Dubai – Highlights
I recently had the privilege of visiting Dubai for a few days during my trip to Japan. I usually fly KLM through Amsterdam but this time I wanted to go outside of my comfort zone.
This has been a place that I have wanted to visit for so long – but not really sure why…
I felt that as that country, Dubai has been portrayed as a country that has super cars driving down the street with mega rich people partying and spending lots of money on their custom super yachts.
However the reality I experienced was fairly down to earth and in some ways quite humbling.
Let me share my trip with you…
Flying to Dubai
The journey to Dubai was fairly easy, I have some amazing friends who agreed to drive me down to Gatwick. I’ve ended up at the wrong airport previously 
and so thought I should have company – it worked out perfectly, getting to the airport with hours to spare.
Feb 18
Check out Dubai International…. palm trees in the lobby!!
This trip was leg 1 of 3, I had planned to go to Dubai for 3 days, Japan for 8 and Mumbai for 2, but that changed slightly because I am an idiot…
When I arrived in Dubai, I felt excited but also slightly anxious. This was a country I’ve never been to before and I was on my own, at least for this first part…
I don’t get why so many people don’t like Gatwick… I got in, handed my suitcase over and then went to stare at all the duty free items I hoped to buy on the way back. 
My flight was an fairly late flight and so I didn’t have that early morning panic everyone seems to have at the airport.
I had been in touch with my friend Kelli-Marie who lives in Dubai, around 18 months ago, jesting that I may visit. Fast forward to February 2018 and I’m stepping onto the Dubai metro!!
I cannot thank her enough, firstly for putting up with me for 3 days, but also for putting me up and showing me so much in the time I was there.
I arrived at the airport at 9:30am and we had dropped off bags and out sight-seeing by 11:30. First stop of course was this beast of a building!
The Burj Khalifa is over 828 metres (2,716.5 feet) and more than 160 stories, and as Kelli-Marie hadn’t been up the tower in the year she’d lived in Dubai I booked tickets to go up to floor 125/126 for £26.61 each. There is the option to go up higher to the 148th floor but the tickets were around £75 a pop and so I decided against.
We walked around the Dubai Marina checking out the crazy amount of shops that are in that place! We caught sight of the fountains but they weren’t on at the time…
Wandering around in 30 degree heat in February was a great feeling and that slight feeling of anxiety when I arrived was definitely gone. I didn’t feel like a tourist – travelling with a friend who knows the area really helps when going to a new country – I recommend it.
In the evening we popped out with a couple others for a few drinks at Coya at the Four Seasons Resort Hotel. When we pulled up outside the hotel, it really felt like a scene from a Hollywood movie, with the courtyard filled with super cars and well-dressed people. Later on we went to ‘Provocateur’ where I was never without a drink in my hand – the service was amazing! I was later to find out that although I’d spent next to nothing, the table next to us had spent around £20k on champagne and shots!! Different world…
One thing I remember about being in Dubai was how safe I felt when in the bars or clubs. I saw people leaving handbags, phones, keys on the side, go to the bathroom and return to all of their stuff right where they’d left it!!
Feb 19
On my second day – KM had organised for us to go to to Global Village with some of her friends. Now imagine a place that has the landmarks from all over the world, along with the various foods and people dressed in traditional clothes dotted about…Global Village is that place!
We walked around country to country smelling different foods and looking around at the stalls they had – I ended up buying some Aloe Vera scrub gel while in ‘South Africa’. Choosing what to eat for dinner was not easy, we walked around for a good chunk of time before deciding we’d get food from two different countries. The girls also ended up dancing with some stall owners while we waited for some Henna tattooing to be completed.
The taxi ride home must have been one of the most stressful I have ever been in. The driver got lost and we ended up going into a gated ranch area and being in the car for almost an hour longer than necessary. He also tried to keep the meter running in amongst his mistake…the girls were having none of it and we ended up deciding what to pay him when we arrived back home.
Feb 20
We had bit more of a lie-in on day three but then walked around the corner from KM’s apartment towards the beach. I really got to take in some of the buildings along the river when we took a water-taxi down to JBR beach. I then had a few hours to kill before my desert safari booking and so after much deliberation decided to invest in some new swimming shorts(£20), flip-flops(£15) and to hire a towel(£5) and to go and jump in the sea. It was such a good shout – the sea was perfect and I’m so glad I got to experience it.
KM had to pop to work for a few hours but her friend from France I’d met on the first night said that she would join me on a desert safari(£27 each) for the afternoon. When got into a 4×4 in the city and then were driving around 45 minutes out into the desert where we were then given the option to ride quad bikes for £25 so we jumped on that and went crazy for around 30 minutes. IT WAS AMAZING.
Next was the actual desert driving portion of the activity which had me thinking the car could tip at any moment as we race along the tops of sand dunes, barely missing other cars that are zooming around. After around 20 minutes of impressive driving, we were told that we could get out and take photos. My friend Cheyma took full advantage of this time!
After the dune driving and photo taking we were taken to a small camp where we were given the option to ride a camel in the desert. I’d never been on a camel before and so bartered the price from 30AED to 20AED and we had a 7 minute ride on a camel.This was followed by another photo shoot then they had a few performances at the camp followed by food, all inclusive. They had a belly dancer, a fire breather/artist and a Egyptian Tanoura dancer.
We got back to the city and we then popped to a sushi bar, which in hindsight was the weirdest choice – as I would be landing in Japan within the next 12 hours!
To maximise the amount of time left I decided to take a taxi back to the airport which from Dubai Marina cost me 100AED (£20)
I’ve developed a habit of using Trip Advisor a lot when traveling – at times I have walked into a restaurant looked up the review not liked what I’ve read and had to leave…
I use it for finding activities, restaurants, bars.. everything – I recommend it!
How much did things cost?
- Metro Airport to Marina - 10.50AED
- Desert Safari - 129AED
- Quadbikes - 120AED
- Camel Ride - 20AED
- Shorts - 100AED
- Flip-flops - 90AED
- Taxi from JBR to Airport - 100AED
- Fairground ride - 30AED
- Lunch - Kebab - 40AED
- Tea - 10
Would I go again?
Yes.
Well actually… I already have been again… but that’s another story.