Blogs from United Arab Emirates, Middle East - page 15

Greetings friends. These are the tales of my adventures. After a lovely meal with my parents and Jamie, we set off for departures, my mum had a tear in her eye which was very sweet. It reminded me of all those years ago when I left home, except I think back then she was happy to get rid of me. We walked into the airport with backpacks on, heading away from the usual Virgin check-in desk to America which was weird. I wouldn't say it's conventional backpacking. Straighteners and every kind of conditioner have been packed. I brought a torch in case shit really goes down. I boarded the Emirates airlines which is fantastic. The Airbus has loads of space, excellent entertainment and was inexpensive. They also offer live TV so I was fortunate enough to ... read more

Geo: 24.4667, 54.3667... read more

Hello my fellow travellers! Today I started by going to the Al Bastakiya, an historical area built around the mid 19th century, that contains the oldest buildings in Dubai. The area spans some 31,000 square metres and is free of charge. It's a very lovely area to walk around in and just enjoy the atmosphere, it's filled with museums and cultural sites of various artistry and it's all free of charge which is really great. There is also a piece of the walls of old Dubai remaining inside the district. A really beautiful feature here is the barajeel, tall wind towers that stretch up into the sky which really elevates the feelings of being in the old orient. This area was actually scheduled to be demolished in 1980 and much of it was demolished and the ... read more

Die Ölstaaten – eine Kreuzfahrt soll es sein. Mit 86 Jahren möchte Opa noch einmal was erleben. Kann man ihn da alleine fahren lassen? Der schnellste und rüstigste ist er nicht mehr – kurzentschlossen fahren wir gemeinsam – man weiß ja nie, wie viel Zeit man noch zusammen hier auf Erden hat. Die letzten Tage vor dem Abflug sind von Aufregung geprägt. Jeden Tag kommen die Fragen, wann es denn losgeht, wo der Pass ist, ob die Visa schon beantragt sind und ob der Transfer organisiert ist. Alles im Lot lautet jeden Tag mit einem Schmunzeln im Mundwinkel die Antwort. So viel Aufregung – und das, wo es doch nicht die erste Kreuzfahrt für ihn ist. Aber für mich. Eigentlich ist das überhaupt nicht meine Art zu reisen. Jeden Tag auf einem Schiff, kurze Ausflüge an ... read more

Arrived at Dubai after a 7 1/2 hour flight, having fallen asleep during Ghostbusters, watched Fear the walking dead and having eaten a fab meal. Despite a delay in taking off the Captain - who announed he was the best! was true to his word and got us there on time, good man. I have now discovered the advatage of being fat and not so young, it means the security guards are not interested in rifling through your suitcases! My knickers clearly do not have the same appeal for them as the sylph like young women who were being selected, we were ignored and got out quick. I had forgotten about the crazy taxi queuing and allocation system but soon remembered and some howwe ended up in a car and on our way. We checked into ... read more