We were really lazy the next day and after checking out of the hotel, we had to go to Deira City Center first since the metros start their operation at 1pm on Saturdays. We purchased another day pass. Our agenda for the day was see the Mall of the Emirates, Burj Al Arab and retrieve our bags from the hotel before going to the airport.
From the Gold Souk, we took the metro going to Dubai Mall. It’s quite a walk from the metro station, you would go through at least 10 walkalators. I might be exaggerating but it was really far from the metro.
The Gold souk is a market in Deira with a number of stores selling gold jewelry. You can get there by boat, bus or metro. We went there via metro and stopped at Al Ghubaiba. After exiting the metro. Do turn left opposite of the water. When you see the small Standard Charter bank, turn right. Then you’ll turn left and walk strait and turn right towards the end of it. It’s about a 10 minute walk from the metro stop.
Our flight to Dubai actually arrived really early at around 5am. Since we had a boo boo going to arrivals, it took a while. We went to transfers instead which is a different area altogether. By the time we arrived at the luggage carousel, our luggage were already on the floor. Then we had to exit through immigration and customs, then get our money changed. By the time we went out, it was already past 7 in the morning.
Since we had plenty of time before our trip. My cousin and I decided to include Dubai in our itinerary before going to Europe since it’s on the way anyway and we’ll be stopping over, might as well visit the place. So, we decided to spend 2 days in Dubai before proceeding to Europe. This post is about How to get a Dubai Visa online through Emirates for Philippine passport holders.
We do need a visa for this. There are actually different types of tourist visas and we got the 96 hour transit one since we’ll only be in Dubai for 48 hours. Since we’re flying with Emirates, they have this program where you can actually apply a visa on their behalf. It’s like they will be your sponsor. I don’t know if this works the same way if Dubai will be your only destination. You can only apply 60 days before your trip since the visa will be valid for only 60 days after issue so keep this in mind.