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Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai May 3rd 2019

Today is our last full day on land in Dubai. Tomorrow, we board the cruise on Spectrum of the Seas. Theresa has been affected the last couple of days by the amount of sand in the air. To try to stop this progressing into something worse, she went looking for something to help it this morning. She could not locate a chemist, but found the supermarket and got some throat lozenges. That should help. Whilst she was there, she also stocked up on some extra supplies that we shall need whilst we are on the cruise. We have a booking at the Salt and Pepper restaurant in the local Al Bandar Rotana & Arjaan by Rotana Hotel for Friday brunch. Not been here before so have no idea what to expect. This is another buy one ... read more
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Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai May 2nd 2019

We decided on an adhoc day for today, as we were waning slightly from always running around. We walked the couple of kilometres from our hotel along the creek to the souks. It was interesting seeing all the different dinner boats parked up. Later along the creek were all the shipping dhows. These are wooden boats used to ship supplies to places like India. They will ship everything by this method. We saw air conditioning units, fridges and freezers, tyres, cans on juice and fabric on our short walk past their boats. On our last visit to the souks we were a bit overwhelmed by people always trying to sell us items. It was no different today. A very hard sell which is off putting but bartering paradise if you have the required techniques. We did ... read more
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Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai May 1st 2019

When we were planning our days in Dubai, we did not originally include Miracle Garden as we believed that it would be closed for the summer by the time that we got here. Last night, we were talking to some people that will be on the same cruise as us and they confirmed that it was still open. A quick check of their Facebook page confirmed this. Miracle Garden is not near anything else, so to get there we got the metro to Mall of the Emirates and then a bus from there. Unfortunately, the bus to Miracle Garden had already stopped today for the summer, so there was a lot of confusion as to the best way to get there. It is quite a distance from the Mall so we were keen to get a ... read more
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Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai April 30th 2019

First stop today is to the Dubai Frame. Again, the metro does not go too near, so we had a ten minute walk. George needed to use the bathroom and we learnt from our visit to the coffee shop on Saturday that most of them do not provide this facility. We did pass a mosque though and they were more than happy to help. Another truly unusual experience. The Dubai frame was built between old Dubai and new Dubai and inside has areas to show off the past and the future. A very worthwhile place to visit. Once at the top, a section of the floor is made of glass, so you can see back down to ground level. We got strict instructions though not to sit or lie on it. Walking across it is permitted. ... read more
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Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai April 29th 2019

George is feeling a little under the weather this morning. All the walking is taking its toll. Sometimes, sciatica is unpleasant. After a slow start, we took the metro to Mall of the Emirates. We always like this Mall. One of the entertainer vouchers that we have kept looking at was the Krispy Kreme box of 20 small donuts. Every time we enquire, they do not have the small ones. As we took the escalator from the metro we spotted a Krispy Kreme shop with a huge display of the small donuts so grabbed the offer. Then it dawned on us. This was buy one box and get one free. So 40 small donuts. That will do nicely for breakfast for a few days. Next stop was Shamiana our favourite curry venue. We had already used ... read more
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Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai April 28th 2019

As the Glow Garden does not open until 4.00pm, we took the opportunity to spend some time to relax by the pool. It is not a large area, but being on the roof, all areas receive excellent sun. The water in the pool was so still cold though. Think we will stay out of it next time. It was nice to have a little rest as we have been on the go since we left home on 18th April. The nearest metro station is about 15 minute walk from the Glow Garden. Unfortunately, we thought we saw a short cut and ended up walking around a company car park for a few minutes trying to get out. Once on the right road, by the time we got there they had just opened. We realised we had ... read more
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Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai April 27th 2019

Today, we have a booking for lunch on board the QE2. Last time we were in Dubai they were still renovating it, so it will be nice to see what they have done. This is another buy one get one free deal from The Entertainer. Looking at the suggested route, it does not look straightforward to get there, but we persevered. This was prudent. We got the metro to the other side of the creek to the main bus station. Here we stopped in a local café. Two coffees cost us £1. Then, we got on a bus which drove straight past the QE2 and just kept going. The first bus stop was a long way further on. The walk back to the ship was about a mile through the port, but it gave us a ... read more
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Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai April 26th 2019

In Dubai the weekend is Friday and Saturday. The traditional thing to do on Friday is a Brunch. You can not go to Dubai without doing one. An excellent opportunity to embrace the various cultures. Today's brunch is at the Crowne Plaza in Deira in their restaurant called Spice Island. The first ever brunch we had in Dubai was here, so we know it is good. We had a lazy morning and got to the hotel about 11.30am for the meal to start at 12.00. This gave us a chance to get in photographs of all the food before anyone touched it. During this time, we also got to speak to many of the managers and entertainers that were wandering around. These brunches are a great opportunities to witness other cultures. People from all around the ... read more
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Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai April 25th 2019

As a rule, we would not fly on flights that arrive in the early hours of the morning, but there was little option this time. We booked our first hotel here to start from yesterday, so we could guarantee that we would have somewhere to sleep as soon as we got there. We also told the hotel that we would be very late arriving. We have booked four nights (including last night) at the Landmark Grand Hotel in Deira. It looks to be very central and close to the all important Metro station. We use the Metro a lot to get around. We got to the hotel about 3.00am and they looked to be having a problem booking us in. We think they may not have read the message and thought we were not going to ... read more
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Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai April 24th 2019

This afternoon we are flying from London Gatwick to Dubai UAE. Due to the unpredictable traffic of the M25, we decided to leave the Beaconsfield hotel at about 7.00am as we had to return the car by 10.00am. We have a lounge booked from 10.00am for three hours so we have somewhere comfortable to relax before the flight. We were really surprised that there was not much traffic on the motorway and we were at the airport about 8.30am. So we returned the car even earlier than expected and made our way over to the Emirates check-in desk. Due to runway works in Dubai, Emirates are not currently running their early morning flight, so the desk was not open. For a month, DXB is using only one runway. Other flights are being diverted into the nearby ... read more
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