Eid in Dubai

Sooooooo.. Dubai was AMAZING!!

We went during the Eid holiday, so it was super busy, but it was worth it!  The trip was a last minute booking through a travel agent. Probably the worst part of the trip was the fact that our flights both to and from Dubai were at 8 am, so we were up with the birds.  The girls did really well though, and it was nice to arrive with time to get out and check out the city.

First off, our hotel was amazing!  Those of you that have traveled with my husband, you know he is a Motel 6 kind of guy ;-)  His motto is "all I need is a bed".  I prefer a little more, so I've been able to talk him into hotels more like The Holiday Inn.  What that means is we usually stay in 3 star at best, and that's perfectly fine with us. This hotel our travel agent booked, however, was a 5 star hotel!! We were like The Clampetts from Beverly Hillbillies!  We probably won't stay in such an elegant hotel again, at least not anytime soon, but it sure was fun while it lasted.  It was crazy to have so many smiling faces ready to do anything and EVERYTHING for us (take our bags, fold up the stroller, open the taxi, bring us bottled water, you name it.. they would do it!). The hotel was on a beautiful harbor and their was lots of grass! Living in the desert, let me tell you- we truly appreciate green and grass! The girls sure enjoyed it :)
Most of our time was spent at malls.   That's because everything is in the malls!  I've never seen such large malls in my life.  Seriously in the malls- 1,200+ stores, 160 restaurants, aquarium, ice rink, ski resort with lifts, theme parks.. unbelievable! They were definitely packed for the Eid holiday and for this reason they were open for 24 hours for the holiday! It seems Dubai is a very popular travel destination for Brits.   We're thinking we saw as many Brits as we did Arabs.  A few that we talked to told it was for the shopping (Dubai is referred to as the shopping capital of the world and we sure do believe it) and the weather. During this time of year the Dubai weather is great. It's still pretty warm, but during the summer we're told the temperatures are unbearable. 
Mall of Emirates is near Burj Khalifa, which is the tallest building in the world.  It really is quite amazing, as are many of the buildings in Dubai. We watched a water show in front of the building and it really was quite amazing.  It's one of those surreal moments, as until now traveling to places like this, standing in front of the world's tallest building, these were all beyond our imagination.

Our last day in Dubai was spent at The Palm/Atlantis resort. A fun water park and yes, another aquarium.  The water park was amazing! Our favorite part was the lazy river, which had some really fun rapids. It was probably a 2k lap around the park, and we were able to ride double tubes with the girls.  They had so much fun and laughed every time we went through the rapids. Bill also went on the craziest water slide ever! It was so high, and sends you through a tunnel surround by sharks!


4 days flew by- but we brought home many memories! Cheers Dubai, we'll be seeing you again soon!