Dubai

Time is again running away from us, I can’t believe how many days behind on our posts we are but, although I love writing this blog (Rob not so much), being a full time tourist is an extremely hectic occupation and so finding the time is hard.🤣

The reason you may now get a few posts in a row is twofold. Firstly, I want to record everything as soon as possible so I don’t forget too much and secondly I have more time because I’m not really sleeping. I often get times like this when I’m anxious, maybe about school or things I haven’t done but mostly about my children. Through no fault of their own (this time🤣) they are causing me sleepless nights because they are supposed to be arriving soon and some crazy person at Gatwick is causing havoc with a drone! I’ll come back to this later!

On with the chronological order of things and so to Dubai.

The Airbnb in Camps Bay, as I have already made clear, was wonderful but I do also really love a hotel and I have now decided that I particularly love a Dubain (is that a word) Hotel.

The journey was long. To save money we were not flying direct but first to Addis Ababa and then on to Dubai. Our flight left Cape Town at 2.30pm and we arrived to our hotel 6.30am the following morning. The journey was particularly enhanced by 150 River Plate Football fans from Argentina on their way to Dubai for a semi-final in some club competition. They were full of hope and anticipation which they demonstrated through numerous rousing chants and songs. Their total journey was 22 hours long and although they were lovely and we admired their enthusiasm and stamina

we could definitely have managed without it in the early hours of the morning.🤣Excuse the poor videoing but you’ll get the idea.

On arrival at the Grand Hyatt, after quickly checking in, we fell in to bed too tired to notice or care about our surroundings. It wasn’t until after midday that we awoke and set out to explore. The hotel was enormous and included everything that I could ever wish for (and much I wouldn’t think to wish for) in a hotel.It had plenty of Christmas decorations, a windmill, an indoor/outdoor river, complete with fish,indoor and outdoor swimming pools, events gardens, a cardboard camper van, lots of really ‘helpful to coeliac’ restaurants, a running track, tennis courts and possibly the best spa I have ever experienced. I had been totally prepared to be unimpressed by Dubai, stories I’d heard about it’s lack of history, it’s bigger and better attitude had made me prejudge. It only took me minutes of exploring our hotel to fall in love.

Unsurprisingly, we spent the rest of our day taking full advantage of the amazing facilities. Having missed breakfast we ate at The Market Cafe, swam and lay by the outdoor pool planning our next days itinerary, played tennis, used the running track, briefly ventured into the gym, had a quick dip in the indoor pool, used the jacuzzi, steam room, sauna, various weird showers including an ice one and then sauntered, in our complementary robes and slippers, up to our room for the most important and eagerly anticipated part of our day – face time to intrude on the complete immediate Sturla family Christmas.

As we sat on our bed, fresh from our various activities, waiting for the call to connect I expected to feel a little emotional with them all being together for an early Christmas celebration and us being so far away. Thankfully our de – stressing afternoon had left us both mellow, not even our rapid dismissal (as they were still eating) infiltrated our relaxed mood instead we waited contentedly until their meal was over and they called us back to share in the not so Secret Santa.🎅🏼

Our next day was our only opportunity to experience the Dubai outside our hotel so we got up early to make the most of our experience. After a buffet breakfast we caught a cab from the hotel to the Gold Souks. After wandering around those for a short while I became worried that Rob might assault the next person to offer him a cheap watch or me a handbag so rushed him to the 1UAE dirham ferry to the other side of the river and the Old Souks. These were slightly less manic and there was a slight shift in goods being offered but when a seller started to drape a (very nice) scarf around Rob to help him feel the quality I could see by Rob’s face it was time to escape. As we made for a riverside cafe I tried to reason with Rob that they were only trying to earn a living but he really struggles with pushy sales persons and especially ones that invade his personal space (he struggles if I invade his personal space), it took a coffee and a pastry to return him to his normal, only mildly grumpy self.

