Friday, April 03, 2009

Back from Dubai

What are the chances of two girls taking the exact same book on holiday? Pretty high, it would seem.

I liked: Flying cattle class (it was soooo cheap). The warm weather. The food. The 5* hotels. Sunbathing in March. The shopping malls. The architecture. The cosmopolitan feel of the place. Staying with a local who knew all the best haunts (thank you Kosta). The company :-)

I didn't care much for: Flying cattle class (it wasn't cheerful). The sand storms. The traffic. The driving skills of the locals. It's one huge building site.

I was shocked by: The weak pound. Ouch.

I was disappointed by: Afternoon tea at the Burj Al Arab - way over hyped.

I was surprised by: How happy I was to return to England. No sand storms in northern Europe, so you can breathe the air.

Would I go back? You bet!

14 comments:

Kate said...

All in all it sounds like you had a most enjoyable visit. I assume cattle class is economy:-) Ha Ha. I would have to agree with you on the sand storms. I wouldn't appreciate finding sand in everything. Not fun. I can barely handle it in the summer when I go swimming and the stuff is on my feet. Yuck. Time to come to a place where sand stays on the beach not in your mouth:-)

Tinsie said...

I don't even want to think how much sand I must have ingested on our last day in Dubai!! Yuck indeed.

palmtreefanatic said...

nice visit eh?!Sounds mostly enjoyable! I cannot imagine the sand storms!

Thanks for stopping by Tinsie! How are you?

Love my hair cut for something totally different! it only really looks cute when i straighten it as my hair is quite curly!

HalfCrazy said...

Hi there!

Don't know about that book but looks like it's a chic lit to me.

Looks like you had fun even though you were disappointed on some things! Ah well, it's not always good and yummy!

stromsjo said...

5* hotels through cattle class? Well. Maybe... :)

As for the weak pound, we've got a weak krona to go with it. Serves us all right for not joining the Euro at the start...

(Interestingly synchronized reading habits there!)

Tinsie said...

@ Palmtreefanatic: Sandstorms are basically wind that carries sand over from the desert. The after effect is like a foggy day, only it's dry and the "cloud" is actually dust. Days like that are best spent indoors...

@ HalfCrazy: Indeed it's chic lit. How could you tell? ;-)

Thanks for stopping by.

@ Per Stromsjo: Our excuse is that we needed a nice hotel to help us recover from the flight. Hehe.

As for the weak pound, all I'll say is, it's amazing how expensive everything is when your currency's good for nothing!!!

ShadowFalcon said...

i haven't been to Dubai since I was 11. Sounds like you have a cool time :-) even with all that sand!

Shionge said...

What a co-incidence ;)

Love Dubai despite stopping over at the airport shopping hahahah...

Anonymous said...

So Tinsie-I'm looking forward to your review on the book, still haven't had the will to pick it up. Sooo glad I carried it to Dubai and back (might as well have carried a brick!!?).

I agree with all your comments, having also been to Dubai, I would recommend it for a pure relaxing holiday. If you chose a nice hotel e.g. the Hyatt and like the sun + good food...not to bothered about 'sight seeing' then Dubai is the place for you! only downside was a shopaholic like myself couldn't go wild in the malls :(

S xx

Tinsie said...

@ ShadowFalcon: Can't complain :-)

@ Shionge: Shopping is the one thing we didn't do as everything was too expensive for us - even the duty free!

@ Sandi: I've been reading like mad, I'm half way through it and still not sure what the point of it is exactly. I hope I find out before I get to the end, otherwise it will be a very $%^&*/?! review.

I reckon Dubai could promote itself as a cure for shopaholics - come to Dubai to experience going to fancy shopping malls exclusively for window shopping. What do you think? Haha!

Sandi said...

Good luck with your Door stop!!!! I am notoriously impatient with books, if I read a chapter and I’m bored, that’s the end for me! I will give it a go this week and give you an early review!? I shouldn’t say this, but no wonder it was selling at half price so soon after its release …always a catch!

Tinsie said...

Still going strong, but I'm already past the mid point, so things are looking up :-)

Betty Carlson said...

Sounds like an interesting trip -- I've sure been reading a lot about those states lately. The heat would discourage me, though.

Tinsie said...

It wasn't too hot, between 23-28C so really quite pleasant. Summer would be much hotter, but then you'd spend most of your time either by the pool or indoors with the air con on, and you'd feel the heat even less ;-)