THE RENAISSANCE NAVIGATOR

"For one year of my life, I worked as a Renaissance Navigator."

This chapter of my story all began when I impulsively signed a two-year employment contract to move to Dubai without really knowing what I was signing myself up for.

As a continuation of the 'All Roads Lead to Dubai' story. That night after I met Yomi at the bar, the entire trajectory of my future changed. The following day, we met for coffee on his way to the airport, whereby he showed me a PowerPoint presentation about joining a hotel pre-opening project in Dubai's Downtown Business Bay for a hotel called 'Renaissance'. A symbolic name for a symbolic phase of my life; 'a cultural re-birth' and a journey towards enlightenment. The opportunity was perfect. The passion was aligned, and the energy was in sync. However, there was only one problem.

"Yomi, I don't want to be a bartender anymore. I want to do something greater than that. I want to try a new challenge." I bluntly stated.

"Hmm...I see." He hesitated, trying to think of an alternative.

"Well, why don't you join Renaissance and work as a Navigator? That way you will be working directly with me." He proposed the offer, but I was utterly confused. What on earth was a Navigator? At first I thought maybe sailing a ship, but in a 5-star hotel? Can't be.

"Okay what does this position entail exactly?" I was officially intrigued, this proposal caught my attention and I was curious to find out more.

"A Navigator, is the Renaissance brand's terminology to describe a 'lifestyle concierge'. Meaning, that instead of recommending the conventional tourist spots, your job would require you to become a local insider of the city and plan people's vacations in Dubai to make them as authentic as possible. You would have to navigate their experience by only recommending unique hidden gems that no one else would find." He began to explain.

"Yomi..." I smiled, trying to fathom the idea. It was in that moment, I knew I had found my mentor. Someone I looked up to and admired for believing in me and my determination to pursue my passion.

"Say less." I stated.

Within a week, the contract was signed and the paperwork was well underway. My visa to UAE was secured, flight ticket booked, accommodation entirely paid for by the company. Now all that was left, was to tell my parents. Oops.

"You are moving to Dubai because some guy at a bar offered you a job? Are you crazy! What if you get kidnapped?" Was my mom's initial reaction. After a long and hard conversation, I think she finally understood that my mind was set and that nothing she could say or do would have changed my mind. My heart was invested in the decision I had made. The discussion with my parents before my move taught me a lot about myself. That once my mind is set on something, nothing can stand in my way to see that decision through.

A month later, I arrived at Cape Town International Airport on the 07.07.2017. That date was symbolic to me because it represented the lottery ticket that changed my life as I was about to embark on an all-expense paid for trip to Dubai.

As an Israeli, it was my first time flying with Emirates. At the time, Israeli passport holders were strictly banned from entering the UAE. Luckily, I used my South African passport to bypass this rule. My seat number was 47K, as I sat down I recall gazing up at the aisle ceiling of the aircraft which was covered in small dotted twinkle lights. Through blurry eyes, it resembled small stars in the galaxy. My eyes dozed off and my soul could feel that the universe had my back.

The following morning, I instinctively opened my eyes opened from the loud thud of the airplane wheels hitting the runway. Eleven hours later, I officially landed in Dubai. I had zero expectations as to what I was going to encounter once I arrived. All I knew was that some guy named Mohammed was going to wait for me at the arrivals terminal with my name on a whiteboard.

Anxiously, I made my way through the terminal, trying to scan the crowd for a man I knew nothing about. After a while, I found my name, spelt entirely wrong. Nevertheless it was a sigh of relief. Mohammed greeted me and helped me carry my suitcase as we made our way towards his car. As we exited through the terminal, a gust of humidity hit my face and I felt as though I had just stepped into a real-life sauna. At first, I struggled to breathe, I had to inhale deep slow breaths through my mouth. I immediately shed every layer of clothing I had on but the sweat just kept seeping through. I hastily paced behind Mohammed trying to reach his car as soon as possible to escape the heat. Then I heard him jingle his keys as we stopped in front of an old beaten-up white van.

Suddenly, the reality of my mom’s persistent warnings about this whole move to Dubai being a potential scam, kicked in. I’ve seen the movie Taken and I know that white vans are often red flags for potential kidnapping scenarios. Holy shit, what if my mom was right? I began to panic. I had no cell-phone service, no Wi-Fi, and now I was fully at the mercy of trusting Mohammed, a man I had never met.

I took a deep breath, gathered my thoughts and encouraged myself. “You have already come this far, just have a little faith. Everything will be okay.”

Audaciously, I stepped inside his sketchy white van, and I could feel every blood cell in my body tingling with adrenaline. Now it began to feel like a real adventure. Overcoming the fear of diving into the unknown by simply trusting my intuition that this was going to lead towards something great. As Mohammed began the drive, I noticed him exit onto the Sheikh-Mohammed highway. As I gazed out of the window, I gasped in complete awe. There it was. The building I dreamt about that night I met Yomi at the bar. The Burj Khalifa.

