Dubai in whY oh whY

[yld200]

Hi All,

The is my first attempt at a trip report so I'll do my best but feel free to give me any tips / pointers along the way

Background
My wife and I had been planning a trip to Dubai to go and visit my sister and her kids for a while but we weren't too sure exactly when to go and how to fit it in with our other travel plans. Originally we thought we might do a trip to Europe later in the year and do a stopover in Dubai but we quickly worked out that this wasn't going to work out due to my annual leave balance and other travel plans we have in mind. So we decided to take a 'shorter' trip to Dubai this in the first quarter this year to tick that off the list and focus on Europe next year.

Planning
My sister works for Emirates as a flight attendant in F so I have access to cheap standby flights on EK which is great since there are 3 flights daily from MEL > DXB. We were originally looking to travel over the Easter period to catch the public holidays but this was a no go due to the loads looking pretty heavy in both directions. We then locked in the first week of March which happened to coincide with our friends travelling to Dubai at the same time. With the loads looking light we were excited and ready to roll. My ticket cost $350 return (standby) and the wife’s was $1000 return (special confirmed ticket) – My wife doesn’t get access to the standby tickets but overall on short notice I thought the total cost was reasonable.

My sister lives at the JBR Marina so we will be staying with her for 4 nights and then staying at the Marina View Hotel Apartments on the other side of the Marina for 4 nights.

The Trip
We would be flying out of Melbourne on EK409 which departs at 3.30am. Originally this flight was supposed to be on an A380 however when I checked the loads a few nights before it had changed to a 777 with very light loads - over 130 empty seats in Y and 20 in J so I was pretty confident that I would get a boarding pass. A little disappointed with the aircraft change but oh well. I checked us both in the night before and selected seat 44G for the wife with 44D, E & F all empty. I tried to select a seat for myself but at this time it only gave me a standby receipt so I would still have to wait.

We knocked off work that day and had to drive to my cousin’s house to drop off our pup for the week and then made our way back home. Wife had already done most of her packing but I like to leave it to the night before or the night of – I just prefer it this way. While packing away I thought I’d quickly check my booking online again and yes there it was! It gave me a seat number and I knew I was on. I quickly changed my seat to 44D with all 3 still free at this stage.

With our bags packed, pup taken care of and house secure we made our way to Melbourne airport around midnight. The check in counter was pretty empty at this time and we both got our boarding passes straight away. The check in agent had to confirm with a senior staff member if it was ok to give me my boarding pass since I was on staff travel and away we went. Melbourne airport was like a ghost town at this time of night - all of the shops except for Hungry Jacks and that coffee shop in the middle of the gate area were closed. We had some time to kill so we found some comfy couches airside to just sit and relax before our flight. Closer to our departure time we made our way to the boarding gate where I was paged for some reason. A little voice inside my head popped up and thought this hasn’t happened before… Am I getting upgraded? Maybe I’m getting upgraded? J was light so maybe they’re upgrading me? No I didn’t get upgraded, they just had to remove a lock from my boarding pass before they started boarding .

Time for our flight – Boarding started at 3.15am so we made our way on board. Wife had 44G and I had 44D with two shadows between us which we thought was great. We pushed back at 3.32am and to my left there were 3 empty seats so I quickly snapped them up giving the wife 4 seats to herself and I had 3. Menus were handed out along with hot towels before take-off which was at 3.50am.

Some photos



We weren’t sure what the meal service was going to be since it was such an awkward flight but the menu made sense. The snack was served around 40 minutes into the flight and was a small croissant with some pesto chicken – sorry no photo. It was pretty tasty but nothing more than just a little filler. Most people had fallen asleep by the time this was served so it was a quick service by the crew. I then laid down across my three seats and had a little snooze after watching a movie.

Around 2.5 hours out of KL, they turned the lights back on and started the breakfast service. The options were scrambled eggs or a vegetable frittata. I went with the frittata because I wanted the chicken sausage with my meal. When I first looked at the meal I though that the frittata looked pretty artificial but it was really actually really tasty and a nice meal. The frittata was served with a chicken sausage, some beans and mushrooms with a side of fruit and a croissant. Overall I thought it was a nice meal.



We landed in KL at 8am local time with a short 1.5hr stop over. We decided to go for a bit of a stroll through the terminal to stretch the legs and check out the duty free shops. We arrived back at the gate around 8.45, went through a security check and started to board at 9am. We pushed back at 9.35am with take-off at 9.47am. Here is a shot I got of the bird while waiting in the boarding area.



