I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to visit the UAE and Dubai for a very long time. There were some passport challenges up till a few years ago, and then the pandemic hit, but once things opened up a bit, passport issues were resolved, and the UAE decided to welcome tourists again, I stopped by to have a look. I was very lucky that Dubai decided to run the Expo 2020 with a two years in 2022, so I got to taste a bit of the Expo experience. I’ve visited expos before, and it was always a mixed feeling or way too many lines and crowds, yet with some great experiences, and Dubai seemed to address the crowds problem rather well, so it was mostly just wandering around and enjoying the different pavilions. I didn’t pre-schedule the really popular ones, so you could say what I saw were not the absolute best, but still there was something interesting to experience in each of the ones I did visit, even the small ones. Though it does reduce cultures and nations to their touristic stereotypes, and feels like a marketing campaign more than making a statement about unity and global connections, and yet it does give you an idea of how countries want to be perceived and what they aim to communicate.
Here is my one day tour of the Dubai Expo 2020, on 2022…
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