The Dubai Diaries: A Staycation Part I

So I mentioned in my February roster post that I had some leave coming up and I was going to stay in Dubai. My sister Lizzie and her boyfriend Jarett flew over from America (they’d been living in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the past year) to stay with me for a while.

As Jarett had never been to Dubai before (and the last time Lizzie came here was quite a few years ago!) we decided to try and squeeze in plenty of sightseeing!

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On our first evening we headed down the road to the Dubai Mall.

We sat outside in the lovely fresh air (a nice change for Lizzie & Jarett after near freezing temperatures in Albuquerque!) and had some coffees watching the sunset.

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We also managed to catch a couple of the fountain shows!

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The next day Lizzie, Jarett and I decided to visit Ripe Market, which is held in Zabeel Park. I’ve been meaning to go for quite a while now, but haven’t been around on a Friday!

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The market has lots of fresh fruit and vegetable stalls, as well as loads of independent food and arts & craft stalls.

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We tried out some super tasty mini Dutch pancakes and some delicious Aussie coffee.

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Jarett also picked us up some pretty hyacinths for the apartment!

L & J decided to visit the beach and got a taxi down to Kite Beach, which is not far from my place. They spent the afternoon chilling out on the beach 🙂

Up early after a relaxing day before, we were ready for the next stop on our list of “tourist spots” to visit, which was old Dubai. But first – breakfast!

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I’m lucky to be living in the centre of Dubai with plenty of restaurants and cafes nearby.

We chose More Cafe which my flatmate Cassandra recommended to us!

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After a delicious breakfast, we drove on down to “Old Dubai”, also known as Bastakiya.

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I’ve never been before, and it was a lovely area full of old style buildings.

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Of course you can’t fully get away from Dubai as we know it though, and here you can see old meeting new!

Jarett somehow got sucked into trying on a traditional Kandura (the Arabic stye “dress” the men wear) which was quite funny!

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Luckily he managed to escape without being forced into buying anything 😉

We then headed on to the Dubai museum, which is quite interesting, although I have visited before.

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We stopped off for tea at a lovely little Arabic tea house, nestled in a pretty courtyard.

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After a relaxing tea break, we hopped on an abra for just 1 Dirham each, and crossed over the creek.

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There are some traditional markets in Dubai, also known as “souks”, where they sell hundreds of different kinds of spices and herbs. There’s also the gold souk, although we didn’t spend any money there 😉

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Whilst choosing our spices Jarett got roped in to trying some sort of “natural viagra”! Who knows what it really was!

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Sorry for the slight overload of photos, it was hard to pick out of over 400! And not to worry…there’s plenty more to come in part 2!

P.s. Follow me on Instagram & Twitter for more regular updates on my day-to-day life!

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13 Comments

  1. Lucie
    September 14, 2015 / 1:19 am

    Hi Rachel,

    i read that your assessment day was in german. Did you hear about any other language which was the interview done? Thanks for reply 🙂 I love your blog and any information which can help us (who want to become a flight attendant) are valuable!!

    • September 24, 2015 / 8:10 am

      No my assessment day was in Germany, but everything was held in English! Pretty sure they are only held in English since that’s the working language of the company. Glad you enjoy my blog 🙂

  2. Petra
    February 10, 2015 / 12:16 pm

    Dear Rachel,
    Ive read everything at your blog and I love it 🙂 You inspired me to apply for the emirates and guess what 🙂 yesterday ive got an email that i was succesful and now im on stand by 🙂
    I know you put here some advices about interview etc but I wanted to ask you if you could give us some advices about Dubai and the life there for those who are actually going to work there (like me :-))
    For example, what to bring with you, how you solved your phone- which company is good to buy sim card with internet, where to buy griceries and what restaurants are good. What is essentials (except stockings 😀 )etc..

    That would help a lot! 🙂

    Thank you and looking forward for next post 🙂

    • February 10, 2015 / 1:59 pm

      Congratulations! 🙂 Yes of course I can do a post like that if you like 🙂 Once you get your accommodation details and find out which area you’ll be living in just let me know and I’ll see if I can recommend any places nearby 🙂

  3. Dominique Vaz
    February 8, 2015 / 12:53 am

    Hey Rachel, how are you? We met today remember? From the hotel, I told you I was coming to say hello, It was very nice to meet you. And btw I made it for the FI, which is going to be tomorrow morning. Wish me luck 🙂

    • February 10, 2015 / 1:35 pm

      Hi Dominique! It was lovely to meet you, congrats on getting to the FI! Hope it all went well for you and maybe see you soon in Dubai 🙂

  4. abir
    February 5, 2015 / 9:46 am

    Hey , i really love your job experience !! And i feel excited while reading your posts it’s like it’s me who’s exploring fascinating places , but i guess because that’s my dream job , you have no idea how much i love this job !! Can you pleaaase tell me what is the salary of Cabin crew working with EK ? And what are the benefits? Thanks.

    • Anonymous
      February 5, 2015 / 4:15 pm

      @ abir

      Why don’t you check Emirates Website? You can find all answers to your questions there. Google is also full of information.

      It’s not forbidden to do research on your own 😉

      • February 10, 2015 / 1:28 pm

        Thanks for your comment, I sometimes feel like nobody realises they can do research by themselves, haha! 🙂

    • February 10, 2015 / 1:25 pm

      Thanks for reading! You can do research on cabin crew websites to find out the salary as I do not think it is appropriate to discuss my salary on my blog.

  5. Anonymous
    February 5, 2015 / 12:11 am

    I. Love. Your. Blog.
    I read it every day, it helps me to hold on to my dream, as I’m still 20 and I can’t apply 🙂
    By the way, I have an off-topic question, if it doesn’t bother you! I’m currently attending university and will possibly be in erasmus next year and I was thinking about going to England. As is your native country, would you recommend me a specific, not expensive city suitable for students? I was thinking about York, but it’s hard to find opinion/advices about England here in my country! I’d like to know what would you suggest 🙂
    Thank you and enjoy your dream <3

    • February 10, 2015 / 1:22 pm

      Thanks for reading 🙂 To be honest I haven’t lived in England since I was 14, so I’m not the best person to recommend a city for you, haha! Generally cities in the north are cheaper than the south though. York is a beautiful city and I’m sure you’ll love it if you end up choosing to go there! 🙂

      • Anonymous
        February 11, 2015 / 2:53 pm

        Thanks a lot for your kind reply :))

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