Airline passenger news and views

The thing about Dubai is that it is hard to fully appreciate it when visiting it by foot or vehicle. Dubai's vision is to trespass the impossible, build the unimaginable and break away from the human scale. The highest, the biggest, the largest and the first are all attributes that can be found in this city of superlatives. It was thus never made to be visited walking or driving. It was made for flying. In fact, helicopter tours, operating daily, have become very common for both tourists and residents.

The Palm Jumairah, a 4.9 million cubic feet man-made island cluster shaped as a gigantic palm tree, is simply impossible to see from the ground and is just the smallest of Dubai's three Palm Islands sisters. Next, Burj al-Arab or, the Tower of Arabs - a 1,053 feet tall seven star hotel shaped as the sail of a Dhow, an Arabian vessel, is the world's second tallest hotel and much more majestic when seen from the peak of its sail. The World Islands, an artificial archipelago forming the world's map, with each of its island ranging between 250 to 900 thousand square feet and with 164 to 328 feet of water between each island, are of course one of the helicopter tour's highlights. In fact, traveling in between those islands and between the whole cluster and the mainland is only possible by boat, or by air.

Moving away from the beach and into the city's heart, the zenith of the trip is flying around the 2,717 feet tall Burj Khalifa - the tower of Khalifa, bearing the name of the UAE's president and by far the highest tower in the world. Coming face to face with the skyscraper's tip, there is nothing more that can reinforce the instant feeling of tininess. Thus, what defines Dubai is its unprecedented visually grandiose character, designed to create feelings of awe and fascination. Soon, other breathtaking buildings will be added to the collection of superlatives, including Dubai's moving building: the skyscraper that rotates to offer a 360 degree view for its inhabitants, restlessly pushing the boundaries of engineering.