finished this month however, as the Arabian Gulf's first metro system opened on 09/09/09, transporting more than 366,968 in its first week and some 60,000 people this last Friday alone.

The metro is comprised of 11 trains and two lines, green and red, and is already seeing congestion with passengers more than eager to leave their cars at home. The five busiest stations even have attendants wearing "ask me" buttons; they are: Al Rashidya station, City Center, Union Square, Mall of Emirates and Nakheel Harbour and Tower. According to PSFK, "Dubai has been attempting to diversify its oil-dependent economy for some time... [and] has come to be seen by many as a leader in forging the Gulf’s way to more sustainable infrastructural development."

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Tags: Dubai Travel / Travel Safety / Cars / → All Tags

Dubai's Latest Flashy Statement Of Wealth: Designer Seatbelts

Good old flashy Dubai might be one of the world's largest consumers of gold-covered cars, but apparently they think they're too cool for school to use a seatbelt. Thanks to Luxist, we hear that drivers in the United Arab Emirates are so loathe to use seatbelts, that the country is lauching its own aggressive seatbelt safety campaign a la the US and France.

WIth only 11% of Emiratis deigning to strap themselves in, auto accidents in Dubai and Abu Dhabi especially are oftentimes more serious than what should be. As a result, the seatbelt safety campaign wants to appeal to residents' love of luxury and fashion by painting the seatbelt as a statement, as well as safety, item.

How will they do this, you ask? Well, by printing seatbelts with logos of luxury brands, or your favorite team, or the Emirati flag. We imagine a taxi cab picking us up from Dubai's airport, and we climb into a back seat to buckle up with Armani belts. Luxist points out that luxury brands aren't exactly liberal with the use of their intellectual property and might poo-poo use of logos, but we bet that soon you'll able to buy seatbelts in Dubai slathered with the (unofficial) Louis Vuitton Damier pattern nonetheless.

Related Stories:
· Will Dubai Drivers Wear Gucci Seatbelts? [Luxist]
· Dubai Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: uncle boatshoes]

Tags: Bad News / Dubai Travel / Food Travel / → All Tags

Dining In Dubai Now Requires You To Sign Food Poisoning Waivers

It's 8pm in Dubai and you've been holed up in your hotel room working straight through dinner, and now your stomach is rumbling for a yummy shawarma. Be prepared to sign your life away in return for some Dubai take-out, as our friend Neal Ungerleider informs, because restaurants in the glittering capital of high-rise construction cranes are requiring diners to sign releases in case of possible food poisoning.

This comes after the food poisoning deaths of a 5-year-old boy and his 7-year-old sister, children of an Air France flight attendant who lives in Dubai. And since litigation is no fun thing, restaurants in the city are arming themselves with warning stickers on food bags, advising customers to consume food within two hours of purchase. Even more direct and unsettling is being presented with a release form, as you are at the Kempinski Hotel Mall. The waiver goes a little something like this:

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Tags: Dubai Travel / Amusement Parks / Theme Parks / → All Tags

Casper the Friendly Ghost Will Live On With A Dubai Theme Park

The Dubai Festival City, full of luxury hotels and entertaining shops, is getting a kind of spooky addition: the Casper Theme Park, due to open up early in 2010. Our favorite friendly ghost has decided to haunt ever-expanding Dubai and no doubt make the developers a pack of money, especially since a new Casper TV series is due to launch later this year.

The Casper Theme Park will include the biggest monorail in the Middle East along with a rollercoaster and various other rides and games. They're obviously hoping this will put Dubai onto the list of places kids beg their parents to take them too, and it sounds like more child-friendly attractions might be in the pipeline.

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Tags: Wine Travel / Dubai Travel / Airport News / → All Tags

Only In Dubai: A Duty-Free Bottle of $27,000 Wine

When you go to Dubai, the general consensus says to go big or go home; this idea applied to duty-free shopping at Dubai International Airport means just as great a broad a luxury selection in the airport as on the main shopping drags.

