The blog will be temporarily out of service until our next adventure...

Please add comments suggesting locations for our next adventure.

Jeff & Zak

We are on the plane

We are walking onto the plane as I type. We will be in Atlanta @ 6:50 Am. Thank you for your support!!!!

Returning to the States...

Our ETA to ATL is 6:50 AM Tuesday morning. If things change, then we will note the changes.

Desert Safari

While in Dubai we took a 5 hour Desert safari which included sand dunning, camel riding, shisha, and a bbq. Here are some pics and a video of the experience. The video and pictures do not accurately depict the experience.

View of the Burj Al Arab

So here are some pictures of a night out right next to the Burj Al Arab . This is the most ridiculous hotel I have ever heard of, I also heard that it is the only 7 star hotel . We took these pictures from the closest possible hotel. The Burj Al Arab is the tallest building that is soley used as a hotel. Here is an articule about when Roger played Andre in Tennis on the Helipad http://gargles.net/tennis-on-the-burj/ this place is crazy. Dubai is the biggest playground in the world. The people here are an entirely different type of wealthy. This night we were just smoking Cubans on the roof top of some 5 star hotel. Can it get any better? Well maybe, the next night we went on a desert saferi then watched the sun rise on some random beach on the Persian Gulf with 2 beautiful Emirates flight attendants.

Zak zooming by

Here is a video of Zak hitting the slopes hard...

Skiing in the Middle East

When we arrived in Dubai we were given 2 recommendations: 1. go snow skiing 2: go on a sand safari with camel riding and sand dunning. We knew we had to do those two endeavors. We woke up one morning wearing capris, sandals, and t-shirts with the mission in our heads to go snow skiing in the middle of the desert. We showed up at the Mall of the Emirates, walked over to the indoor ski slopes and proceeded to rent our ski's, winter clothes, and lift ticket. They do not include hats or gloves, but we could buy them for $20 each. We made the executive decision to save a couple of $$$ and not purchase either. We were very sceptical of how cold it would actually be on the slopes and whethor or not it was actual snow. We immediteally regreted the because it was -4c and it was real snow. It was so much fun, but a little too cold so afterwards we went straight to the beach where it was 110 degrees.

Out and about-

These are some pics around the city.

Dubai's Beach

Literally, a one minute walk from Kevin's apartment is the Persian Gulf-

Here we are

We clanked our crystal glasses in customary celebration; we were surrounded by old friends, after all. We had cheered hundreds of times together, but never in a locale as exotic as this, and surely, never with just Evian water in our glasses.

The cool summer breeze of the Arabian air engulfed us, the stars twinkled overhead, and the palm trees bristled quietly as they glowed from strategically placed colored fluorescent lights which made them look like pieces of art.

Yet, to my surprise, we were not in an outdoor setting, although it was difficult to tell. It took straining to see that the sparkling overhead was merely canopied electronics reminiscent of a planetarium show and the cool breeze, although we were just steps from the sea, came from craftily hidden air condition units, whose absence would have transformed this opulent courtyard hookah lounge into a muggy and uncomfortable sauna. It was hard to remember we were in the middle of the desert.

We had been in Dubai for only a few hours, and there had not been one second where we had not been absolutely astonished. The city is spotless and modern. It is bigger, larger, more opulent and excessive than any city I had ever visited, rendering venerable cities like Shanghai, Las Vegas, or New York, as mere children looking up to a cooler and more sophisticated older brother that is personified in Dubai.

Just that morning we awoke in a sweltering Bombay hotel on the outskirts of the city. The walls were decrepit and peeling and the lone fan in the corner seemed to only oscillate upon a few taps of encouragement. We had no idea that in just a few hours, we would be smoking sheesa with an old friend on the shore of the Arabian Sea in one of Dubai's world class hotels, not to mention enjoying it all with the newly acquired number of a very cute Emirates Air stewardess in our pocket.

Ramadan had descended onto Dubai just a day before we arrived, condemning us to sipping on water, rather than an alternate drink of choice. Clubs and Bars are closed for the holiday, and the normally raucous city exercises its interpretation of restraint for a whole thirty days. Nonetheless, both Jeff and I were blown away by what we saw - we can only imagine what transpires when the government decree of religious devotion are lifted for the other eleven months of the year.

We were excited to be sharing such an incredible experience with our mutual friend Kevin, with whom we both went to High School back in comparatively lowly Sarasota. Serendipitously, he had just arrived here two days earlier, to assume the role as an analyst at a very prestigious business consulting firm here in Dubai. He graciously offered us his futon, complete with a 12th story view of the Dubai Marina and the Persian Gulf.

As I sat across from Kevin and admired our surroundings, I thought back to my last extranational adventure I was on with Kevin, one of a much different sort, through the unpaved jungle roads of rural Guatemala, almost five years ago. I remember him and I shared a desolate and concrete floor for a week in that tiny town, complete with roaches, mosquitoes, and any other rodent or invertebrate that wandered in attracted to our flashlight, which served as our only light source throughout the night. We entombed ourselves deep into our sleeping bags at night, sacrificing comfort for the protection from such pests. How different our surroundings presently were, how foreign they might seem to our generous hosts back in Guatemala, because after all, they seemed foreign even to us.

We finished our sheesa and wandered to the valet stand by the entrance to catch a cab. It was almost midnight, but the heat was palpable and sweating was unavoidable. A silver Lamborghini pulled up and out emerged a valet driver, and Egyptian man who had been here for four years and had come from a very impoverished section of Cairo.

"That's quite a nice car, is it yours?" quipped Kevin jokingly, trying his best to make friendly conversation.

I expected a humble answer from the valet. I thought about how incredible it must be to be born in a seemingly dead-end place and end up with the opportunity to be consistently driving cars worth more than $100,000.00, only if it even more a moment. What he responded, surprised me, and I think, is indicative of the decadence and excess which defines Dubai.

"Lamborghini? For me? No." he coyly responded.

I bit my lip, concerned Kevin had offended the lowly valet driver with his query. Surely and obviously, it was not his car, and perhaps his comment had made the driver self conscious and embarrassed.

But I was wrong. He pointed over to a shiny red Ferrari sitting just feet away and gave a big smile, "I like this one better, more my style. "

ANNOUNCMENT: ANNOUNCEMENT TO COME!

We have a grand announcement, one arguably rivaled in scope and anticipation only by Ty's cryptic announcement they were retiring the Beanie Baby line at the height of their popularity in the December 1999.


We will announce shortly our announcement. Stay Tuned.