We had planned to have breakfast in Marina Bay Sands, but looks like this was destined not to happen. We had to leave the hotel before 9.00am to stand a reasonable chance of enjoying this. But when we got up at 7.00am and looked out of the window, it was raining really heavily. This did not stop till about 8.30am. We really do love tropical rain. We then decided we would head to Marina Bay Sands anyway and perhaps catch a coffee in their sky restaurant. Unfortunately, we got the metro stops confused and ended up a couple of miles away. We were unable to work out how to get back using the metro, so decided to walk instead. This took us through the gardens by the bay which was really interesting. We eventually arrived at ... read more

When we started planning this trip, we were not aware how much there was to do in Dubai, both culturally and touristic. Because of this, we did not allow many days here and consequently, did not get to see everything that we wanted to. This is definitely a place we will be returning to. Dubai is a city of two halves. One half, nearer to the airport, is more local with the cheaper hotels and the souks. The other half, nearer to the marina is more touristic and business orientated. Both halves are nice and have their own attraction and characters. Dubai does not have to be expensive. If you venture away from the big hotels you can find some vey reasonably priced shops and restaurants. The Entertainer book helped us greatly whilst we were in ... read more

We were supposed to be having an early start today, but having only having had a few hours sleep each, we cancelled our boat ride, and had a small lay in instead. On our way out of the hotel, we spoke with the girl on reception about the noise last night. Straight away she agreed to move us to another room which would be a business class room with complimentary access to the business lounge with free drinks and snacks included. She also agreed to provide us with a complementary lift to the airport for tomorrow morning. This was good for a ‘starter’ for our complaint. Then another lady joined the receptionist and took our details. Although we are happy with the extras offered so far, this has derailed our holiday plans a little, as today ... read more

When we were booking this trip, we had no idea what there was to do in Abu Dhabi. We were only going there to see Theresa´s sister. Once we had booked the flights and started looking into what to do, we realised that we did not have enough time here. Consequently, we tried to cover the more popular places during this trip with the knowledge that we will probably be making a return visit within the next couple of years and can spend more time here then. Most of our time during this visit was in the 4 and 5 star hotels around the city. We did not get a chance to see the older parts or any of the waterfront. We are very much looking forward to our next visit which will be longer giving ... read more

After our slight rearrangement last night, we are off to Marina Mall this morning. Not too worried about the actual mall, but they have a sky tower above it that have some great views over Abu Dhabi. Mick suggested we should have a coffee here. When we looked at all the great cakes on offer, we each ordered piece of chocolate fudge cake each – bad mistake. The café rotates very slowly, so we took regular photos. Once we had finished our drinks and cakes, we walked the rest of the way around to get the complete set of photos. We had a 2pm booking at the 5* Emirates Palace next door to the mall for a very lavish afternoon tea. We drove to there about 1pm so that we had plenty of time to get ... read more