Day 5 – Leaving Dubai

My flight out of Dubai was 10.25am, so I left my hotel just after 7.30 to make sure I had plenty of time that clearly I didn’t need! Eventually finding the right check in desk the lady told me that my flight had been over booked and I needed to go to another desk. When speaking with someone else, they said the same thing. Emirates had overbooked the flight and I needed to wait until 9.25 to be told whether I would be allowed on the flight. It wasn’t just me in this situation, there were a good 100 or so people around booked on about 5 different flights. It was ridiculous, they said people had checked in online and may not show which means I could go on… my ticket has been booked since the end of July, I get that people don’t always turn up but it’s just stupid. Also, I was told I wasn’t allowed to check in online because of the type of ticket I had, so it’s not like I could have done it any other way. Anyway, they said I could go on my flight which meant a quick run through security to my gate which was already boarding…don’t worry a stern email of complaint has been written on this flight. So that leads me to now. I am currently sat at 44C with no one next to me… which is a good thing but also makes it feel like they just enjoy stressing people out and this seat was free all along. I have 7 hours out of 10 left to go, see you down under!

Day 4 – Radio 2, the Dubai Mall & Burj Khalifa.

Another early start, which is what you’re supposed to do, isn’t it? So you see as much as you can. I made my way to Gulf News, as this is where Hannah was presenting the Radio 2 breakfast show. I haven’t been in a radio studio for so long, it felt good. After the show she dropped me to The Dubai Mall, which is the biggest shopping mall in the world… I’ve found that a lot with Dubai, everything is the biggest and the best in the world. It seriously was huge though; it literally had every shop/restaurant you could think of. I spotted a Forever 21 and I couldn’t not go in and buy something… could I? 2 tops and a pair of shorts later I wondered around some more.

 I was booked to go up the Burj Khalifa at 2.30pm, on arrival they were handing out complimentary chocolates as the 4^th anniversary of the building had just passed. The viewing deck was on floor 124, which is 452m from the ground. The entire structure is 828m high. The views up there were amazing and I was lucky out of my 3 days in Dubai I chose that one, as it had been very cloudy on the other days.

I met Hannah and her mum for dinner at 5.30pm. We went to a Lebanese restaurant called Abd El Wahab. It had perfect views of the Fountains, which if you didn’t know went off every half an hour from 6pm. Each show lasted only a few minutes and had different music. The fountains were impressive to say the least, the height and spray they gave off was amazing, definitely a must see! I’ve never eaten Lebanese before but I enjoyed it very much so.

Day 3 – Big Bus tours Dubai, Ladies night.

The first bus from Mall of the Emirates was at 9.30am, so I made sure I was there in plenty of time. Today was a very wet day. When I first got on the bus I made my way upstairs because the view is better up there. After the first stop at Burj Khalifa it started to rain. A LOT, so I moved downstairs along with everyone else. I got off at WAFI which is where I could join the Red line around the ‘Old town’, they gave us waterproof ponchos to wear as most of us weren’t prepared for rain in Dubai! You can tell they don’t get rain a lot because many roads were flooded and men were out sweeping water into the drains to try and clear it. 

My bus ticket included a river Arabian Dhow cruise on the UAE’s most famous waterway, the Dubai Creek. It told me the history of the creek and how the sea merchants still use it every day to send off their trade to other countries. After this, I finished the Red line tour, which showed me the Old, Gold and Spice Souks along with the Heritage village.

Hannah had booked me on a desert safari and I was going to be picked up just after 3pm, after 4 they still hadn’t arrived and that’s because they had gone to the wrong hotel! At one point they thought they might be able to come back and get me but it turns out they couldn’t. It was a Tuesday and that means only one thing, Ladies Night! This means 3 free drinks in a number of different places in the city. I went to a place called Q43 with Hannah and her mum, which was, you guessed it, the 43^rd floor of a building with amazing views. You could even see The Atlantis from up there.

Day 2 - JBR, Big Bus Tours Dubai.

I didn’t know if I was going to like Dubai as it’s just another big city and a lot of the time they just all seem the same but you know what, there is so much to see and do here, I need to come back! The main reason I chose Dubai as my stopover on the way to Australia was to visit my friend Hannah who I haven’t seen in about 6 or so years.

Day 2

My flight ended up being slightly delayed so by the time I landed and collected my luggage, I didn’t arrive at Marina Byblos (Dubai Marina) until around 2:30am! Lucky for me breakfast was served until 11am so at least I could have a lie in. Reluctantly I made myself get out of bed at 10am to enjoy my first day here in Dubai. I walked down to JBR to have a look around. Apparently you used to get really good views of the beach but they’re now building a big shopping centre on the beach, which is a shame!

I needed a drink so found somewhere which also had free wifi to A) tell my mum I was alive and B) tell Hannah I had arrived. Hannah replied straight away and said she could meet me for lunch at the Yacht club just down the road. After lunch she recommended that I went on the Big Bus tour of Dubai as it’s a cheap and easy way to see so much of the city. I started the tour at Mall of the Emirates (another shopping centre). The ticket I had lasted for 24 hours so I started on the Blue line and would go on the Red line the next day.

 The Blue line took you along the coast which gave me great views of the city, Burj Al Arab and even down the Palm to see The Atlantis hotel. Once I got back to Mall of the Emirates on the last bus, I found something to eat in their food court and made my way back to my hotel.