Not to be left behind in the luxury duty-free party is fine wine, the best of which is now available at Le Clos within Terminal 3, which prides itself on featuring the rarest of rare vintages. Staffed by six wine advisors and two spirits advisors, Le Clos will help you make that difficult decision between prized bottles of $12,500 Château Petrus 1947, $15,750 Château Cheval Blanc 1961, and $27,778 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2005. At this shop, the vintages begin with wines from 1945, but we'd be pretty happy popping the cork on that last one in the list.

Considering that there's this pesky recession and you might be in a bit of a hurry, exchange the visibility and time of in-store browsing by pre-ordering your bottles at their website and picking up at the airport.

Related Stories:
· Le Clos at Dubai Airport [Official Site]
· Shop Opens In Dubai Airport Selling Some of World's Rarest Wines [Decanter]
· Dubai Airport's Ultra-Pricey Wine Shop [Luxist]
· Dubai Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Emirates Airlines]

Tags: Tourists / Dubai Travel / Crime / Fashion Travel / → All Tags

Dubai Tourist Arrested For Wearing Nude Posh Spice Tee

He's literally a fashion victim! Haha but really, it's official: we can't ever go to Dubai because we fear that the second we touch down, we'll be arrested. That was pretty much the case this last week for a Lebanese tourist in the Emirate, who made the mistake of wearing one of Marc Jacobs' celebrity nude T-shirts, and was promptly hauled in and sentenced to one month in jail for sporting the offending garment.

His T-shirt, part of a series ironically benefitting NYU's melanoma research—the perfect thing to wear to a beach resort, natch—featured Victoria Beckham almost nude, with text covering her rude bits. The man was originally confronted by a local at a bakery, and when he returned after changing clothes, the police were waiting.

Considering that we totally own one of the shirts from the same series, although ours sports a naked man (Marc humself), we should probably steer clear of using it as a beach cover-up outside of the Burj Al-Arab. But considering how money and label-focused Dubai, you think maybe we could get out of any trouble by explaining that Marc Jacobs is the designer for Louis Vuitton? Yea, we didn't think so either. Keep it clean out there folks; only plain American Apparel T-shirts allowed and leave the racy ads at home.

Related Stories:
· Man Jailed In Dubai For Wearing Marc Jacobs T-Shirt [StyleList]
· In Dubai, Sex On The Beach Could Lead To Prison [Jaunted]
· Dubai Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: elvis_payne; T-shirt photo: ebay]

Tags: FlyDubai / Low Cost Carriers / LCCs / Middle East Travel / → All Tags

FlyDubai Takes Off, Wants to Reach Out to Africa and Eastern Europe Next

While we're not really so sure that fading Dubai needs another airline flying in, LCC FlyDubai has gone ahead and launched itself anyway. A few months back the new government-owned airline was promising a June 1 start, and they've surprisingly delivered right on time with flights to Beirut and Amman.

Special offers on the FlyDubai website at the moment include Dubai to Alexandria flights for 350 AED ($95) and Dubai to Damascus for a bit less than that even. And while the website is pleasant enough, we're not sure about the company slogan we found there: "How will you flydubai?" Yes, how will we? Isn't the answer to that an anticlimactic "on flydubai?"

FlyDubai is just two planes-strong at the moment, but they've got grand plans. With 52 more planes on order, it'll be interesting to see which additional destinations they pick up along the way—assuming they actually create a market for themselves. They're talking about "India and beyond", which apparently includes eastern Europe and northern Africa, and boy, what we'd give to see these materialize. Our next trip around Eastern Europe could include a weekend in Dubai; what a nice dream.

Related Stories:
· FlyDubai [Official Site]
· Dubai's First Low Cost Carrier Lands in Amman [Zawya]
· FlyDubai Is Finally Ready To Go Starting June 1 [Jaunted]

[Photo: Drewski2112]