Ramee Guestline Hotel Apartment Abu Dhabi

... that my baggage wasn't automatically transferred onto my connecting flight because i swear that's what mum said! The guy at immigration thought i was out of my mind but realised that i wasn't going to leave him alone until he let me through to baggage claim so he just let me discover for myself that i haven't got a clue what's going on.

Anyhow, as a result of this seemingly minor mistake, i had to go around in a circle, albeit a ...

... and we didn't have a Hindu phrase book! Ahhh the adventure of travel.... On arrival we were swamped with taxi drivers wanting to take us places but not all had meters and attempts to have a driver understand "Heritage Village", a premier tourist site in Abu Dhabi, was just not happening. After a "phone a friend" it was still not happening, so we fell back to an oldy but goody used in Dubai, look at the map and find the nearest shopping centre and get taken ...

... before (though we now think she must have had sneaky lessons beforehand, or perhaps it was she had just turned a year older). Problem was though she did not know how too turn, so spent most of her time outside the wake pulling silly poses......very amusing. Next up was Maud who soon got back into her groove, but after a few face plants was back into the boat fairly quickly only to find out I hadn't been taking that many photos - sorry Maud. Ali and then Sal had a ...

... we drive along wide highways lined with palm trees and grass verges. Sprinklers are watering the grass which is tended by labourers wearing what seem to be boiler suits. The busses are free here, but only the workers use them. The locals drive around in high-end BMWs, Mercs and Range Rovers, mostly painted white. The tourists take taxis. Summer is low season in the UAE because of the heat. The advantage ...

... Eve it)? This morning we got on a boat and went to visit Lulu island, which is about as touristy as you will get me being on this holiday. I hope my friend wasn't disappointed in my lack of enthusiasm for her new home town (although she described it herself as nice and bland). Lulu island was odd, it has to be said. Again the bulldozer was there, being a familiar feature of the holiday. It was a bit half built to be fair. A bus took us from the boat ...

... the smog/dust is just like, probably worse than Beijing. Dubai and Abu Dhabi didn't look like the pictures on the Internet, so I thought that maybe there are two cities and we have been posted to the wrong one!!!. We moved into a serviced apartment at the Beach Rotana Suites while we looked for permanent accommodation. The Beach Rotana Suites are located next to the hotel, by the same name, and has facilities as ...

... br>And then more excitement. A certain Shef Kumar had been misplaced. Or something. The airline staff perambulated, calling his name, but no one responded. I didn't see the end result, but I wouldn't be remotely surprised to find he'd been sat there the whole time.

Finally, the boarding call. Never mind that the first class went first and then by seating code. No, the call is always the cue for a frantic rush. Because the plane is leaving in .5 of a second and if you ...

... long strip with the floors divided by departure, arrivals, and the duty-free mall. The mall is amazing, but nothing is cheap there. I had about 5 hours to kill there, but I wasn't prepared to explore the city. Apparently, there are a lot of high rises being built at the moment, and none of them are ready yet. It's weird to think that I was in the desert. I ended up sleeping a lot at the airport and taking neat pictures. They shall be posted shortly!

6-11-07 Desert snow skiing...is that possible??? AWSOME!!! So today in Dubai, was awesome!!! We started the day by having a complimentary breakfast that we didn't have to argue about which was a plus and then we headed to the roof to check out the swimming pool. It is actually the size of a swimming pool and not the size of a Jacuzzi which is what we were originally expecting. On the roof they also have outside seating with cushions, a small table, and yes a hookah that comes with ...

Hi All. Not sure if you got the first blog for Australia? Now at Dubai with 40 degrees. Bit of a culture shock - so much wealth and yet so much poverty. Place is like a construciton zone - cranes everywhere!! Checked into our hotel and then took a bus ride to the Jumiera beach resort for lunch (photo taken from the hotel looking at the 7 star Bur Jarb Hotel on the waterfront). Also checked out the Ski slope in ...