We had 44D and 44G again for the leg from KL > DXB. The flight was a little fuller for this leg so we had to manage with the 4 seats between the two of us. Again they handed out hot towels and Menus upon boarding. Lunch was served soon after take-off. Menu below.



I had the Perch while wife had the Curry. I wasn’t too impressed with the Perch, it tasted too fishy, was mushy and the sauce was too gluggy. Over all wasn’t very satisfying - I really enjoyed the cake though =) Wife liked her meal but I didn’t get to try any.

We managed to get some shut eye on the flight and had some turbulence around the half way point of flight which wasn’t too bad. They served the snack around 2 hours out of Dubai which was a small Turkey roll which was a bit bland, nothing special overall. We landed in Dubai at 12.35, 20 minutes ahead of schedule and made our way to the smart gate. Lined up at smart gate for non-registered visitors which is off to the left side of passport. They weren’t even using smart gate, they had a customs officer checking each person although they had all these shiny new smart gate machines. Anyway, by the time we made it through our bags were there and off we went.

Overall the flights were good mainly because of the extra seats we were able to take advantage of and get some sleep. I usually struggle with sleeping on flights and struggle making myself comfortable. The 777’s are certainly starting to get outdated, the entertainment screen is unresponsive at times and it's pretty poor quality is pretty poor.

 

[yld200]

More to come including some sight seeing, shopping and food!

 

[JessicaTam]

Interesting that the flight was originally an A380. I have flown this flight a few times and it has always been a 777.

 

[yld200]

I swear I thought when I started looking at loads that this flight was an A380 and even my sister mentioned this when booking, but I've just looked back at my screenshots of the loads and you're right it was alway a 777. My mistake

 

[JessicaTam]

I swear I thought when I started looking at loads that this flight was an A380 and even my sister mentioned this when booking, but I've just looked back at my screenshots of the loads and you're right it was alway a 777. My mistake

No worries. Sitting in Y they all look the same!

 

[kermatu]

Thanks for the report so far. A friend of mine took this flight (MEL-KUL-DXB) a few months ago. She was the only person (albeit in F on an award booking) that night and hardly ate anything (not surprising given the time). But interesting to hear that even Y is often relatively empty.

 

[Bindibuys]

Looking forward to some Dubai tips.

 

[pythonisman]

Nice write up.
I've never been so lucky as to have a whole row in Y but how did you find it for sleeping?

 

[yld200]

After clearing through customs, my sister, brother in-law and nephew were waiting for us. We hopped in the car and made our way down Sheik Zayed Road to the Dubai Marina. Being a Friday afternoon which their holiday and the start of the weekend the roads were pretty quiet. They live in the Murjan block of apartments which is just a few minutes walk from the beach and the ‘Marina Walk’. After catching up with the family, a shower and a little bit of food, we decided to take a stroll down to the walk.
We made our way down to the walk near Movenpick Hotel and there was a big group of people around, we tried to check it out but couldn’t really see what was happening so just decided to start walking down in the direction of the Hilton. After a few meters of walking all these guys in traditional dishdash clothing were around me and when I looked to my right the Sheikh of Dubai was around 2 meters away from me walking in the same direction. We were suddenly surrounded by all these people that included his entourage and fan boys and girls running around taking pictures. That’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in the brown dishdash.



There were some fanboy and jaw dropping oh my god moments when people realised who he was and what all the fuss was about.

We continued on and made our way past a few restaurants and once we passed the Hilton Hotel we crossed over to the walk which has been completed since I was last in Dubai (2013). There are a number of restaurants here which are full on most nights. They’ve done really well and made it look like a really cool area being right on the beach, with cafes style places, restaurants and drinks and ice cream along the walk.

You can still see that there’s a lot of construction going on in these photos. In the last photo below is where they’re building a wheel attraction which is supposed to be bigger than the London eye. There are also a number of hotels being built in the same area. The actual ground it’s being built on is a man-made extension from the mainland.



I really like this area of Dubai, it's really clean, lots of families around, lots of places to choose from for food and the overall vibe is really positive. Hotels are a bit pricey here, most places along the beach area anywhere from $300-500 per night but you can also pick up apartments on Air BnB and Trip Advisor that will be more more price friendly for some.

 

[yld200]

Nice write up.
I've never been so lucky as to have a whole row in Y but how did you find it for sleeping?

It's better than having one seat that's for sure. I'm 6'3 so when laying down accross the 3 seats I still found myself waking up every now and then really wanting to stretch my legs out. We also had a bit of turbulence at one point so I was asked to put my seatbelt on which is really awkward to do if you want to stay laying down. Overall it was good that I could spread out but I think overall I only managed 4-5 hours sleep in total which is more than normal is Y

 

[UP4014]

Always good to get the extra seats, makes the difference.