Boldly, standing firm amongst the vast horizon of endless skyscrapers. It was just like I had imagined it; mesmerizing and majestic. Surrounding the Burj was a grey misty fog covering the skyline of the city.

“There is a sandstorm approaching.” Mohammed remarked, while glancing at my reflection through the review mirror.

Although, I knew that the real sandstorm resided inside my heart.

An hour later, Mohammed parked his car outside of a complex building.

“Is this the Renaissance Hotel?” I asked hesitantly. This certainly did not look like the pictures from Yomi’s PowerPoint presentation during my job interview.

“No, this is DIP. Your new accommodation.” Mohammed said as he helped me with my luggage. DIP? What an odd little place…I thought to myself.

I walked inside the lobby of my new residential complex building, when a friendly security guard from Pakistan beamed up at me.

“South Africa, right?” he smiled, while handing me a document to sign.

“Yes.” I nodded back, unsure of where to go next. He helped guide me towards the fifth floor of what would be my new apartment.

I knocked on the door, uncertain of what or who to expect to be one the other side. All I knew was that I was about to meet my flat mate for the first time.

The biggest sigh of relief when a sweet girl with a South African accent opened the door.

“Hi, I’m Marcie. Your new roommate.” Finally, I felt at home.

I was pretty grateful I ended up living with Marcie, not only because she worked directly with the HR department of Renaissance, but also because she helped me a lot to settle in during my move. I will never forget, in the first five days of arriving in Dubai I had no SIM card. I could only text my family through Marcie’s cellphone to tell them I was okay. Then she told me that I can try find a SIM card at the Carrefour supermarket across the street from our apartment building. Little did I know, that when she said ‘across the street’ she actually meant going on an actual trek through the desert in scorching 45 degrees heat, with no pedestrian sidewalk and needing to jump across the highway while dodging multiple cars. What the fuck. I was actually living in the middle of no-where in the desert. DIP was a little residential community for expats who had moved to Dubai for work, primarily for the major hotel brands such as Marriott International. The only things found in that quaint little neighborhood were; a mosque, a carrefour, a room with some gym equipment and a bus station. This was perhaps the complete opposite of the Dubai glitz and glamour I had initially imagined. Nevertheless, I embraced the journey.

I will never forget my first day starting my new job at Renaissance. We all had to catch the 6am bus to the corporate offices to meet our front-office team for the first time. As I waited at the bus station, I coincidentally met my future co-worker and supervisor, Cleatus George. The friendliest person I had ever met from Kerala, India. We sat next to each other the entire bus ride there and clicked instantly.

Cleatus began telling me about his intriguing life story, and mentioned to me that he works for an association called Les Clefs d'Or - translated as 'the Golden Keys', this prestige group of concierge can be found in all luxury hotels around the world. It just so happened that Cleatus, my new supervisor, was the Vice President of Les Clefs d'Or in UAE. Cleatus became my ultimate guide to the city, as with one phone call to Les Clefs d'Or he had the power to unlock any door your heart desired to experience in Dubai.

Once we arrived at the corporate offices, we were introduced to our new front-office manager, Laura Salles. Probably the youngest female, front office manager of a luxury hotel I had ever met. Her work ethic was admirable and inspiring. She was Brazilian and could light up an entire room with her smile. She was our leader during the staff training and uplifted the team morale through-out the entire pre-opening project.

Every department of the hotel had their own little section at the corporate offices. We were stationed there for the first two and a half months until the hotel renovations were complete, with approximately five hundred employees awaiting to start their new experience at Renaissance. I followed Cleatus around for the day, as he showed me around and introduced me to my second co-worker, a Serbian guy named Milos. I quickly realized that I would be the only girl on the concierge team.

During our induction, Cleatus began to explain to us what were the core values are of being a Renaissance Navigator.

“Our job is to lead guests to discover the most authentic and unique hidden gems Dubai has to offer. To do that, we first need to understand what classifies a ‘hidden gem’. There are five basic principles and guidelines that distinguish a discovery to be ‘authentically unique’. These five pillars are: in-the-know, craft, proudly independent, have a backstory, and one unique thing.” Cleatus handed to us a physical handbook explaining each of these pillars in-depth. “You will live and breathe these values, by incorporating them into everything we do. Every recommendation we give to our guests has to encompass all five of these qualities.”

The Navigator Guidelines

1. In-the-know: The discovery should not be something which everyone has heard about. It’s not something which is listed in all the tourist guides. It should be something which attracts locals, is an ‘in the know’ place of activity and not heavily publicized.

2. Craft: The discovery should embody craft skills and artisanship. Social Discoverers want to feel that something is made and delivered by a human being, with care and integrity. This can be local craft beers, food from an interesting local Deli, or perhaps a boutique clothing retailer who makes their own clothes.

