The Dubai Diaries
My life as a flight attendant in the Middle East!

A jaunt to Lisbon, Portugal

As I mentioned in my last roster post, I was lucky enough to get the 5 days off that I bid for, perfect for a little holiday with my man. We decided on Lisbon, as it was a place that neither of us had visited before and seemed like a great choice for a 5 day trip.

I sorted out the hotel, and after he arrived from a trip to Rome, we packed our bags and made our way to the airport. Neither of us had realised the flight was fairly long, just under 8 hours from Dubai. Luckily we managed to get some exit row seats with plenty of extra leg room!

Upon arrival we took the metro into the city, which was pretty easy and fairly quick. We arrived at our hotel, the Internacional Design Hotel, a gorgeous boutique hotel, which was located on Rossio Square right in the centre of downtown Lisbon.

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The view from our room, which had a small balcony, was perfect – right out onto the bustling street below.

After a complementary welcome drink at the hotel (a delicious glass of Portuguese wine) we made our way outside to do some exploring.

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The Dubai Diaries: Hamptons Cafe

I’d like to try and feature a few more places in Dubai, as it’s becoming even more of a cultural hotspot, and new cafes and restaurants are opening every day. There are so many new places planned for this year alone, and I’m excited to see the city transform when the Dubai Canal is finally finished. It’s such a huge project but I’m hoping it will be well worth the traffic jams now when it’s finally unveiled!

As well as that there are plenty of up and coming new areas, such as the City Walk expansion and the Opera House, which will be showing theatre productions, concerts, exhibitions and opera of course.

One place that I’d been meaning to try out for quite a while is The Hamptons Cafe. It’s actually been open for almost 2 years, but I just haven’t got round to visiting.

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Located along Jumeirah Beach Road, it’s hard to miss when you pull up, as it’s covered in beautiful flowers and plants and has a gorgeous front terrace area, with beachy style sofas to relax in.

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May Roster

I feel like the months are rolling round quicker than ever, and just as spring has hit, it seems summer is only just around the corner!

I’m already imagining sitting outside in the beautiful May sunshine sipping on an aperol spritz and reading a good book…just perhaps not in Dubai where the temperatures are already in the 30’s at the end of April! So let’s see where I’ll be heading next month, of course this could always change last minute as I send or accept swaps for any of these flights.

  • MNL
  • BOM
  • FRA
  • BRU
  • MEL – AKL
  • LHR

Now let me dissect that a little bit – first up is a 30 hour layover in Manila, in the Philippines. I’m not sure if I’ll keep this flight as the area we stay is quite far from the airport and the city, which means it can take hours to get anywhere as the traffic is insane. I’ve been once before but I didn’t get up to too much!

Then is a quick daytime turnaround to Bombay, India, which is luckily my only turnaround flight in May. After that I have 24 hours in Frankfurt, which I’ve visited a few times. As a German speaker I usually get at least one German destination a month, and these flights are quite hard to swap when you’re the “official” language speaker.

After my Frankfurt and before my next flight I have a lovely string of days where my boyfriend and I are hoping to get away on a little holiday somewhere. We’re thinking of perhaps heading to Lisbon, unless you guys have any other suggestions? Then I’m off to Brussels, which is a first with Emirates, although I visited a few years ago when I went interrailing with my best friend Lucy. Perhaps I can squeeze in a visit to Bruges, as I’ve heard it’s a much nicer city than Brussels itself!

Next up is a 6 day trip to Melbourne and Auckland. If you’re a regular reader of my blog you’ll know I’m not a huge fan of these long multi-sector trips, as they’re exhausting and you tend to be completely jet lagged by the end! So fingers crossed I can swap that trip for something a little bit shorter.

Last but not least, how could a month go by without a trip to London Heathrow! Recently LHR has been appearing regularly on my roster, so it was no surprise to see it again.

There you have it, another month has flown by and tonight I’m off to Singapore, where I’m looking forward to eating some delicious Asian food and hopefully lapping up some sunshine by the pool (that’s if the thunderstorms stay away!). I’ve got a new book to take with me which I’ve just started, called “The Girl On The Train” which is already gripping and I’m only a couple of chapters in.

Hope you enjoyed seeing my roster for May, and as always feel free to leave any questions or comments down below!

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A Viennese Getaway

Recently I had a few days off in a row and decided a spontaneous trip was in order. I hadn’t seen my sister Lizzie & her boyfriend Jarett for a while and they’d just moved into a new flat in Vienna, Austria, so I booked my tickets and off I went!

After my flight from Hong Kong I had just a few hours to quickly get home, unpack, shower, re-pack and make my way to the airport, so I was hoping I remembered to take everything with me that I needed for the couple of days.

Lizzie had just arrived a few hours earlier on a flight from the UK where she’d been visiting our mum, so her and Jarett were already waiting at the airport when I arrived. Since it was evening and I’d been travelling all day, we headed straight to their apartment and did nothing more than catch up and chill out!

The next morning we were woken by the lovely sunshine streaming in through the curtains, and after breakfast at home we set out to do some exploring. Jarett (who is American) has a German course for a couple of hours every weekday so he made his way there and we arranged a meeting point for lunch a bit later on. Lizzie and I got on the bikes and cycled through the pretty streets of Vienna, making our way to the Prater.

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The Dubai Diaries: Hidden Gems

Even after almost 3 and a half years in Dubai, I’m still discovering new spots in town.

When my best friend Lucy came to visit last month, I took her to all of the usual sights (the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall, Desert Safari, Dubai Marina…etc!) but I also tried to include a few areas she might not have heard of.

We jumped in a taxi to the old Dubai, Bastakiya, located along the Creek. Here you can find the traditional old spice and gold souks, as well as lots of lovely little side streets.

The Dubai Museum is also located here and at only 3 dirhams per person, is a real bargain and worth it if you’re interested in the history of Dubai and how the UAE has developed from a small pearl-fishing spot to the metropolitan city it is today.

After having strolled through the old streets which house the traditional wind towers that were once used to keep the houses cool, we stopped for a coffee in the Arabian Tea house.

This is an absolutely charming little cafe, hidden inside a courtyard.

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It’s full of pretty flowers, wicker chairs, and white drapes floating in the breeze.

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