Please forgive my absence on the blogging front, but I've just returned from a little jaunt across the Gulf.
On Thursday morning, Jemma and I hopped in a cab to Hamad Int Airport, climbed aboard our FlyDubai freebie flight and jetted off to Dubai!
(Obligatory giant airport bear photo. Nobody knows quite what the point of the bear is, but it definitely symbolises escaping from the sandpit!)
No sooner had we taken off when we found ourselves decending into DXB. It was almost like we had just driven an hour out of Doha - everything looked exactly the same, except someone had turned up the heat. Where Doha has started to lose the unbearable humidity, Dubai is still very much in the midst of summer.
We jumped in a cab and drove the 40 or so minutes to our hotel, the Westin, drinking in the view out of the window. Once we had checked in, we headed straight to the pool bar for a salad and a complimentary glass of wine.
First port of call after lunch was a trip to the Heavenly Spa. Jem and I had decided to kick off our trip with one hour Heavenly Massages. We slipped into the most amazing fluffy robes and were led through to our respective treatment rooms for an hour of pure pampering.
Zen-like, we headed up to our room to check out our home for the next 4 nights.
Comfiest bed, ever!
The sunset from our balcony was beautiful.
Dinner on the first night was at Blue Jade, an Asian restaurant in the Ritz. We put on our glad rags and headed out, stopping for a few hotel photos on the way
At the restaurant, we ordered so much food. Sea bass for Jemma, coconut king prawn curry for me, and Phad Thai noodles with rice to share.
The food was beautifully presented and so delicious, and the staff were very sweet and so attentive without being intrusive. It was a little lacking in atmosphere but I'd highly recommend Blue Jade all the same.
After dinner we went for a cocktail in Buddha Bar - this place looked amazing for dinner! We had tried to book but as it was the start of the weekend it was full. The place was buzzing when we arrived, and after one drink we decided to venture on somewhere else as it was so packed with nowhere to stand.
Our final stop of the night was Barasti, a beach bar / sports bar that was absolutely packed with an amazing atmosphere. We bumped into Paul and Ollie almost straight away who became our new BFFs for the night.
They are also entirely to blame for how ill I felt the next day on my birthday, as they insisted we try 'Bullfrogs' which are a lethal combination of pretty much every spirit behind the bar, and toxic blue in colour.
We prematurely celebrated my birthday on the beach as the clock struck midnight with birthday cheers and the dreaded Bullfrogs!
Feeling exhausted, hot, and drunk, we decided to call it a night at around 1:30am and headed back to the hotel after a brilliant first day in Dubai :)
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