Location: Dubai

I travelled to Dubai, UAE for a total of 4 days in February 2016. Dubai is a state within the United Arab Emirates and this was my first time leaving the European continent. I arrived early in the morning after my flight from the UK, and after waiting in the lobby for a few hours I was able to check-in at lunchtime. After leaving my suitcase in the room I used the metro across the city to the Marina area.

Skydive Dubai

I walked around the Dubai marina area and had a look at some of the luxury boats and yachts in the area before making my way to the Skydive Dubai. There is more than just skydiving to do here tho, and I would be flying around the city in a gyrocopter for 25 minutes. This was great fun and definitely a good way to get an alternative view of this interesting city from the air. If you are interested in doing this it can be booked here.

Ski Dubai

After spending some time back at the hotel to rest, I made my way to the Mall of the Emirates in the evening to the Ski Dubai slope. There are many activities here too and not just skiing, they include things like:

• Skiing
• Zip Line
• Zorbing(Rolling down a hill inside a ball)
• Penguin Viewing
• Kids area

Whilst I was here I had a go on the zip line as well as going to the top of the ski slope on the chairlift. The temperature inside is maintained at -4°C degrees.

My video from this day can be found here:

Dubai city tour

The 2nd day I spent in Dubai I had a full day city tour. We visited The Palm Atlantis hotel, Burj Al Arab hotel by the beach, Dubai Museum, crossed the Dubai creek and visited Souk markets. In the afternoon we visited the tallest building in the world the Burj Khalifa, where we had tickets to the the top. The view from here allows the ultimate view of the city and you can really see how the city has grown in the desert.

Just next to the Burj Khalifa is the Dubai Mall, this is the largest mall in the world by total area. I didn't do any shopping whilst here but another main feature here is the under water zoo and aquarium. There is also a crocodile inside here and that is a unique experience thats for sure.

My video from this day can be found here:

Desert safari

My final full day in Dubai i did a desert safari excursion. After hotel pickup, 7 of us including the driver of the jeep made our way out of the city and headed towards the desert. The drivers are experienced in off road driving and were able to get some good speed to make an enjoyable experience. We took a couple of breaks, one was to hold a falcon, and another to try sand boarding down a big dune. In the evening some of the group tried camel riding before we ate a barbecue dinner watching the sunset.

Dubai desert sand dunes at sunset.

My video from this day can be found here:

The following day I had my flight to catch so i just relaxed around the hotel before my airport transfer came to pick me up. I enjoyed my time in Dubai and perhaps could have done another full day to join more optional excursions but I still feel it was worth it for a short trip. The Emirates flight even in economy is very spacious and was enjoyable with lots of in-flight entertainment.