Dubai Day 1

I had booked tickets on Emirates airline and my date of departure was 16th June, 2011. By the time we had decided, getting return tickets were becoming a problem, while booking through Travel Agents. I did check online at emirates.com for tickets and it was available for much cheaper rate than what the travel agents were offering. I booked for my family and went to Emirates office at Chennai to book the tickets for my sis-in-law's family. While I made my booking, I selected the meal options as well for all of us. (I prefer selecting my meal options because most of us are vegetarians and getting veg meals in flight is a big deal!!!)

My flight was supposed to depart Chennai at 9:45 am but was late by almost an hour. This particular flight (EK 545) looked pretty new and had very comfortable seating. I was starting to get a bit hungry and was waiting for the food to come. The refreshing lime juice was super yummy. Coming to my meal, they didn't have any veg meal :( I was pretty shocked and informed them that I had booked my tickets almost a month back and I had mentioned my meal option as well. While she informed me that they didn't get any information regarding that, I was kind of surprised by the kind of miscommunication that can happen in such an airline. 

I called the local Emirates office at Dubai and informed them about the same ( I didn't want to be in a similar situation during my return journey). They were flabbergasted that the ground staff were not informed and hoped that I would not be in a similar situation during my return journey. After we landed (around 12:45 pm), we proceeded towards immigration. The one thing I was irritated with Dubai Airport is you have to stand in a separate queue for Eye scan and another queue for immigration. Can it just not be combined as one ? The waiting time was just frustrating.

We were getting a bit worried because we had a booking at Burj Al Arab for High Tea at 4:30 pm and it was already 2:30 pm and we were not out of the airport. Finally we made it out of the airport by 3:00 pm and rushed to take a taxi. The taxi driver was a bit clueless about where the Apartment (Ascott Park Place) is located. We did roam about a bit before we could finally spot our Apartment. The check in happened quite quickly, since we told them we have to rush for our booking at Burj Al Arab. 

The apartment was a big one. The living room, dining and kitchen were big. The master bedroom had a huge bathroom with a seating area. The second bedroom was also spacious with a big bathroom. The third bedroom was very small with a bathroom. The problem was, we were not able to lock any of our bedroom. We quickly changed and went for our High Tea. Since, children below 18 were not allowed at Skyview Bar, we had made two booking at Burj Al Arab.

View of Burj Khalifa from our room

Living area

We were two couples (Sis-in-law,Bro-in-law, Hubby and me) dining at Skyview bar. While  my MIL and the two children were dining at Sahn Eddar Restaurant. When I was making my online reservation, they had enquired if were celebrating any special occasion or if we have any dietary requirement. They had also informed us about the dress code that needs to be followed. All the details were sent to me by mail as well, confirming my booking. The place is absolutely beautiful and the architecture inside is just mind blowing. The service as expected exceeded my expectation and the view from Skyview Bar is absolutely worth it.

 First we were offered Champagne. For people like me, who don't drink, they offer an apple & date juice, which was super yummy. Next came fresh berried with cream. As per our requests, we were offered hot and cold sandwiches. (My mouth is just watering thinking about them and writing. They were absolutely delicious). Meanwhile, you can have any kind of drink / coffee / tea. The variety is just too much to choose from!!!. We were then served an assortment of pastries, scones and chocolates. The presentation is mind blowing. The quantity served is just too much and we would all nibble on the same piece so that we could taste it.

We were initially not given a table with the view, but later on request they were sweet enough to change our table. They have extremely friendly staff, which makes the whole experience completely worth it. I cannot write much about the experience at Sahn Eddar, since I personally did not experience it. But, I was told from my MIL that it was very good and they had a great time as well. We spent a good 2.5 hrs at this place and we didn't realise the time pass by.

We were busy clicking pictures of the hotel, while the staff was arranging a taxi for us. We then went to BurJuman Mall for our shopping. I thought the mall was fine with lots of brand in it. We didn't do much of shopping here. After we were done looking at the mall, we went to a nearby grocery store to buy food that we could eat in the night (if we were hungry). Trust me, we were so full after the Afternoon Tea, that we didn't have anything the entire night.

Getting a taxi in Dubai is so easy, that we just took one from the mall outside to our apartment. Shall continue my Day 2 in my next post.

Back after a break - Dubai

I'm preggie now and I didn't quite like the thought of writing about food. But that still didn't stop me from going out for lunch / dinner. Due to my restricted liking (blaming it on my child), we used to go to the same place over and over again. Honestly, I was getting bored and we were thinking of making a trip somewhere close by, to make sure I get a break from my monotonous doctor visits and of course, thinking only about the baby.

We (me and hubby) were thinking of various options like Ooty, Kodaikanal, Kabini, etc., But I felt I could go to these places once the kid is born for a easy family holiday. Then we realised, we'v not made a single trip with my mil and we could go some where with her. She immediately said Dubai and the date was also fixed on the same day. Now it was all up to me to plan it all out. 

We were planning to go along with my sis-in-law's family and we decided we'll go for 3 days. I knew 2 night-3 days would be difficult, since there are so many things to see there. I was given complete freedom to plan what ever I wanted but with a budget in hand. I  first listed the things to see, keeping in mind the crowd that is going. Then I started searching for hotels to stay. 

We were 7 of us travelling in total. So I was looking out for 1 suite and a triple occupancy room or 2 double rooms and 1 triple occupancy room. I was very close to booking Grand Hyatt, as it seemed okay for the price they were charging. For the kind of hotels I was looking out for, it looked like I had to shell out minimum 12 - 13k per night per room. That would mean approximately Rs. 36k - 40k per night for our family. That's when I started searching for apartments. I wanted a 3 bedroom apartment and my first choice was Somerset / Ascott. The reason being, I had seen the rooms at Somerset in Chennai and quite liked it.

I searched the website for any of their [properties in Dubai and I narrowed it down to Ascott Park Place. I saw the layout of their 3 bedroom apartment and liked it. It felt like a spacious apartment, which measured approx 2300 sq ft. When I contacted them for details, they informed me that they would charge AED 1440 per night for the 7 of us, which included the breakfast as well. This seemed like a great deal (when compared to the hotels I was checking out) and also thrilled about the fact that we would all be staying together. I made my confirmation through online and booked it for 3 night stay.

While I was doing my booking, I had enquired about transportation from airport to the apartment. They gave me a costing of AED 230 per car. Since we were 7 of us, we would require 2 cars. While I was browsing through tripadvisor and checking through Google maps, I found that it would take AED 50 per car when I take the taxi from airport. So, I cancelled my transport option and just booked the room with breakfast option.


In the meanwhile, I had made a list of things to do at Dubai. We had narrowed it down to dining at Burj Al Arab, Ferrari World, Desert Safari, Dhow cruise and of course shopping :)


We wanted to stay at Atlantis after seeing the pictures online. So our 3 day trip was being extended to 5 days :D


I'll continue this post as to what I did at Dubai and my experience out there.