3. Proudly independent: Social Discoverers try to avoid packaged, cookie cutter experiences of big chains and global brands. The discovery must never be part of a big global chain. It should offer something with a unique perspective, something that can’t or isn’t provided by a big brand, a unique take or approach to an experience, design, food, beverage etc.

4. Have a Backstory: if we are recommending something it needs to prove it has a reason for being, a story, and has come from the neighborhood. This can be about the founder, the building, myths, legends and ingredients. Ultimately, a backstory qualifies a discovery as authentically local.

5. One Unique Thing: A discovery must have a signature offering or distinguishing quality that is truly interesting or different. You could recommend many great restaurants, but what’s the one ‘can’t miss’ thing to experience? Perhaps it’s a signature item on a menu, a famous painting in a bar, a strange food and beverage pairing, a chance to make something or take something home.

Later that day, Cleatus and the team took us to see the hotel in real life. The Renaissance was located in the heart of Downtown, Business Bay and it had twenty-seven floors, which at the time were still in its early phases of renovations. Laura gave us a tour, demonstrating what the rooms would eventually look like. We then entered the deconstructed lobby space, at the time the only thing present were grand marble floors and a magnificent chandelier in the shape of sand dunes. Cleatus showed us where our Navigator desk would be, located on the side of the lobby. To my surprise, the Navigator desk was designed as a high wooden bar-style counter top with a direct street view facing the Burj Khalifa. He explained to us that Renaissance would have four different restaurant concepts; Bhar (middle Eastern cuisine), Bleu Blanc (French Cuisine), Basta (Italian) and Morimoto (Japanese). Two of which were conceptually developed by world-renowned celebrity chef David Meyers, and the restaurant of Morimoto was designed by none other than Chef Masaharu Morimoto from Nobu Malibu himself. To top things off, there was even a secret speakeasy bar inside the hotel, hidden behind a secret portal disguised by a wooden wall above the staircase of Basta. At the end of the tour, Cleatus took us to the twenty-fourth floor to glance at the skyline views of the city. Of course, the first person I saw as I exit the elevator was Yomi, wearing a bob-the-builder construction hat.That was the moment I knew, the decision I made to trust Yomi at the bar that night to move to Dubai was all worth it.

For the first two and half months, the Renaissance Hotel was going through its final stages of renovation. Which meant that for those two and a half months, the Navigator team technically did not have to start working yet. Instead, Yomi decided that he wanted us to take this time to fully experience Dubai, so that by the time the hotel opened, we would have enough local insights and recommendations to give to our guest. That was when Cleatus, Milos and I began our project to develop the Navigator App; an official guide list of exclusive hidden gems scattered around the city. The list was divided into the four categories of; sip, taste, see, and do. Each of us were responsible for a different segment of the app. Of course, I chose ‘taste’ because of my love for food. Milos chose ‘sip’ because he was a professional Serbian drinker, and Cleatus chose ‘see & do’ due to his extensive background knowledge from working with Les Clefs d'Or. For the next two and a half months, my job title changed from Navigator to being a Food Critique in Dubai. My job was to wake up every morning, read magazine articles, lifestyle blogs and research on social media where to find the best local hidden gems in Dubai. Then after curating a list, we would go on an expedition together as a team to ‘test out’ these places and write a review for the Navigator app. One of my favorite experiences was when Yomi gave our team the company credit card and Cleatus took us to Roberto’s, a fine-dining Italian restaurant in DIFC, to ‘write a review’ about our dinner experience. I can confidentially admit that I gained five kilos during time period as a food critique, but I honestly did not care, I was living my dreams.

Once the hotel officially opened, my experiences in Dubai became even more fast-paced and exhilarating. From arranging private helicopter tours to the Burj Al Arab, to planning Gwen Stefani’s private desert safari experience, organizing Rolls Royce chauffers for the Nigerian royal family, to booking G-Eazy’s dinner reservation at Nusr-Et, the extreme Dubai lifestyle started to become the norm. However, irrespective of the type of guest I was serving, one valuable life lesson being a Renaissance Navigator has taught me is that every human-being at their core craves authenticity. Through this job, I discovered my passion for gifting people unique one-of-a-kind experiences, that cannot be replicated anyplace else.

“In every town and city, there are people who live lives less ordinary. The artist who sees the world in a new way, the entrepreneur striving to realize his idea, or the bar that brews its own beer the way it thinks it should be done. People make a neighborhood and people are anything but ordinary... people give a neighborhood its soul. If only for a fleeting moment, extraordinary experiences are to be found even in the most ordinary of places.”

This quote was written on the front page of the Navigator handbook, which led me to realize after a year of working in Dubai that often times authentic experiences do not require an abundance of wealth or money. Authenticity can even be found in the most ordinary of places, as long as there is a soulful story to be told behind how the experience came to be.