Dubai and Abu Dhabi

The flight to Abu Dhabi was very bumpy to say the least but we arrived safely in Abu Dhabi at long last. The transfer to Dubai was another couple of hours and by the time we were in bed it was 3am. However it was a very grand hotel room so it was worth the wait.

We paid for a deal at the hotel which gave us access to the exclusive club lounge, breakfast for two days, unlimited drinks and snacks in the evening (they called it "happy hour") and internet access for the equivalent of about £50 so enjoyed a delicious buffet breakfast overlooking the city.

Our first stop of the day was to the top of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. It really was a sight to see - so tall we really struggled to fit it into a picture. We then wandered around the biggest shopping mall in the world. It was so big we barely covered half of it and it was absolutely deserted - Gerard commented that he wouldn't mind shopping if it could always be like that. Afterwards we checked out the gold souk market which was much more boisterous with everyone trying to sell you something. We then took an abra, which is a water taxi, across Dubai Creek for the cost of 15 p, walked along Jumeirah public beach and stopped for a nosy in the Jumeirah beach hotel (looked very nice).

We grabbed a quick bite to eat in another shopping mall (Dubai Mall) which also hosted the world's largest indoor ski slope. It had a chair lift! We then took the metro back to the hotel for happy hour which consisted of free snacks and drinks. We went through over a bottle of Champagne together. After that we headed back to the Burj to watch the musical fountain show which was breath-taking!



The next morning when we headed for breakfast the waitress greeted us by saying, "Good morning Mr Gerard," which just made his day.

Abu Dhabi seemed nothing special on the way in so we decided just to lounge by the pool all day in the 30+ heat! We again upgraded to have happy hour and breakfast which consisted of some snacks and drinks.It was a lovely relaxing end to the holiday followed by a stunning breakfast the next morning with the biggest selection of food you can imagine. We are currently waiting at the gate to board the plane home. Speak to you all after we land.