Dubai!!!!

Anyone who follows me on Instagram will know I was in Dubai recently for a few days. This was a bit of a spur of the moment trip that came about after I caught up with a good friend at a wedding recently and had the usual "oh I'd love to visit....oh your always welcome,,," chat. This usually ends up in nothing happening, but, when I went home and googled flights and sorted out logistics (ie three kids!) it actually happened!! And boy was it worth it! We had such a great time. Everything ran smoothly, the kids were happy, the flights ran on time and our holiday was amazing! ....it would encourage me to go away again 😂 

Desert Tour with Arabian Tours

I ended up booking our flights with Turkish airlines and having a stop over in Istanbul. The longer journey was worth it though financially as the flights were literally half the price of the direct flights. Turkish airlines were good to fly with, everything ran smoothly, the aeroplane food was your usual standard food, there was a good selection of movies to watch and the flight attendants were nice and friendly. I'd happily fly with them again. 

Dubai Mall & The Atlantis

On our first day there we did the city sightseeing tour. I love bus tours as they give such a good over sight of the city. I booked a 24 hour ticket with a desert tour package. The bus ticket is worth the money as there are lots of routes. We just did the 'modern route' but I think if you had the 48hpur ticket it would give you plenty of time to take in the other routes also. 

The Burj Khalifa & dinner at The Social

The highlight of the trip I thought was the desert your with Arabian Nights Tours. We had a lovely, friendly, informative tour guide. They collect you at your hotel in a 4x4 jeep and drop you back there. You drive about  an hour out to the desert where they begin with driving over the sand dunes (like lunatics!) but it's great fun. Next you stop for a falcon show,  I didn't think I'd find that interesting but I actually did. More crazy sand dune driving and we stop to take in the sunset of the desert,,,this was amazing,,,just one of those pinch me moments. Then we're off to our final destination, the campsite, for food drinks and entertainment. 

The second day was our lazy day. We had a big sleep in and caught up with my friend. That evening we went to dinner in a restaurant, Social House, that a view of the fountains beeside the Burj Khalifa. Every half hour there is a water fountain display where the water 'dances' to music, it really is beautiful to watch.

On our last day we visited the Burj Khalifa in the morning. We had booked the tickets online and collected them there. It was easy and straight forward. We went at 11:30 and there wasn't too much queing or waiting around. By the time we were leaving you could notice it had gotten a lot busier. We had a great view of the city and it was definitely worth doing. After some browsing in the biggest mall in the world we headed over to the Atlantis for lunch. Again, this was lovely to see as it is pretty breath taking.....and if you watch Real Housewives of Beverly Hills or Melbourne, this is the hotel they stay in!! :) On our final night we went to a gorgeous restaurant 'The Social Room.' The food here was out of this world and there was a gorgeous view over The Marina.

Overall, Dubai as a city is amazing, its so friendly, clean and safe. Yes the weather is hot but everywhere is air conditioned....unless your lying out on the beach or by the pool! Everything about Dubai is bigger and better, the cars, the buildings, the lifestyle. Dubai is definitely worth a visit.