Blogs from United Arab Emirates, Middle East - page 173

So we managed to board our plan in Calgary to London Heathrow on Thursday with no liquids (shampoos, gels, toothpaste, bottled water) in our hand luggage due to heightened security measures. It was quite the last mintue reshuffle in order to minimize our hand luggage. Surprisingly there were no line ups in Calgary and our trek had begun. We were retrieved by our uncle and cousins in London and arrived at home to see the rest of our family. Our stopover was only scheduled for 6 hours until we departed to the UAE (Dubai). We knew that flying out of Heathrow the day after this occurence would be some kind of mission. The Emirates check in line took over 1.5 hours and security another hour. There were roughly 600 people ahead of us in line. We ... read more

After a couple of months of taking taxi rides and hoping that with each journey we would make it to our destination alive, Dominic and I bought ourselves a car so that we could leave the city more often and visit the desert and surrounding areas of the UAE. On one of our first road trips we headed East in the direction of Oman. The Hatta Road took us out of the city and into the desert where we spotted camels and random Bedouin villages. Closer to the border the landscape suddenly becomes mountainous, and the drastic change is incredible. ... read more

After 3 weeks in India, we were warmly welcomed by Dubai...and I do mean that literally...temperatures of 45C and higher! Though despite the heat, we were openly ready for clean bathrooms, orderly queues, and haggle-free shopping! You know you are a backpacker when... -You forget what it is like to visit a proper shopping mall. -You get extremely excited to work out at a gym (a largely foreign word to us these days). -Family or friends treating you to a nice, adult-like meal nearly brings a tear to your eye. (Thank you Uncle Talal and Auntie Jenni!) Maybe it was the euphoric feeling of being in the land of the "Palms," and our invitation to cocktail at the world's only 7-star Hotel that prompted us to toss out our backpacker rags and hit the Dubai shopping ... read more

After 8 very intensive weeks of training at Emirates Aviation College, I am now a fully certified Grade II Flight Attendant. Not only was I trained in the importance of proper grooming and how to apply red lipstick, but I can now restrain a passenger, save a life, deliver a baby, respond to a crisis, and of course... serve tea and coffee! I have thoroughly enjoyed learning new skills and practicing old ones, and have been very impressed with the level of responsibility the company places in us. When we are flying we have to be prepared for any situation as ultimately everyone’s safety and comfort is our priority. I graduated on July 19th, along with 80 other new Flight Attendants, most often referred to as 'Cabin Crew'. If you've followed the news over the last ... read more

We got up as early as we could, and once again made it just in time for our free breakfast. We quickly packed our stuff, though my suitcase had got heavier rather than lighter as I had added my newly purchased goods. We left our stuff in the hotel reception, and headed off to the much talked about Gold and Spice Souk’s. We caught an Abra (boat) across to the other side for 1 Dirham. We managed to find our way to the Spice souk. Large sacks of herbs, spices and other goods lined thin walkways made of cobbles. There were a few shops that largely resembled the equivalent of a 1,2,3 dollar store, which contrastingly littered the landscape from the old world charm. We then made our way to the gold souk, thanks to the ... read more