Dubai

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I know I gave up after about 3 entries on the last trip but seeing as I have my own laptop with me this time I’m going to try and start writing this blog again! I’m not moving around as much this time as I’m going to be living in Australia so the entries might not be that frequent (as I doubt nobody wants to read about me going to and from work! ) but I’ll try and write on it every now and again so here goes….



To be perfectly honest the trip didn’t get off to the greatest start, we decided we had time have a drink at the bar in Manchester airport – turns out we didn’t! We had to sprint from the bar to the gate as they suddenly put out a final boarding call (I swear they used to give you loads more warning than this!) luckily we made it just as the gate was closing! We then got stuck in the longest line ever at Dubai airport, whilst all the other lines moved really quickly our customs guy seemed to take pleasure in taking forever! (Why do I always end up in this que?!)

We were knackered when we got to our hotel so pretty much went straight to bed so we could get up early and have a good look round the next day. We set off nice and early after collecting a map from reception, we thought we would try and walk to a few places as they didn’t look too far on the map….oh how deceiving it was! We ended up getting lost and doing a big loop on ourselves and ending up right back near our hotel! After this we gave in on the walking idea and got a bus to Dubai Mall to have a quick look around and see the worlds tallest building. I’d love to be able to say I was overwhelmed by its size and that I had never seen such a piece of architectural brilliance……sadly I was a little disappointed! It was quite big I suppose but that’s only because they seem to have put a massive spiky bit on the top! It was quite thin so maybe if it was a bit chunkier it would look more impressive…… Or maybe I’m just being fussy! To be fair when we saw it from another angle the next day it looked a lot more impressive.

Next we thought we'd go to the Palm and have a look round and find out how much the water park is as we wanted to go at some point. We got off at the closest Metro stop and thought oh it looks quite close on the map we can walk from here….oh how wrong we were! After walking around aimlessly for a while we asked for directions and somebody told us we could get a monorail to it so we followed their rather odd directions - which led us down the side of a road and through a building site! Once we got to the end of that another man directed us even further into a building site at which point we looked up and saw an unfinished building of what we could only assume would eventually become a monorail station once it was completed!! Not to be defeated we continued plodding on through the building site thinking we’d come across a sign post pointing us in the right direction at some point! We eventually had to clamber up some steps and over a barrier to get back onto the main road where we decided to ask a local guard for directions. Rather strangely he didn’t seem to know where The Palm was and looked at us blankly even after we showed him a picture and a map. I thought this was meant to be one of the things Dubai was famous for?!

After wondering around aimlessly for ages we gave in and headed back only to get off the bus at the wrong bus station (after being told to by the driver!) We then got on another bus only to realize it was going in the wrong direction so we had to get off in the middle of the road! We finally got back to the hotel and decided to crack open the wine we’d took with us off the plane and pray that tomorrow was better!



We got up at the crack of dawn the next day to go up the Burj Khalifa (worlds tallest building) in time for the sun rise. Unfortunately you’re not allowed right up to the top but was still a good view of Dubai and was nice to see the sunrise. After spending so long getting lost yesterday we decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing on Jumeriah beach park where we were relieved to find you can wear normal swimwear and don’t have to cover up! We were pretty boring the next day as well and this time went to Mamzar beach park to have a sunbathe and a swim. We also decided in honor of everyone back home suffering with all the snow we would build a sandman (not to rub it in or anything, hehe!)

For our last day in Dubai we were treating ourselves and going to the Aqua adventure water park which is in the Atlantis hotel right at the end of the Palm. Once we got there we found out you could also book to do a dolphin encounter and as we had a bit of spare cash left over thought it would have been rude not to and I’m so glad we did! It was amazing, definitely the best part of the trip so far. After a brief orientation where we got told not to touch the dolphins privates (I mean who would anyway?!) we were allowed to play in the water with them for 30 minutes. We got to stroke, hold, hug, kiss and dance with them! Our dolphin Lennox was definitely the best one there and both me and Rachel wanted to try and sneak him to Australia with us. Once our 30 minutes was up we headed to the water slides so I could lose my water park virginity! I’d like to say I was very calm and collected but I was running around like an excited hyperactive child! The slides weren’t really that scary but they were lots of fun. There was one really scary one called leap of faith which was basically just a huge vertical drop but me and Rachel were too chicken to go on it. The last one we went on was the fastest and definitely the most fun – perhaps a bit too much fun as once it was finished I was casually lying in my rubber ring and looked down to see both of my boobs had popped out!!Was absolutely mortified and quickly readjusted my bikini before I got arrested!! After that we decided we'd had enough water park fun for one day and headed back towards our hotel (but not before seeing that the monorail did actualy exist after all!!)

I’m currently sat in the hotel lobby writing this whilst waiting around until it’s time to go to the airport as our flight isn’t until 3am 😞 Overall Dubai has been nice but I’m not sure I would bother coming here again (unless I was really really rich!) I’m looking forward to getting to Melbourne now and hopefully finding a job *fingers crossed everyone*

I hope everyone back home is ok and miss you all loads! Speak soon xxxxx

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Comments

[Mandy Coyne]

Bea, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this blog. It makes you seem a little closer. Glad you have been having fun . Keep us posted with pics and blogs. Look forwarded to reading more in the coming weeks....... and months......xxxxxxxxxx Enjoy the experiences, stay safe, xxxxx