Tag Archives: Dubai

Flight Review: Dubai-Entebbe On Kenya Airways

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Kenya Airways is one of the most interesting airlines of Sky Team for its vast African network.  I used 20,000 Flying Blue miles each for our routes Dubai-Nairobi-Entebbe in economy.

Since we would have a full day of activities in Dubai, I figured we would be exhausted enough to get some sleep on the Dubai-Nairobi leg and I was right.  LOL, I’m a ghost of myself in this shot as we waited to board!

A few quick snaps of business class as we walked to our seats which were in the 3rd row of economy.

I wasn’t hungry but my husband ate the meal.  I was asleep pretty quickly.

I woke as we made final approach to Nairobi.

We had a few hours to kill so I walked around the shops but didn’t buy anything as I knew I would get better deals in the markets. 

My husband snagged an amenity kit as we disembarked and was now showing it off.  These are more his colours than mine so I let him keep it.  The socks are cute, maybe I’ll confiscate those!

Time to board the next flight to Entebbe.  This was a short flight, around an hour or so and the economy seat was fine.  I wouldn’t use miles on business unless it was long haul and a lie-flat seat.

Arriving in Entebbe, we had our visas printed out and $50 each ready to go, everything went smoothly.  I was pleased to see they take conservation seriously in Uganda!

Proudly displaying the national bird of Uganda, the Crested Crane in the arrival hall.

A little Weaverbird was the first bird to welcome us to Uganda. And now let the Godmother of All African Adventures begin!

48 Hours In Dubai

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It doesn’t sound like a lot of time, but this wasn’t our first visit to Dubai.  We had been there in 2006 and already done some of the touristy things like the dune-bashing and desert dinner in the desert so this time I know I wanted to eat some of my favourite Middle Eastern dishes, see a belly dance show for locals (not tourists) and shop!

Al Tannour in the Crowne Plaza Hotel has a delicious Lebanese fixed menu and an excellent show featuring a belly dancer and 2 singers.  We were the only tourists there and the locals in attendance were definitely in a party mood!  Everyone was up dancing by the end of the evening, including us!

Of course we had to pay a visit to the famous Gold Souk in Deira.  You can get there on the Metro.  I didn’t buy anything but I did have a gold ring repaired at a bargain price.

Then we had some yummy Persian food at Sadaf which was walking distance from our hotel.

The Dubai Museum in the fort has been vastly improved since I was there last and has some wonderful dioramas of Arabic lifestyles and traditions.

Near the museum/fort is Al Fahidi Street which has some really cool ladies clothing shops.

There are also some souvenir type shops near the creek.  I might have bought one of these lamps if I didn’t have to lug it around Africa!  This same area also has some money changers who stock African currencies.  I got some Ethiopian Birr, but struck out on Uganda Shillings and Zambian Kwacha.  The other thing I stocked up on was Doxycycline for malaria prevention.

The shopping continued at DXB airport in the transit area as we waited for our red-eye flight to Nairobi on KQ.

Hotel Review: Ibis Al Rigga, Dubai

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I had some Le Club Accor points to burn and we just needed a well-located budget hotel to crash at night so I chose the Ibis Al Rigga, Dubai when Accor was running one of their sales.  They don’t always accept points during these sales but luckily for me they did on this one and breakfast was included!  The location is excellent, just 5 minutes walk from a Metro station.

It’s a decent budget hotel, really it’s the location that makes the place.

The staff are very friendly and were happy to make phone calls for me to check on restaurants so we wouldn’t have a huge phone bill.  They also gave us a late check out and kept our bags after check out as we didn’t have to go to the airport until 11pm.  I chose this hotel intending to use the Metro to go everywhere but that plan fell apart after the heat got the best of me and the Metro proved to be rather crowded, at least crowded enough to make getting a seat difficult.  We used Uber to go everywhere using the hotel wifi and that  worked really well.

Hotel Review: Holiday Inn Internet City, Dubai

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We just needed a cheap and cheerful room for free on points as I knew we would be arriving around 2 am and found a good option using IHG Rewards at the Holiday Inn Express Internet City in Dubai.  It was one of the cheaper ones at 20k IHG points and also had a free shuttle to Mall of the Emirates.

We weren’t really that tired as we pulled up in the Etihad car as we slept well on the plane. 

The room was really nice, especially for a HIX which is at the budget end of the chain.

We enjoyed the breakfast buffet which was free, even on a points stay!

The shuttle minibus to Mall of the Emirates was being serviced so after a bit of coaxing, they paid for a taxi to take us and one other guest to the mall.  We passed the Burj al Arab on the way. 

Once at Mall of the Emirate, I made sure we complied with the dress code-we did.

I really wanted to try the Discover Ski lesson at Ski Dubai since I have never tried to ski in my life.  Unfortunately there was a public holiday giving locals a 3 day weekend and the place was packed!  We would have had a 3-4 hour wait and I didn’t want to hang around the mall all day so we just watched for a while.

Shake Shack for lunch, we don’t have this in Australia but I love their burgers and shakes!

Most of the mall shops were just like you would find in any large city shopping mall with an emphasis on luxury brands.  We walked around a bit, then decided to get the metro to Deira where our next hotel was booked.