Once calm we did discuss our favourite seller. Many were approaching us from every angle and while Rob studiously ignored them and walked on with his head down, I tried to turn from side to side rapidly saying no thank you to each one. When one had offered me at least ten different items and I’d declined them all he enquired what I would like to buy. Ever polite I said, ‘nothing thank you.’ The next seller, grinning widely, quickly said, ‘Come into my shop I have nothing for you.’ Sorry that may have lost something in the retelling but it was very quick and funny at the time.🤔

After our sustenance break we made our way to the Dubai museum. Whoever said Dubai had no history should definitely pay a visit here. It cost 3UAE dirham to get in and was definitely the best 65p I’ve ever spent. I would happily have spent ten times that amount for the extremely interesting and informative experience. It is set in a beautiful, historic fort and all of the exhibits are presented in a way that capture your interest. Probably our favourite information concerned how historically they managed to air condition their summer bamboo homes. That’s all I can say here. Hopefully, now I’ve piqued your curiosity you’ll be determined to go to find out how it was done for yourself.Anyone who has been to Dubai (especially if they’ve been in excess of 40 times Steve and Trish) and hasn’t visited it is really missing a treat. We spent a great couple of hours there and found out so much we were unaware of. We also avoided any more pressure to buy unwanted goods which was definitely high on Rob’s list of priorities.

We arrived back at the hotel in time for a quick swim at the outdoor pool where Rob spotted Jason Leonard sat by the steps. We then went up to our room to get ready for our evening entertainment. Little did we know how early Rob’s entertainment would start.

As I sat in the bath reading my kindle while Rob shaved he asked me to pass him a flannel. I rested my kindle on the edge of the bath in order to honour his request and knocked my Kindle into the bath. DISASTER!!!!!!!!!

I have to say that after some of my family, friends and pets, my kindle is the most loved and cherished thing in my life. It helps me through sleepless nights, endless journeys, long waiting times and has been crucial in these travels to maintain my sanity and relationship when I need to escape. How would I manage without it? Can I just clarify that this wasn’t Rob’s entertainment. He knows how much I need my kindle and rushed to remove its cover, wrap it in towels and offer condolences as I sat, shellshocked, still in the bath. His entertainment came later.

Once I’d recovered a little I started to think about what could be done? We’d rescued it as quickly as possible, tipped out excess water and swaddled it in towels but the damage was done. The screen had frozen and although it responded to my administrations to turn it off it now sported a distinct line down the middle, grey on one side and a lighter grey on the other. It didn’t look good.

Remembering a successful trick that I had been taught for my iPhone I formulated a plan and placed a call to guest services requesting uncooked rice. After about ten minutes of explanation I was sure I’d been understood, unfortunately that wasn’t the case. I placed another call and was soon rewarded with a knock at the door. They had sent a young lad from the kitchen to try to decipher my strange request. This was where Rob’s fun began.

The language barrier was extremely apparent and as I showed him my kindle and tried to explain what had happened I increasingly had to resort to actions. At first Rob valiantly tried to help but as the young man followed me into the bathroom intermittently and inaccurately repeating various phrases Rob lost control and had to hasten back into the bedroom to bury his mirth in a thick pillow. I continued loudly to try to drown out the strangled noises that Rob was emitting and eventually, through a mixture of his determination and my desperation, I hoped we’d reached a level of understanding.

As our young helper left the room Rob gave full vent to his emotions and I couldn’t help but join in. He then placed a bet that I would not receive any dry rice that evening but he underestimated both myself and the subject of his mirth. Within five minutes there was another knock at the door and a new young man (we’d obviously traumatised the first one) handed over my rice with barely a quizzical look. For all of the good it did I could have saved myself and the Grand Hyatt’s staff a lot of time. It wasn’t in vain however because Rob insists, that for him, it was the funniest moment of our trip so far.

After burying my kindle in the uncooked rice and finding a warm spot (very hard in a highly air conditioned, no windows hotel room) for it to do it’s magic we proceeded with our evening plans and set out for the Dubai Mall. It was such a lovely evening.

We had dinner on a floating platform not too far from the famous fountains.We watched the Burj light up in time to the music and chatted happily – for a few hours I even forgot my kindle tragedy.🤣We then ascended the Burj and experienced nighttime Dubai from the highest heightand enjoyed the swings (not the most flattering of angles, someone needs to teach me to airbrush) before descending and meeting new friendson our way to a proper look at the fountains.

They are amazing! It was like watching a brilliant firework display crossed with some sort of synchronised swimming (nearly as good as the seals).

It was only 10.34 and I was very happy to (delay the inevitable kindle disappointment) stay for another half an hour and watch the next show (they’d been different each time) but knowing that we had an early flight we (Rob) decided to call it a day. You already know how the kindle story works out but apart from that major mishap we loved Dubai and could easily have stayed longer.