 

[yld200]

The next morning we got up early had a light breakfast in and made plans to meet with our friends at Dubai Mall. We walked over the Marina to the DAMAC properties metro station which has a walk bridge over Sheik Zayed Rd from the Marina side. The metro trains run every 4 minutes in both directions and the cost from DAMAC properties to the Durj Dubai / Dubai Mall station costs 5.80 Dhs in each direction. My sister had spare cards that we loaded with some credit for me and the wife. Our friends had to buy cards which by memory cost 20 Dhs and it came loaded with 14 Dhs credit. There is also a first class carriage which has some slightly more comfy looking chairs and has no direct access from the standard class - the plebs in Y can’t stray across classes. There’s also a female carriage which is marked in pink and is only for women or women with kids. The Metro runs mainly above ground but there's also an underground section in the downtown area.

The 2 shots below are the entrance to the DAMAC properties station on the JBR side and the view of the Burj Al Arab from the metro on the way to Dubai Mall.



It’s around a 15-20 minute trip to the Dubai Mall / Burj Dubai stop and then there’s a 5 minute walk to the mall itself. The walk is all enclosed and has some of those flat travelators to help you get the mall. Walking to the mall we could see all of this construction going on all around the Dubai Mall and Burj Dubai, I find it amazing how much building there is actually going on everywhere. Look at all that steel and concrete!



When we finally made it to the mall we made our way to the Aquarium to meet our friends. You have to pay extra to get on the other side of the rope right up next to the glass and there’s also a walk way through the aquarium which is also extra.



After our walk we wanted to have some authentic Arabic cuisine so we made our way up to Al Hallab restaurant which is up near the waterfall and sat down on the balcony with a view of the Burj and fountains. We were the only ones in the restaurant at 12pm by which point we were pretty hungry. Other people slowly made their way in and the restaurant was fairly full when we left after 1. I didn’t take many photos here (my bad) so I pinched some photos off Zomato to give you an idea of the food. They brought out a bread basket which was an amazing puffed up Arabic bread and some Olives. We had Hummus to start and a salad between the four of us as a starter and as main I had the mixed grill (actual photo). The Hummus wasn’t bad but not the best I had on this trip, it lacked the traditional nutty and smoky flavour that I’ve had previously. The bread was definitely a winner and they kept topping it up as we went. The mixed grill was pretty good as well, the meat tasted fresh and was tender. The bill came to 288 Dhs which included 4 mains, 2 serve of Hummus, a salad and some drinks which I thought was quite reasonable.



Our view from the Balcony. Interestingly the fountains here were built by the same company that did the Bellagio fountains. They do a fountain show every few hours, the night ones are meant to be better than the day ones.



We then had another walk around the mall and man this place is enormous. There are 4 levels with each section of each level having a theme like high end fashion, electronics, gold, shoes and everything else. If the aquarium isn’t your thing then you can also go ice skating at the ice skating rink which is down the other end of the mall next to the fountains. We mainly window shopped and popped into a few places but found the prices really expensive compared to back home. There were no sales on either so we really didn’t find any bargains which was disappointing because I enjoy a good shop while on holiday. After a while we called it a day and made our way back to the apartment for a rest before dinner.

 

[Renato1]

There were no sales on either so we really didn’t find any bargains which was disappointing because I enjoy a good shop while on holiday. After a while we called it a day and made our way back to the apartment for a rest before dinner.

Thanks for the entertaining thread.

The shopping malls are a lot dearer now that the dollar has dropped, and according to my wife, one could get better deals back home in Australia.

If you want to find bargains (especially fragrances), ignore the malls and go to the street shops. The area in the old town below the Gold Souk down to and just past Baniyas Square area has thousands of such shops, where there still plenty of bargains. If it's too hot during the day, go at night - it is very safe.

We had a great fun walk from the Gold Souk to Baniyas Square one night where, despite having what I thought was a detailed map, I seemed to get totally lost every block. But I kept asking for directions till I got there.

Or there may be big street shop areas somewhere near where you are staying.
Regards,
Renato

 

[yld200]

Continuing on from above, for dinner that night we went to Souk Madinat Jumeirah which is a market place which has been created to feel ancient and traditional with some canals that run around the market place. We went here during the another day so I’ll go into some more detail later. Anyway there are quite a few restaurants around here which are a part of a hotel / resort so they also sell alcohol. There are a few restaurants around here and we chose a Persian place called Anar. We had some Hummus as a starter with a salad – the Hummus was really nice and they served it with fresh warm Arabic bread. The mains were very meat heavy, I had a lamb dish which had two different types of lamb and my wife had a dish with two steaks. The meals here are very heavily seasoned with pepper. Overall the meals were nothing special but we had a very nice view of the Burj while sitting next to one of the canals.



