This trip was unlike others, as it was a special trip planned by Anna and I for our amazing significant others. There are a million reasons for which they deserve to be appreciated, and Anna had the wonderful idea of planning this surprise trip (and one day I hope to be as good at planning as you are, Anna! xo) Not going to lie, it took every ounce of patience and trickery to keep the trip secret from the guys for 2 months...It also may have involved lying to Mark to make him believe that we are going to Israel...but the ends justified the means, and the guys had no idea until they got to the check-in counter. Success!!!
The trip started as a low key commute: getting to Bahrain for a layover, snacking on some McArabias from McDonalds = the usual...until we got into Dubai that is, where the day quickly turned into an episode from the Amazing Race. It turns out that Canada refused selected airport entry to Dubai residents in December, a move to which Dubai quickly retaliated by enforcing visa requirements for Canadian citizens that conveniently came into effect right before our trip. As a result, we were stuck at the airport without the right to enter the country. Luckily, the Valentine's Day gods were on our side that day and we managed to get our transit Visas thanks to a very helpful travel agency employee, Anna's and mine negotiating (i.e. damsel in distress) powers and good timing. So, kids, the lesson of the day is - please check the rules on Visa requirements a week before your trip, because you never know when 2 countries decide to get mad at each other and refuse your entry!
After all the excitement at the airport, our day 1 started with a trip to the Jumeirah beach, although it was a little windy for our liking, so we hit the mall instead! And the mall that we hit was the Mall of Dubai i.e. the largest mall in the world. I'm convinced that you can live in that mall and survive for years. It has its own hotel, a skating ring, an aquarium, a zoo, a waterfall, and a representative from just about every store and resto chain in the world. Remarkably, we didn't see a Timmies there, but saw a Second Cup...Timmies clearly needs to step up its international game :)
Our mall highlight for the day was visiting the aquarium. You need to look at the below pictures to see what I'm talking about. Imagine a giant water tank filled with all kinds of exotic fish, sharks and sting rays...with a whole zoo on top of it - that's what we got to see. Those brave enough can even dive in it, or feed the sharks in between shopping.
We also attempted to go up the Bur Khalifa aka the tallest building of the world, only to find out that the entry was sold out for 3 days. I guess we were never meant to find out what it's like to be on top of the world (the man made world that it).
Day 2 started off with a visit to the Burj Al Arab - the world's only 7 star hotel for some breakfast and ogling. Maybe it was our heightened expectations, maybe we didn't get to see the service aspect of the hotel, but we were not that impressed. In fact, I thought that Atlantis, a mere 5 star, was nicer. The highlight of the breakfast was the freshly squeezed watermelon juice, but I'd give it about 6 on a tastiness scale.
Our visit to the hotel followed by a trip to the Palm (a man made island on the coast of Dubai shaped like a palm tree) to visit the famous Atlantis hotel - host to a yet another giant indoor aquarium and the biggest water park in Dubai. Believe it or not, this was my 2nd water park visit in my whole entire life. My terrible fear of water is partially to blame for that. The park was wicked fun, and I even did the scariest ride - The Leap of Faith...twice...the second time was with Anna so that we can take pictures as proof hehe. The rides were awesome - some went through the aquarium so that you can see sharks and stingrays all around you, some through torrents, others through waterfalls and rapids. It was a little chilly at around 20 degrees, but hey, it still beats the 3 degree weather in London!
Our evening portion of the day was spent in the Jumeirah hotel - another Dubai hotel giant. Having dined in one of its 22 restos, we proceeded to The 360 - a resto/lounge on the water that is connected to the shore by a rocky walkway to watch the sunset over some drinks and sheesha. It's a great place with the views of Burj Kalifa on one side and Burj Al Arab on the other, with the sunset in between.
The following day was VDay...which we decided to start of with some sandboarding - most romantic activity ever, of course ;) Dubai is actually quite tiny, and it took us less than an hour to drive into the dunes connecting it with Oman. After a crazy and stomach turning 4x4 ride (or I should say rollercoaster, more appropriately) over the the dunes, we got to one high enough to sandboard on. Our equipment were snowboards and closed toe shoes, and our terrain a giant hill of sand :) The way you sandboard is you strap yourself into the snowboard and just go down the hill, straight on. There's very little technique, just straight up fun. What's not fun, however, is going back up the hill with your board for round two. I've never appreciated chair lifts as much as I did that day lol. Check out below for our awesome action shots! Not to brag or anything, but I think the girls did better than the guys on those dune slopes, even pulling off a double run :D
It was then time to separate where the boys and the girls went off to do their favourite activities: surfing and shopping (respectively) ;) only to be reunited in the evening for a lovely VDay surprise planned by the guys this time. And the lovely surprise was a dinner at Dubai Nobu! Given that I wanted to go to Nobu since I first found out what it was and heard people rave about it some 4 years ago, it made for a great evening. My new Japanese food favourite is now black miso cod a la Nobu i.e. the original black miso cod. I guess you can't mess with the original! Thanks again baby!
Aaand, that was our VDay weekend in Dubai!
P.S. we missed the Bahrain, our layover stop, protests by a day...whew! Could've still been stuck at the airport, who knows!
