Well what a mad 48 hours we’ve had in hot hot Dubai!

After a long day of flights, Cambodia to Singapore, a few hours in the airport then Singapore to Dubai, we were totally shattered by the time we finally checked into our hotel and pretty much crawled into our beds! 

Jet lag woke us up bright and early at 4am 😫 so we were down at breakfast as soon at the hotel restaurant opened! Now we were meant to be having a chill out day by the pool but we just couldn’t sit still, we were itching to explore this fascinating city! So we booked onto a bus tour as we thought that would be a relaxing way of seeing all the big sites!

As soon as we walked out of the hotel we were hit with the 38 degree heat, no worries we thought we’re just sitting on a bus! Oh my, it was fabulous to see this dazzling city which really does remind me of the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz. So many towering mirrored skyscrapers, each one unique and just magnificent! But boy the heat really did take it out of us, well that combined with travel tiredness creeping in after lunch we didn’t get quite round to seeing everything we wanted.

But we did see the Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest building, at 830mts tall it dominates the skyline, we also made it to the world famous palm, the Dubai mall, and through the old Port area full of souks. We’ll just have to come back with more time!

Today has been my birthday and being the final day of our travels I booked us in on a crazy half day in the desert! We were picked up early and driven out of Dubai for about an hour, where we had a go on quad bikes over the sandy dunes, some dune bashing, which is basically our crazy guide driving his land rover like a mad man, up, down in circles all over the dunes, the girls Loved it! We stopped in the middle of nowhere to take some pictures, and it was stunning! Ripples in the sand and miles and miles of ever changing sand dunes being shaped by the winds. Tufts of vegetation  here and there and camels from nearby farms gracefully walking along!

After we had finished being spun around and the car being showered in sand, we finished off the trip with a bumpy camel ride before heading back to the city before the temperatures in the desert got too ridiculous! A birthday to remember!

We are now all completely shattered, we have packed our bags for the final time and had bubble baths to wash the sand from bodies ready for our return to the Uk tomorrow!

I am a muddle of emotions, sadness that it’s coming to an end but also crazy excitement of returning home!

We’re so thankful for all the experiences we’ve had, for the new friends we’ve made along the way and for everything we’ve learnt and seen. We truly have been so lucky!

Traveling has not only given us the opportunity to see some amazing and beautiful parts of our planet but also taught us to open our minds to many different ways of life, beliefs and perspectives of others. It has forced us to communicate in new languages, try different foods, and to have courage when stepping outside our comfort zones and try something new.

Most importantly in my mind we have learnt and adjusted to each other as a family, there have been some times when we’ve driven each other crazy, but these have soon been forgotten and we’ve been able to share such incredible highs.
We all know each other a little better now that’s for sure!

We return to England with empty bank accounts but full hearts and minds full of incredible memories.

What an adventure it has been!  Xxxx