Dubai

I travelled out to Dubai courtesy of the Dubai Tourist board along with another 100+ travel agents from around the UK. We were flown out and back with Emirates airlines. A superb way to start the holiday! The direct services from many UK airports make Dubai accessible in around 7 hours and the inflight entertainment system makes sure that the 7 hours fly by. The staff are extremely friendly, the cabins are set with mood lighting which help adjust to the time zone you are flying into, extremely good for the onward connecting flights from Dubai to the rest of the world.

On arrival in Dubai we were taken to our hotel where we were to stay for 3 nights. There was 4 different hotels which were used for the group and I stayed at the Habtoor Grand Resort & Spa, a 4* property on Dubai beach. The hotel had 2 swimming pools, a spa, a variety of restaurants and a excellent 'chill out' zone which I used at the end of the evening to relax in the gardens on large bean bags whilst taking in some of the different flavoured hubba bubba pipes.

Whilst in Dubai we had a hectic schedule and fitted in lots of hotel visits, as well as some amazing excursions.

A particular favourite whilst in Dubai was a Dhow cruise along the Dubai Creek. This was a early evening cruise taken just as Dubai was lighting up. Then my favourite experience by far in Dubai was the Desert Safari where we headed out into the desert in 4x4 cars. At the start the tyres are let down to allow you to ride the dunes - very exhilarating and certainly an adrenaline rush! When we had more than we could take of this we headed down to the campsite where we were entertained and fed from the BBQ with local delights.

Shopping - well we were in Dubai so of course had to fit some shopping in, so on a couple of the evenings when we had some spare time we headed down to the Karama to buy our 'designer goods'. It was a fun experience being taken through 'a cupboard, in a wall' where all the 'designer' bags, watches and goods are kept. Another night, as Dubai is non stop, we were in Mall of the Emirates at 1am in the morning still shopping!!!! It literally was 'shop until you drop'!

All in all a very hectic but thoroughly enjoyable 4 days in the city that never sleeps, but the experience of just being there, seeing all the different cultures working together so well was simply fantastic.