D-vitamin break in Dubai 🌞

Autumn was quite hard last year in terms of sicknesses, so I really needed to escape somewhere warm. My first taught was Tenerife, but it was actually cheaper to go to Dubai. We actually stayed about 1 hour drive from Dubai in Ras Al Khaimah. It felt like driving to in the middle of nowhere 😁. The area was artificially built and mainly for big hotel chains and tourists. I choose this area first because it was cheaper and secondly there were activities for kids and kids pool. I also wanted the hotel to be by the beach. In central Dubai it can cost quite some money to have all these criteria's filled. 

Great sunsets from the room

FLIGHT

We flew there with Emirates and it was great. About 7 hours from Copenhagen. Nolan was pretty occupied by watching cartoons and Logan somehow also either was sleeping or entertained by sth. They also gave out different goodie bags for kids and took polaroid picture of families with children. On the way back one seat with bassinet was even assigned to us (without paying more), but we declined it since it is better to sit all 3 in the same row. This time we could use the Stokke luggage that can be made as a bed and it was quite nice for both kids. 

Airport

WEATHER

Why I also chose Dubai over Tenerife is that it was warmer in this time of the year. We went beginning of November and the temperature just started to fall below 30 degrees. It was actually perfect weather, not so hot and not so cold. It was even raining one night. I think it had been not raining for live ever. Only one day when we were in central Dubai it felt too hot to be outside with small kids, otherwise it was perfect. Also at night, we did not have to put on long sleeves and there were no mosquitos. If I could complain, then the water at the pool could have been warmer. 

Pool view

Last day both kids made it to water

HOTEL

I was in between Radisson and Hilton. Since I had just heard the podcast about Business Wars - Marriot vs Hilton, then I had strong desire to experience the Hilton. Let´s say that I did not have to disappoint in terms of quality, it was in line with 5* hotels expectations. What could have been better was the a la carte food. We do have now quite high expectations from Amari hotel´s in Koh Samui and Maldives, so maybe it was just about us! 😁 

Logan had some fun with the smart light system

Great view from the room

Link to the hotel website: https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/rktmahx-hampton-marjan-island/

FOOD & Drinks

We chose breakfast and dinner, and during lunch time we visited either one of the 2 restaurants or a food truck at the beach. It was a good choice, since the a la carte food tends to repeat. You could have burger, pizza, fries, nuggets, from the food truck and the price was quite reasonable. The 2 restaurants were a bit more expensive, but standard was also higher. Still slightly cheaper than eating out in Denmark. 

Sushi at one of the restaurants

I was warned that alcohol is expensive, that is why I a bit considered all inclusive option that has unlimited alcohol in it. The aim of the vacation was not to be wasted all day every day and we had small kids so I did not plan to drink much. Actually the prices of alcohol were quite reasonable, definitely cheaper than in Denmark. They also had an offer that bottle of sparkling wine cost around 160 DKK (25 EUR) and class of Aperol you could get below 10 EUR. 

Drinks by the pool

There was also small store at the hotel from where you could buy essentials. We mainly bought some snacks to Nolan from there. We had taken all the diapers, formula and baby food to Logan from Denmark. The hotel also offered daily bus service to got to the bigger mall close by. Looking back we should have done it during first day and bought all snacks from there. They also said that there is a bigger store at walking distance but we never maid it there. 

Breakfast for one, waffles were the best!

KIDs ACTIVITIES

A definite plus was that there was a kids club at the hotel. Nolan was a bit sick at the beginning of the trip and Logan had just recovered from sickness, so I did not want them to be at the pool so much. Nolan actually was not even so obsessed about the beach and pool either, so it was good that there was small outside playground and indoor kids club where they did different activities with children. Kids above 4y of age could stay there also without the parent. Since Nolan wanted to stay there and I wanted to be outside by the pool then I just left my contact info. Only once they reached out to me via WhatsApp, to come pick him up. 

Nolan playing in the kids room

In the evenings there was kids disco. Nolan was not so obsessed about it but still was running around and later on singing those disco songs. 

Such an entertainment one evening for kids😁

For grown-up there were also different activities, mainly some sports. I participated water aerobics and yoga couple of times. It was quite nice. Bigger kids also had some swimming activities in the pool. 

Sunset yoga by the beach

Day trip to DUBAI

Once we already made it there, I also wanted to visit Dubai city center. We booked a trip and could also purchase car seats for kids. There was just one other young could in the mini van besides us. It was pretty simple trip in that sense that we were dropped of to the city center by the huge Dubai mall in the morning and then picked up in the evening. The annoying thing was that on both ways we were suck in the traffic jam so it took about 2 time as long as without. Logan fell a sleep on both ways but due to extension of the drive woke up in the end and it took some energy from Kevin to keep him not crying. It was quite funny to see that local people who were stuck in traffic are pretty used to it since most of them were watching some series or movie from the phone while driving (not sure if that is the safest though). Most of the drivers were also man.  

Quite a tall building 😁

View at the sunset

Night view

My original plan was to watch the fountain show and walk around the area, but since the weather was quite warm for small kids and Nolan was quite cranky about walking, then we spent most of the day inside the mall. 🙈 I should have done a bit more homework about the different activities in the mall since it is huge and we were just walking around and hoping to find some kids playground. 

Fountain show during a day! (Music is different every time)

The main activity is visiting the worlds tallest skyscraper, but somehow I did not really feel like going up there. I have visited quite many of those while in Shanghai and it was quite expensive, more than 100 eur per person. The fountain show was great, during day time there was less people but it was not so cool since it was not dark. When the lights turn on and it is dark then it is big difference. If I could go again then I would buy the water walk ticket and sit there and watch since there are so many people around the water and they start gathering very early. The water walk ticket was not much. 

Light tunnel

The mall have a huge aquarium so that could also be something to visit. We ended up in such a place called Kidzania. This is basically the whole city built for children where they could try out different activities and get paid for it. At first Nolan did not like there since the activity is done only by the kid and he wanted me to come along. Somehow he calmed down and then it was difficult to convince him to leave. Overall I think he was maybe a bit young for this, but he enjoyed. Kids could try to be pilot, firefighter, doctor, shop assistant, even make real food for the parents in the mini version of MacDonalds. I helped Nolan to get his driving license and I was pretty happy that I got more answers correct that the local Arabic dad! 😁 Definitely a place worth visiting again. I think it is only present in some countries around the world. 

City for kids

Nolan the constriction worker

Overall I am pretty happy about our trip. I have secretly been a bit obsessed about Dubai and even thought that it would be great to work there, but now I am crossing it out, I kind of expected a bit more from it. The Asian big cities have left a bigger impression to me. Even though we had 2 small kids with us, I can say that I even rested. Maybe also because Kevin was willing to take all the naps in the hotel room while I sunbathed and swam! 😁 Staying in the same place also helps to relax, since moving around with small kids is quite exhausting. 

Me on vacation

Kevin on vacation 😁