The trip started as a low key commute: getting to Bahrain for a layover, snacking on some McArabias from McDonalds = the usual...until we got into Dubai that is, where the day quickly turned into an episode from the Amazing Race. It turns out that Canada refused selected airport entry to Dubai residents in December, a move to which Dubai quickly retaliated by enforcing visa requirements for Canadian citizens that conveniently came into effect right before our trip. As a result, we were stuck at the airport without the right to enter the country. Luckily, the Valentine's Day gods were on our side that day and we managed to get our transit Visas thanks to a very helpful travel agency employee, Anna's and mine negotiating (i.e. damsel in distress) powers and good timing. So, kids, the lesson of the day is - please check the rules on Visa requirements a week before your trip, because you never know when 2 countries decide to get mad at each other and refuse your entry!
After all the excitement at the airport, our day 1 started with a trip to the Jumeirah beach, although it was a little windy for our liking, so we hit the mall instead! And the mall that we hit was the Mall of Dubai i.e. the largest mall in the world. I'm convinced that you can live in that mall and survive for years. It has its own hotel, a skating ring, an aquarium, a zoo, a waterfall, and a representative from just about every store and resto chain in the world. Remarkably, we didn't see a Timmies there, but saw a Second Cup...Timmies clearly needs to step up its international game :)
Our mall highlight for the day was visiting the aquarium. You need to look at the below pictures to see what I'm talking about. Imagine a giant water tank filled with all kinds of exotic fish, sharks and sting rays...with a whole zoo on top of it - that's what we got to see. Those brave enough can even dive in it, or feed the sharks in between shopping.
We also attempted to go up the Bur Khalifa aka the tallest building of the world, only to find out that the entry was sold out for 3 days. I guess we were never meant to find out what it's like to be on top of the world (the man made world that it).
Jumeirah beach
Terrifying creatures at the Dubai Mall aquarium
The Dubai Mall gold souk and waterfall
Burj Khalifa - tallest building in the world
(props to Mark's mazing photography skills for actually capturing the whole thing!)
City views: mall fountains and the Dubai marina
Day 2 started off with a visit to the Burj Al Arab - the world's only 7 star hotel for some breakfast and ogling. Maybe it was our heightened expectations, maybe we didn't get to see the service aspect of the hotel, but we were not that impressed. In fact, I thought that Atlantis, a mere 5 star, was nicer. The highlight of the breakfast was the freshly squeezed watermelon juice, but I'd give it about 6 on a tastiness scale.
Our visit to the hotel followed by a trip to the Palm (a man made island on the coast of Dubai shaped like a palm tree) to visit the famous Atlantis hotel - host to a yet another giant indoor aquarium and the biggest water park in Dubai. Believe it or not, this was my 2nd water park visit in my whole entire life. My terrible fear of water is partially to blame for that. The park was wicked fun, and I even did the scariest ride - The Leap of Faith...twice...the second time was with Anna so that we can take pictures as proof hehe. The rides were awesome - some went through the aquarium so that you can see sharks and stingrays all around you, some through torrents, others through waterfalls and rapids. It was a little chilly at around 20 degrees, but hey, it still beats the 3 degree weather in London!
Our evening portion of the day was spent in the Jumeirah hotel - another Dubai hotel giant. Having dined in one of its 22 restos, we proceeded to The 360 - a resto/lounge on the water that is connected to the shore by a rocky walkway to watch the sunset over some drinks and sheesha. It's a great place with the views of Burj Kalifa on one side and Burj Al Arab on the other, with the sunset in between.
7-star breakfast at Burj Al Arab
The hotel decorated itself for VDay - these are heart shaped flower arrangements inside a fountain
Chilling at 360 in the Jumeirah hotel
Our Italian dinner
360 views
The Jumeirah hotel at sunset
The following day was VDay...which we decided to start of with some sandboarding - most romantic activity ever, of course ;) Dubai is actually quite tiny, and it took us less than an hour to drive into the dunes connecting it with Oman. After a crazy and stomach turning 4x4 ride (or I should say rollercoaster, more appropriately) over the the dunes, we got to one high enough to sandboard on. Our equipment were snowboards and closed toe shoes, and our terrain a giant hill of sand :) The way you sandboard is you strap yourself into the snowboard and just go down the hill, straight on. There's very little technique, just straight up fun. What's not fun, however, is going back up the hill with your board for round two. I've never appreciated chair lifts as much as I did that day lol. Check out below for our awesome action shots! Not to brag or anything, but I think the girls did better than the guys on those dune slopes, even pulling off a double run :D
It was then time to separate where the boys and the girls went off to do their favourite activities: surfing and shopping (respectively) ;) only to be reunited in the evening for a lovely VDay surprise planned by the guys this time. And the lovely surprise was a dinner at Dubai Nobu! Given that I wanted to go to Nobu since I first found out what it was and heard people rave about it some 4 years ago, it made for a great evening. My new Japanese food favourite is now black miso cod a la Nobu i.e. the original black miso cod. I guess you can't mess with the original! Thanks again baby!
Aaand, that was our VDay weekend in Dubai!
P.S. we missed the Bahrain, our layover stop, protests by a day...whew! Could've still been stuck at the airport, who knows!
Sandboarding!
Anna and I being AWESOME
Anna pulling off some sick jumps!
Our lovely/tasty evening at Nobu