Interestingly they had a chain of The Meat and Wine Co. 2 restaurants down from where we ate except it’s called The Meat Co. They drop the wine from the name since they aren’t allowed to publicly advertise alcohol hence the name change.

 

[yld200]

The next day we started off at the Gold Souk where you can buy anything in gold.

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If it’s gold you want, it’s gold you’ll find here. We even saw a female top made from gold here. You also have the guys coming up and touting you here asking if you want to look at watches, handbags, wallets, etc. We kindly declined all offers and just walked around just browsing. If you walk into the Souk at the main entrance which is the first picture, turn right at the T and walk down to the first main street then take a left and follow the street you’ll end up at the Spice Souk. Here you can all kinds of different spices and different knick knacks.

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Once we had a walk through the Spice Souk we popped out and crossed the road to catch an Abra across Dubai Creek. The Abra costs 1Dhs per person and runs every few minutes. It takes you across to the Textile Souk one the other side of the creek. The photo on the right is me on the Abra – no safety here!

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After walking through the Textile Souk and dodging all of the guys trying to make you buy stuff we sat down at Bait Al Wakeel which is in a great location right on the creek. The food here was great and cheap, after drinks, entrees and mains for 4 people the bill came to around $100 Aud. I had the pastry dish which had meat and cheese in it and the wife had a seafood salad – both were great.

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View from the top of the restaurant where the restrooms are.

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[yld200]

After lunch we walked to the Al Ghubaib metro station and caught the metro to Dubai Mall for some more shopping. Just another mall with a ski slope in the middle of it. Here we walked around a bit and had some coffee and a small snack which was considered to be dinner.

Here are some shots of the Marina that I took while walking back to the apartment.

 

[yld200]

Haven’t posted in a few days – been busy with work and Easter.

Continuing on:
The following morning we woke up and decided to go for a walk down to ‘the walk’ for breakfast. We went to a place called Eggspectations. I had the bacon and eggs with beef bacon and wife went with the Bruschetta as a light option. Also had an Americano coffee which tasted like nescafe. They asked if I wanted the eggs soft, medium or well done, I opted for the medium. The meal was nice and the potatoes on the side were amazing.




We then took a walk along the beach



Yep camels on the beach for tourist trips along the beach. Not sure how much they cost, we just walked past.

We then went to Ibn Battuta Mall with my sister to run some errands. While we were there we saw this guy with a small table in the mall who will write your name down on some paper in Arabic for free. There’s sign behind him which says he does it to put a smile on your face. My sister thinks that he might get paid something from the tourism department of Dubai, but also takes tips and sells small frames that fit the paper for 30 Dhs.



Some more photos of the mall. Each section is meant to represent a region that Ibn Battuta traveled.

 

[yld200]

We then went back to JBR to have a drink with our friends. We sat down at Smokey Beach had a drink each, some French fries and shared a shisha together. The bill came to around 300 Dhs which was quite expensive in comparison to some of our meals elsewhere.

We then caught a cab to Souk Medinat to have a bit of a walk around during the day. We caught a cab from JBR and the taxi driver took us down Sheik Zayed road which included a toll as well and came to 40 Dhs. On the way back we went down along the beach which took the same time, no toll and cost 25 Dhs.

Some photos from the shops at Souk Medinat.



After walking around a bit we ended up going back to my sisters place for some rest.

For dinner that night we went to a restaurant on the 10[SUP]th[/SUP] floor of the Hilton Hotel at JBR called Bice. This level used to be part of the private residence owned by the owner of the building, he previously had two levels and the hotel asked him to give them this space to turn into a restaurant / sky bar. The food was very pricey here but the food was nice. The ambiance of the view is very intimate, lighting is very dim here and private. There was an older male pashing on with a younger female in one of the corners who was being quite rude to the staff.



Photo on the right is the construction of the big wheel in one of the earlier photos at 10pm at night – 24 hr construction on some sites.

 

[yld200]

Next morning we went for a walk around the marina to find somewhere to have some brekky. While walking it started to rain a bit and got quite windy which maybe it feel really cold out. We finally found a place that looked like it might be open for breakfast and had a seat.

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The food here was quite nice, we ordered some pastry with cheese, humus and a breakfast platter.



We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon with family

 

[JessicaTam]

Great photos, thanks.