Travel Diary - Dubai Day 1

 

Dubai is one of those cities that I never get tired of visiting! With it's tall, city skyscrapers, out of this world architecture, and state of the art everything; it's sometimes  hard to believe that you're actually standing smack bang in the middle of a desert! The UAE Royals have really done everything to make their land a tourist destination of note! From having a Starbucks on almost every street corner, to housing every possible international food franchise, as well as every clothing and makeup  brand under the sun; Dubai can easily be mistaken for an Arab America!
 

The 'new' Dubai is every bit beautiful, stylish, modern, glitzy and epically touristy in a way that only Arab royals know how; and perhaps the only flaw in the system is that there are hardly any remnants of the 'real' Dubai in this newly constructed city in the desert. That's not to say there's none left at all - a quick taxi drive to the other side of town is enough to give you a culturally different experience to the newer city. Walking through the various Souks, for me, was probably the most Arab of all my experiences there. Nonetheless, Dubai has made it's mark and is up there as one of our favourite family destinations and houses some of our best family memories...

 

 

 My first trip there was with my mom way back in 2000, and then I  went again as a family in 2011 with hubby and the kids when they were obviously much smaller, and we found ourselves there once again; if only for short time; this year while en route to Thailand, and I feel like I would return plenty times more - that's how much I love it there!

The journey there was much more memorable than the last; even if I don't actually remember it all because I was sleeping 6 of the 9 hours. It's a stark contrast to the last trip, where I was frustrated with a crabby 2 year old who eventually threw up all over me half an hour before landing!! We seemed to have had our revenge though, as the two of us are the only ones who managed to get any sleep on  the flight at all this time round!



We stayed at the DoubleTree by Hilton  Dubai - Jumeira Beach, in one of their lux self-catering apartments situated in the tourist hub of the JBR. With a plethora of food places and a grocery store within walking distance from us, it was perfect for a family stay, and the bigger kids often ventured out to get their Starbucks fix all by themselves!

A quick nap on arrival left us refreshed enough to enjoy the rest of our first day there, and this time we got to do some of the things that the kids were too young to enjoy before. We spent the afternoon swimming the warm waters of the ocean, while the bigger two went out on their first ever  jetski experience with their Dad. After a quick freshen up and a sweep of makeup, we ventured out to one of the many outrageously big malls for some dinner, before settling in to get some rest before our next big adventure!

 

Helping his sister out...totally a posed shot! Rocky was in a photo shoot mood!

Zee was sulking because he wasn't allowed to jetski...and Rocky is completely pretending to be supportive!

 

 

I missed out since someone had to stay behind and look after Zee and apparently  that's a mother's job!

I look very orange here, but it's one of the few pics I have that's not a selfie!

This dress was perfect for a Dubai evening out!

Observing some marine life at the aquarium in Dubai Mall

 

At the end, it was hard to believe that, even with a nap, we still managed to do so much in that one day! And even though time was moving at exactly the same pace it always does, it didn't feel like time was moving at all. The day was slow and long...and not in a boring way; but in a way where we weren't rushing about and we were all truly present in the moment and enjoying each others company; and it made me feel like we don't do nearly enough of it when we are home...


I'm ending this post off with a video diary of our first day there! (To watch it you just have to click on the image below) I love taking photos, and this video thing is still very new to me; but I like that I'm expanding on the way I preserve our memories <3 The next stop in our Travel series will be our Desert Safari experience!






Thanks for reading (and watching)!!


Peace,


NAMU :)