Blogs from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Middle East - page 3

This is a challenging time for everyone. But nothing is as challenging as being trapped in another country...literally. I was planning to fly home for a week at the end of March. I was so convinced I would be there that I extended by a week so I could run the 6X Dunkin' Donut Half Marathon which was finally scheduled for the beginning of April after being talked about for a number of years. As the month of March rolled on I was still convinced I was going. Jen didn't want me to go...she even canceled her own trip, but I was insistent. It took a text from my sister and mother saying they would prefer if I didn't come. So I gave in and canceled my trip. Seeing what was going on in the US, ... read more

As stated in the previous post, we have been to the Emirates several time before so won’t be sharing some of the country’s most iconic feature such as the Jumeirah Palm, the Burj Khalifa or the Burj al Arab. They can be found along with photos in previous journals: https://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-983452.html https://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-983271.html Today we are off to visit the Miracle Gardens. This is somewhere that has been on our ‘to do’ list for a while. As we have woken up to a temperature that is not much more than that of a balmy English summer’s day, we decided to travel a little further afield. The Miracle Gardens is about 18 miles from our hotel.... read more

After hearing so many people rave about their cruising adventures, we decided to pull up the anchor, set the main sail and steer a course for the Far East taking the plunge and booking our first cruise! ?? We'd decided on one around the middle east as it wasn't a destination we were likely to go to independently. Royal Caribbean were recommended to us and it was booked - 7 nights UAE, Qatar & Bahrain. Fast forward to January this year and tensions arounds the middle east were once again heightened. This, of course made us very nervous of our impending trip and the insurance and cruise company were unhelpful as the UK Government hadn't declared it a no go area which meant in their eyes we were all good to go. ?. The holiday had ... read more

Dubaï je n'avais pas pour habitude de revenir sur un voyage que j'avais pu faire avant mes périples d'été, mais exceptionnellement, je vais vous faire partager ce court séjour. Comme j'ai toujours en tête Hawaï, il m'arrive de temps à autre de regarder les temps de vol pour cette pour cette destination. Les années se suivent et les temps de vol ne diminuent pas environ une soixantaine d'heures pour un aller retour. Les escales sont interminables. L'idée m'est venue récemment qu'au lieu de chercher à partir par l'ouest (USA) parcours classique, pourquoi ne pas regarder par l'est via Hong Kong ou Singapour que je ne connais pas et en profiter pour faire une escale un peu plus longue. A voir. C'est au cours de cette première recherche que j'ai vu un bandeau publicitaire pour les vols ... read more

We had a good first night on the ship. It was just strange not to have it rocking as it was still docked in Dubai. After a leisurely breakfast, we had a wander around the ship to familiarize ourselves and get our bearings. This is one really huge ship. It looks like most of the restaurants are at the back and our cabin is nearer the front. Think we may be doing a lot of walking in the next 14 days. We also stopped off for a short presentation on Muscat, Oman in preparation for our visit tomorrow. On walking around we made mental notes of some of the things that we wanted to do or see during our voyage. At 1.30pm we had the muster safety drill. This was done by way of a video. ... read more