Whenever I travel I like to read things about the place. I don’t mean travel guides or lists of 10 things you should do. I mean writing written by writers that gives a taste of the place, an evocation, an angle. Not many writers have written about Dubai, since Dubai is younger than most writers, but I did find an essay by George Saunders.
George was a guest at the Burj Al Arab, then the tallest hotel in the world but nowadays only fourth, two of the other three also being in Dubai. The Burj is still the most famous, though. It’s the one you see in every shot of Dubai, the one shaped like a yacht in full sail, with a helipad where Roger Federer and Andre Agassi once…
