Shae and I love celebrating each other’s birthdays, so she was a little disappointed last year as her plans for my 40th birthday fell through due to COVID.
My parents were going to be here during that time and she’d secretly arranged for my sister to come over too (they all live in the UK), then she’d also arranged for some of my friends to join me in Salt Lake City.
With my 40th birthday being at the end of April 2020, we were still in the early days of COVID which is why all those plans subsequently had to be cancelled. I still enjoyed my birthday though as the revised plans included renting a Tesla and going on a helicopter ride in Colorado which was amazing.
Shae’s turning 40 this coming week, so I wanted to plan something special for her. I was a little concerned that COVID might affect our plans, but as things stand it’s all looking positive.
My plans involve a three week international trip, but there’s a catch – she has no clue where we’re going!
The nice thing is that Shae loves surprises, so not knowing where we’re going doesn’t make her nervous. I’ve shared a few details with her, but nothing that gives away where we’ll actually be visiting:
- Week 1 – Flying overseas and staying in the same place for the entire week to relax (this is during both her birthday and our anniversary).
- Week 2 – Flying to another country where we’ll be spending 6 nights. We’ll be staying three nights in one hotel and three nights in another.
- Week 3 – Flying to a third country where we’ll be spending 6 nights. Again, we’ll be staying three nights in one hotel and three nights in another. This final week also involves renting a car to get around, whereas the first two locations we can easily get taxis to anywhere we need to go.
Our second and third weeks will be a little busier than the first as we’ll be doing a little more sightseeing, but it should still be a nice, relaxing time.
I’m only going to reveal to Shae our next location when we’re at the airport each time, so the surprises will continue throughout the trip. I’ve scheduled this post ahead of time, so when it goes live we’ll have left the US and will be on our way to our first destination.
That means Shae now knows where we’re heading which also means that I can share our first destination with you all.
The first week of her birthday extravaganza will be in Dubai.
Our Flights
We were due to be flying there on Qatar Airways in business class. It was in QSuites which is meant to be one of the best (if not the best) business class experiences available worldwide. They have lie-flat seats and couples traveling together can select center seats which convert into a double bed. You can dine on demand and they apparently have a great wine selection to go with it. The vast majority of our international trips have been flown in economy; we’ve only flown business class a couple of times before, so I was really excited about getting to experience QSuites.
All of that sounds like it’d be pricey, but it doesn’t have to be thanks to the beauty of airline miles. I booked our flights using American Airlines AAdvantage miles, so it cost 70,000 miles + $17.10 per person. You can earn close to 70,000 AAdvantage miles as a signup bonus on several different American Airlines credit cards, so the flights I booked were a great way to get great value from those miles.
An Almost Disaster
When checking in for our flights, there was an issue. We had to get PCR tests 72 hours before our flight which were fine as they came back negative. However, Dubai requires that test to be within 72 hours of your flight which arrives there, not from your original departure airport. We were flying Chicago>New York>Doha>Dubai and my understanding was that the test being within 72 hours of our Chicago flight would be fine.
However, it turns out it had to be within 72 hours of our Doha to Dubai leg. The problem being that our test was done more than 72 hours before then. After a lot of worry, fretting, online searching, etc., we managed to get a resolution which was even better than our original flights.
I cancelled our flights and rebooked on Emirates in First Class which is ridiculously bougie. The flight was due to leave Chicago at 8:45pm and we managed to use miles to book our tickets just a few hours before it was due to depart. We’re apparently the only people in First Class, so it’s going to be an amazing experience.
This cost us 136,250 Emirates Skywards miles per person which I transferred from one of our American Express Membership Rewards accounts as Emirates is a transfer partner. That’s more miles than we’d normally use for one-way flights, but the experience should be worth it. Taxes and fees were a total of ~$180 per person which was more than the taxes and fees on our original flights, but again, it should be worth it.
Our Hotel
We’re staying at the Grand Hyatt Dubai for the entire week. I have Globalist status in the World of Hyatt program which meant I could book their standard King room (the cheapest option) but use a Suite Upgrade Award to upgrade to a suite which normally costs hundreds of dollars per night. That also gives us access to the Club Lounge where we’ll have free food and drinks and just generally get to feel a little fancy!
It has four swimming pools – three outside and one inside – all of which are temperature controlled, along with something like a dozen restaurants. It’s meant to be a great hotel, so I’m looking forward to this too.
Our Activities
I have very little planned for what we’ll be doing in Dubai. I’ve got a fun activity planned for her actual birthday, but beyond that we don’t have anything fixed. We’ve both been pretty busy in recent weeks, with Shae in particular being even more busy
After visiting Seattle for a friend’s birthday, we flew back to Denver and then she immediately flew out to San Francisco to meet up with a different friend to celebrate both their birthdays together. She then got back the night before we flew to Chicago to position ourselves for our flights to Dubai. For as fun as that’s all been, it’s been nonstop for her and so Dubai will be a great place to just chill by the pool for a while.
Depending on when you read this, we’ll either be at 30-something-thousand feet on our way to Dubai or we’ll already be there. I’ll be sharing more about the trip as we go along, so stay tuned for what will hopefully be a bunch of fun adventures over the next few weeks 🙂 Also be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram as we’ll be sharing the trip there too.
Check Out All The Posts From Our Dubai/Egypt/Jordan Trip
- It’s Time For Shae’s Secret Birthday Extravaganza!
- Flight Review: Emirates First Class – Chicago (ORD) To Dubai (DXB)
- Hotel Review: Grand Hyatt Dubai (1 Bedroom Grand Suite)
- Awesome Dubai Desert Safari For Shae’s 40th Birthday
- 1 Week In Dubai: Here’s What We Did
- Hotel Review: Ramses Hilton In Cairo, Egypt
- Exploring Babylon Fortress In Old Cairo, Egypt
- Visiting The Pyramids Of Giza In Cairo, Egypt
- Hotel Review: Marriott Mena House In Cairo, Egypt
- 6 Days In Cairo, Egypt – Here’s What We Did
- Our Dead Sea Experience: Floating, Mud & Tequila Shots!
- Hotel Review: Hilton Dead Sea Resort & Spa, Jordan
- 10 Tips For Driving In Jordan
- Visiting Petra In Jordan – One Of The New 7 Wonders Of The World
- Hotel Review: Petra Marriott, Jordan
- 1 Week In Jordan – Here’s What We Did
- Flight Review: Turkish Airlines Business Class – Istanbul (IST) To Chicago (ORD)
- Hotel Review: Hilton Chicago O’Hare Airport, IL
- Spending Breakdown: 3 Weeks In Dubai, Egypt & Jordan – Here’s What It Cost
GringoLoco says
Hope you enjoyed EK first — it’s a points/miles right of passage! You only need the Maldives and Paris Hyatt Vendome to complete THE trifecta!
Happy birthday to Shae…
stephen says
Thanks for the birthday wishes for Shae! The Maldives is the plan for our 20th anniversary in a few years, but not sure if we’ll ever go Vendoming – we’ve been to Paris before and while it’s OK, it wasn’t somewhere we’re rushing to head back to.
D cahill says
WoW what a great Birthday Celebration to 40 for Shae🎉🎁🎈🎈Have fun. Keep us up to date!
stephen says
Thank you!
Lauren says
Wow, this isn’t a destination I expected to read about here! So exciting! Happy birthday to Shae!
stephen says
Thanks!