The Dubai Diaries: A Staycation Part III

This is going to be the final instalment of my mini “Staycation Series”!

As you may remember, my sister Lizzie and her boyfriend Jarett came to stay with me in Dubai. Lizzie had visited Dubai before (but not for quite a few years!) and it was Jarett’s first time visiting, so we tried to make the most of it and do/see as much as we could squeeze in!

On their last day, we decided to visit a lovely part of Dubai that we still hadn’t had time to see – the Marina!

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The Marina is a really nice part of Dubai. It’s full of crazy skyscrapers, and since it’s mostly Western expats, there are lots of nice cafes, restaurants and bars. It’s also one of few “walking-friendly” areas in Dubai, as there’s a path all along the waterfront.

We strolled along enjoying the lovely sunshine, and decided to stop at Pain Quotidien for a coffee.

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Jarett is ready for his coffee! ^ πŸ˜€

The weather was beautiful (as it tends to be 95% of the time in Dubai!) so we sat outside enjoying the sunshine for a while.

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We hadn’t brought any towels with us as we didn’t plan on being at the beach for long, but L & J both had their bikinis/swimming shorts.

We walked across the bridge to JBR beach, which has recently been renovated and is now a really nice beachfront with plenty of green spaces, cafes, shops and play areas for children. Not to mention of course the beach itself, with plenty of sandy stretches to relax on!

Lizzie and Jarett both went for a swim in the sea, but the water was still a bit too cold for me. I’ve definitely been spoilt living in the Middle East!

We then headed off back to the apartment. L & J had been wanting to try out “Ravi” restaurant ever since they read about it in the 25 things to do in Dubai for a Dirham article I’d sent before they arrived. They dropped off their stuff at my place and drove on down to Satwa for some lunch at the restaurant. It’s a Pakistani place that’s quite famous in Dubai as it has been around for so long, and still remains as cheap and tasty as 25 years ago! They actually walked back after lunch, including a stretch along Sheikh Zayed Road, which I wouldn’t recommend unless you have a death wish!

While they were out at lunch, I was busy whipping up some dessert for us all. My flatmate Kirsty’s fiancé Dan was over from Hong Kong, so we decided to all cook dinner together on their last night!

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We all enjoyed a lovely dinner together, and all too soon it was time for Lizzie and Jarett to head off to the airport!

Luckily the flight wasn’t completely full, so I saw them off on their way to the next adventure – Italy!

Thank you so much L & J for coming to visit – I hope you enjoyed your stay! πŸ™‚

P.s. Follow me on Instagram & Twitter for more day to day updates of my life & where I am in the world!

16 Comments

  1. jolin
    August 8, 2015 / 8:29 am

    Hi there!
    Im going to have an interview with Emirates team next month and Im very curious about life in Dubai. How many days a week you gotta stay in Dubai and do you enjoy it?
    Thanks so much for your blogs! Xx

    • August 13, 2015 / 3:13 pm

      Hi there! It completely depends on your roster, but I’d say you have around 8-12 days in Dubai each month. I love it here, the lifestyle is great and the weather is always nice (if a bit too hot in summer!). Good luck! πŸ™‚

  2. March 17, 2015 / 10:01 pm

    Hi Rachel!

    I just found your blog today and have literally spent hours on it. I have decided to begin my own blog about my cabin crew experience as I’m starting the job in June and moving to Dubai myself!! I’m so excited and your blog has been fuel for my excitement, so keep it up!!

    Reading this article of yours, I see that your sister’s boyfriend and your flatmate’s fiancΓ© both stayed at your house at some point. Do you live in the accommodation provided by the airline? I’m curious as to how this works, because from what I heard you’re not allowed to have a male over unless you’re married. Is this true? And if it is, what solutions are there in order for me to be able to have my boyfriend over when he comes visit?

    Thanks a lot for your reply πŸ™‚

    • March 18, 2015 / 4:55 pm

      Thanks for reading, and congrats on getting the job! πŸ™‚ Well they didn’t stay over at the same time as you’re only allowed 2 visitors per apartment at a time. Basically male visitors are your “cousins” if you get what I mean, lots of people have their “cousins” to visit πŸ™‚ You just need your flatmates to sign a visitors form and hand it in 10 days before they arrive! πŸ™‚

  3. Anonymous
    March 7, 2015 / 7:04 pm

    Hi Rachel, I am just curious what kind of food do the cabin crew get to eat on a flight? Is there a special meal for crews or you can just eat anything that’s available on the plane? great blog btw! Liz

    • March 13, 2015 / 9:12 pm

      Thanks for reading πŸ™‚ We do get crew meals, but they are basically the same thing as the passenger meals although sometimes a couple more choices (vegetarian, etc). If there are passenger meals left over I’ll usually eat one of those though. Or we get salads and sandwiches in the crew cart if you don’t fancy a hot meal. And of course you can always bring your own meals πŸ™‚

  4. Anonymous
    March 7, 2015 / 2:09 pm

    if a flight is not full and it works for your schedule, can you just pay and hop on?

    • March 13, 2015 / 9:10 pm

      Yeah, that’s pretty much how standby works! In the past I’ve booked a flight even just a couple of hours before departure! πŸ™‚

  5. Anonymous
    March 5, 2015 / 5:10 pm

    Is it true, that you can’t receive mail in Dubai ?

  6. anna
    March 3, 2015 / 4:26 am

    Wow, loved your blog! πŸ˜€

    I just applied a week ago and I’m hoping to get invited to an assessment day in the US soon. Is there anything in my portal that says I haven’t been short listed? How long was your wait when you applied? Thanks for your time:)

    • March 3, 2015 / 11:43 am

      Thanks for reading πŸ™‚ Well, when I applied online all I got was the generic email saying thanks for applying. I knew there was an open day coming up soon close to me so I didn’t wait for an invitation to the assessment day and went straight to the open day. (It then turned into an assessment day the same day as we were only around 50 people!) Honestly I can’t remember if there is anything on the portal, sorry! Good luck πŸ™‚

      • SIA
        March 3, 2015 / 10:10 pm

        Hey Rachel great job on the blog.

        Can you tell me how many hours you are flying on average per month?

        SIA

        • March 13, 2015 / 9:09 pm

          Thanks for reading! πŸ™‚ If I don’t have leave it’s between 80-100 hours a month. If I look at the past 3 months I had 97 in Feb, 80 in Jan, 69 in Dec. This is before swapping any flights (which I did) so that changes the hours a little bit!

  7. Anonymous
    March 2, 2015 / 11:20 pm

    love it

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