Dubai, Airport

...Emirate, and the remainder (Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al Qaiwain) are known collectively as the Northern States.
The land is mountainous and mostly desert.
Abu Dhabi is the capital of the UAE but many people think that Dubai is the capital or in fact a country.
Dubai is in fact the business capitol of the UAE and Abu Dhabi has been kept as a cultural capital.

Who lives there?
...inhabitants are now 80% British. This is due to tax-free living, hot weather all year round and cost of living, which is very cheap.
Surprisingly, Dubai maintains its culture so you will never see a drunken brit in a pub as alcohol is only sold in hotel bars and restaurants.
The Muslim people do not drink alcohol, or eat pork although you can eat pork in most hotels.
Most of the women will be covered up in long black robes. It ... more

Where is Dubai?
Dubai is an Emirate located in the ‘United Arab Emirates’.
The Emirates are bordered to the north by the Gulf and the Musandam Peninsula, to the east by Oman, to the south and west by Saudi Arabia and to the northwest by Qatar. They comprise a federation of seven small former sheikhdoms (Emirates). Abu Dhabi is the largest Emirate, and the remainder (Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al Qaiwain) are known collectively as the Northern States.
The land is mountainous and mostly desert.
Abu Dhabi is the capital of the UAE but many people think that Dubai is the capital or in fact a country.
Dubai is in fact the business capitol of the UAE and Abu Dhabi has been kept as a cultural capital.

Who lives there?
The UAE nationals are mainly Arab Muslims but Dubai’s inhabitants are now 80% British. This is due to tax-free living, hot weather all year round and cost of living, which is very cheap.
Surprisingly, Dubai maintains its culture so you will never see a drunken brit in a pub as alcohol is only sold in hotel bars and restaurants.
The Muslim people do not drink alcohol, or eat pork although you can eat pork in most hotels.
Most of the women will be covered up in long black robes. It covers up most of their body so you can only see their eyes.
Westerners will be required to cover up a little as a sign of respect but Dubai is very used to westerners so you can get away with shorts and t-shirts.
If you visit cultural cities like Abu Dhabi then you will be required to wear long trousers and long t-shirts with a round neck style (for women).
The Arab men wear long white robes. These do not cover their heads unlike the women.

What’s the currency, language, and health requirement?
The currency is called Dirhams and at present 100 Dirhams is worth approx £15.
The language is Arabic but English is widely spoken. All signs will be written in both languages so there is no barrier.
You will be advised to have a polio jab especially if you are entering rural areas. You will not need to have malaria tablets although it is best to make sure you have had all your hepatitis Jabs. If you are up to date with all your jabs then you may get away without having any medication for the trip.

My visit
Last month I visited Dubai for the first time.
My partner and I were lucky enough to have the opportunity due to the fact that his brother ‘Rob’ has lived near Dubai for nine years.
He moved out of the UK for a number of personal reasons and found a job as an aircraft engineer. He is ex RAF so finding work was easy for him.
Rob lives about 1 hr 30 minutes from Dubai in a town called Al Ain but works in Dubai 5 days a week.
Al Ain is a very quiet area, which acted as a nice retreat away from the busy streets of Dubai.
I visited Dubai many times and stayed in the Dubai Intercontinental Hotel, which is the first hotel to open in Dubai. This is a five star hotel with pool activities, health and beauty spa and over 10 restaurants and bars inside. It is situated in the city centre opposite the creek.
The restaurants inside are some of the best restaurants in Dubai and can be visited by guests not staying in the hotel.
I would recommend the Fish Market because you can chose your fish from a market like setting. You can also choose your vegetables and have it cooked the way you like in whatever sauces you want. I had red snapper is sweat and sour sauce.
This meal was one of the most expensive meals we had and it only came to £60 for the both of us. For the standard I received I thought this was an absolute bargain.
The other restaurants serve Chinese (fantastic meal), Italian, Japanese, Indonesian, Indian, English, Steak and many more different kinds of food. Check out the Intercontinental hotels website for more details.

If it’s a hot day and you don’t fancy walking then taxis are unbelievable cheap.
A 15 minute journey will cost approx £3.
Be a little careful when tipping as tipping can mount up to a large cost. The customer service is so good that you actually want to tip people. Trouble is, is that it gets expensive. Try to stick to a tipping budget. Make sure you understand the currently before you negotiate price.

The weather will be unbearably hot during our summer so it is best to avoid going to Dubai in our summer holiday time.
It is too hot to go out in the afternoon so you will only get half a holiday.
Don’t be fooled by the low priced flights and accommodation during this time. They do it for a reason.
Visit from October to May.

The weather wasn’t too hot for my holiday in March so I decided to walk 30 minutes to the Gold Souk (Gold Shop).
I have never seen so much gold in my life and its all 18 carrot.
If you do want to buy something make sure you do not take the first price they give you. If you tell them that you live in Dubai then they will usually slash the price. The Gold Souk is a great place to go if you want to propose as buying rings here guarantee great quality and fantastic price.

I also went to the Wild Wadi water park.
It costs approx £15 for an all day pass and will be discounted between 16:00 –19:00 hrs. Opening times vary so please visit the Internet site for more information.
This is the best water park I have been to. It has surf machines; log flumes that carry you up the shoot (yes, I did say up) in rubber rings and a very high slide, which will only appeal to people with a death wish.
I would very much recommend a visit on a hot day as it gets a little cold walking around in wet clothes or swimsuits.
The park is situated next to the Burj Al Arab, which is the hotel shaped like a sail and happens to be a 7 star hotel (very expensive).

If all this talk of water parks brings you out in a sweat then try one of the many shopping malls. The Wafi shopping mall is the most expensive in Dubai so I went to the central shopping mall, which was 5 minutes drive from the Intercontinental hotel (the hotel is very much smack bang in the centre of Dubai).
Do not underestimate the shopping malls, as they are huge and very easy to get lost in.
They are all under one roof and open from 10am to 8pm.
The shopping malls in Dubai are very very clean and you can find shops like the ones we have here. Clothes tend to be the same prices as the UK if you go for universally know shops. Smaller shops are worth looking at as they carry the bargains.
If you like chocolate, which I love (hence the name chocolate26) go to Rocky Mountain. It’s dead cheap and tastes fantastic.

Dubai has a creek which runs through it, a bit like the Thames but smaller.
If you want to get to the other side then it is worth taking an Abra.
This costs half a Dirham each, which is virtually nothing in conversion to UK sterling.
It’s worth a ride just for the experience.

The flight time to Dubai airport is 7 hrs and is currently 3 hrs in front of the UK.
I flew with British airways and had a direct flight. The flight cost approx £700 each (return). I flew with BA because they were cheaper than Emirates, which is the UAE’s own airways service. I didn’t enjoy the flight because the food was of poor standard.
My partner’s parents also joined us halfway through the holiday but they flew with Emirates. They really enjoyed their flight as they had more space, better quality of food e.g. a cooked breakfast (BA gave us an egg mayonnaise roll) and games to plan on their screens. This cost them a little more but they flew economy class just like we did.

The duty free is definately worth checking out so keep some money for this.
I bought an MP3 player £20 cheaper than the shops here. Bargain. The airport is really nice in Dubai. Its just like a shopping mall with marbel floor.

I would definitely go back again and I recommend a visit if you haven’t been before already.
Personally I would love to live there so it would be interesting to know if any of you reading this agrees that it would be a good place to live (if you have already visited).

Thanks for reading
 

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