“Work Until You Feel Dubai Is Cheap”

I had heard this line many times.

And honestly, I don’t know whether I completely agreed with it.

I believe in working hard. I believe in building wealth, managing money wisely and creating a life where you can enjoy the things you work for.

But there was one thing I wanted to understand for myself—

Why does Dubai have such a strong association with success, luxury and ambition?

I was still relatively young in my career.

A few people around me had already visited Dubai, and whenever they came back, they would talk about the city, the luxury, the buildings, the lifestyle and the experiences.

I would listen and think:

“Will I ever be able to experience this myself?”

Then one day, instead of wondering about it, I decided to go.

My second international trip

My first international trip had been Malaysia.

Dubai was my second.

18–25 September 2016.

And unlike my first international trip, this time I knew a little more about what travelling abroad felt like.

But that didn’t make the excitement any smaller.

A few days before leaving, I decided to visit my mother in Haridwar.

I wanted to tell her about the trip, share my excitement and spend some time with her before leaving.

Although, honestly, there was another possible benefit.

I might get my dirty clothes washed before I left. 😂

That’s the beauty of going home.

Even when you are an adult, some things never change.

The day of the flight

My flight was around 4 PM on Sunday.

And somehow, I had decided to return from Haridwar that very same morning.

I had travelled overnight by Volvo, reached home around 6–7 AM, slept for a little while and then started preparing for Dubai.

The night before, while travelling in the Volvo, I had actually made a checklist on my phone of everything I needed to pack.

Passport.

Clothes.

Essentials.

Everything.

It sounds like a small thing, but that little list saved me from the classic travel problem—

“I knew I was forgetting something!”

After packing, I headed towards the airport.

By around 1 PM, I was there.

Check-in done.

Baggage done.

Security done.

Then immigration.

The immigration officer kept looking at my face and then at my passport.

Face.

Passport.

Face.

Passport.

For a few seconds, I started wondering what was going on.

Then I realised—

he was simply doing his job and matching my face with my passport photograph. 😄

That was another little travel moment I remember.

And then came Emirates.

I explored Delhi T3 almost from one end to the other.

Had a sandwich at Subway.

Walked around.

Waited.

And finally boarded Emirates EK517.

There was something special about that moment.

Not because it was Emirates.

But because I knew I was about to enter another completely different experience.

A few hours later, I landed in Dubai.

And suddenly, I was standing in a place I had only heard people talk about.

Dubai at night

After checking into the hotel and having dinner, we went out for a walk.

We were around the Burj Khalifa area.

It was late.

Around 10 PM.

But the place was still full of people.

Tourists.

Locals.

Families.

Friends.

Everyone walking around, taking pictures, talking, enjoying the evening.

Eventually, we went into Dubai Mall.

It was close to midnight, but the energy was still there.

I remember looking around and thinking—

“I am actually here.”

Sometimes a place feels different when you’ve spent years only seeing it through other people’s stories.

You have heard about it.

You have seen pictures.

You have watched videos.

And then suddenly, your own feet are standing there.

That’s a strange feeling.

The Dubai Metro

One of the first practical lessons Dubai gave me was that travelling doesn’t always have to mean spending more.

Initially, the taxi fares felt expensive to me.

So I started looking at the Metro.

And honestly, the Metro itself became part of the experience.

Clean stations.

Clear signs.

People from different nationalities.

Different languages around you.

A completely different city moving around you.

I wasn’t just using it to get from one place to another.

I was watching the city.

And sometimes, when you’re travelling, that’s the best part.

You sit quietly and watch a place reveal itself.

Dubai Mall and the feeling of abundance

Dubai Mall was another experience.

Coming from where I did, walking through a place like that felt overwhelming.

There were brands, people, restaurants and things I had never seen together in one place.

But what stayed with me wasn’t any particular shop.

It was the feeling.

The feeling of being somewhere where everything seemed possible.

Not necessarily affordable.

Not necessarily meant for me.

But possible.

And that difference mattered.

Because sometimes seeing something beyond your current reach doesn’t make you feel small.

Sometimes it makes you think—

“Maybe one day.”

And then came the Desert Safari.

This was probably one of the experiences I was most excited about.

The Land Cruiser.

The sand dunes.

The sudden climbs.

The drops.

That feeling in your stomach when the vehicle goes down a steep dune.

For those few minutes, there was no work.

No career.

No money calculations.

No future planning.

Just the ride.

And then came the evening.

Food.

Music.

Performances.

People from different parts of the world sitting together and enjoying the same evening.

It was one of those experiences where you stop checking the time.

You simply live it.

Burj Khalifa

And then there was the one thing I had seen in photographs for years.

Burj Khalifa.

I had expected it to be impressive.

But seeing it in person was different.

Especially in the evening.

Standing around the fountains and looking up at that massive structure, I remember not wanting to leave.

Interestingly, I enjoyed the experience of seeing it from the ground even more than going up.

From down there, it didn’t just look like a tall building.

It looked like a reminder.

A reminder of what human beings can imagine and then actually build.

And perhaps that’s what stayed with me.

Not the height.

The possibility.

Burj Al Arab

Then there was the Burj Al Arab.

I had seen photographs of it before travelling.

But again, seeing something with your own eyes is different.

You realise how much of travel is not about collecting photographs.

It’s about collecting feelings.

You may forget exactly what you wore that day.

You may forget what you ate.

But you remember standing there and thinking,

“Wow. I’m actually seeing this.”

What Dubai really gave me

When I came to Dubai, I thought I was going there to understand the famous quote:

“Work until you feel Dubai is cheap.”

But I came back thinking about something slightly different.

I don’t think the real goal should be to make Dubai cheap.

The goal should be to build a life where you can experience the world without constantly being afraid of whether you deserve to be there.

At that stage of my life, Dubai wasn’t cheap for me.

And that was okay.

I didn’t need it to be.

I just needed to experience it.

To see something bigger.

To step outside my usual surroundings.

To understand what was possible.

And perhaps to come back with a little more hunger to build the life I wanted.

Some trips stay with you differently.

Malaysia was my first international trip.

Dubai was different.

It felt like a glimpse into a world I had heard about but never experienced.

And somewhere between the Metro rides, late-night walks, desert dunes, city lights and standing beneath the Burj Khalifa, I realised something:

Travel doesn’t always change your life.

Sometimes it simply changes the size of your world.

And once your world becomes bigger, your dreams often become bigger with it.

I went to Dubai thinking I was going to explore a city.

I came back with a little more belief in what might be possible.

Maybe that’s what I was really looking for.