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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
So now we're thinking
Dubai, towards the end of October near our anniversary, for a week.
Anyone have insight?
Re: So now we're thinking
How well do you do with heat? Around then the days can easily still be above 90 or 95 and the humidity can be in the 60s (or not). October is generally the last month when the climate isn't sure if it should give up on summer or not, so it varies. However, since you're at the end of it, I'd think the humidity will be pretty low, although it will still be really hot. I had friends visit from Nairobi in mid November who thought it was still too hot in the day.
That having been said I'm a big fan of Dubai. You can stay in a nice hotel at a reasonable price, have a variety of food... and of course it's shopping heaven. You can get almost anything you miss from the States and the prices are reasonable. Also, the dirham is pegged to the dollar, so you don't have to worry about exchange rate fluctuation.
If you have a week I'd also do a desert safari and a boat trip out to Oman, or else also check out Al Ain or Fujairah or RAK for a few days. A full week is a long time for just Dubai, as it doesn't have much in the way of tourist sites to keep you busy for a week. Obviously, if you just want to relax at an awesome hotel then there are no worries on that front.
Thanks Jet! I'm sure we'll do a mixture, and I'm okay with having some heat because this summer has been crap here, and we won't be going anywhere else that is warm. Though I predict I will complain about it whilst there. lol
What hotels do you recommend? I'm down with the dollar pegging. Means things are cheaper than they appear for us. Muahahahaha.
Wedding stuff.
Wedding stuff.
Travel Blog
Little Miss Lulu playing on the beach
Oh yeah. GTG.
Wedding stuff.
Dave & Jennifer 10.18.08
My Doha Adventures
The Grand Hyatt, Park Hyatt and Raffles are probably the only hotels I would do in Deira. Most of the main sites in Dubai are on the other side of the creek. It all depends on your budget - there is a HUGE range of hotels. If you want to be in the older part of Dubai I had friends that stayed at the Arabian Courtyard near the creek and liked it. I'd probably just check hotels.com or priceline (not sure if it works for Dubai, I've only tried from Turkmenistan and I don't know if it didn't work because of the internet or what).
Things to do:
- a dinner cruise on the creek. The nicest is Bateaux Dubai.
- desert safari
- boat cruise to Oman
- day trip to Abu Dhabi
- Burj Khalifa and fountain. You go in through Dubai Mall, which will have almost everything you want/miss/need from the US.
- Mall of the Emirates (MOE) and the indoor skiing
- I like the Madinat Jumeirah - there are some cool bars along the waterfront
- gold souk and textile souk using the water taxis to cross the creek (can't believe I forgot the name of it already. Dhow?)
- Al Bastakia - this is the "old" part of town near the "museum" that has a lot of cool art galleries. Actually, there is a cute little boutique hotel there. I've never been in the hotel part, just the cafe and gallery, but it's cute and seems nice. XVA gallery - http://www.xvagallery.com/
- you also HAVE to do a Friday brunch. They are all you can eat, all you can drink affairs that last about 4-5 hours. You have to make a reservation in advance. There is a range, but the most expensive are about 150 USD per person (500 AED or so). They have lots of pork, lobster, etc., so you are getting good food made at the station as you order it - this isn't like a crappy vegas buffet.
I've only been to a few - the Marriott Observatory in Dubai Marina, which has the best views of the Palm Jumeirah and a great pork station. There is a martini cart that comes around, too - and the waiters will never let you see the bottom of your champagne or wine glass. While not one of the most crazy ones, it can get a bit rowdy at times.
The one at Al Qasr is quite nice - it takes up the ground floor of the hotel and spans across 3 restaurants and the outdoor terrace.
There is one at JBR in the Al Fattan Towers at a place called Thyme that is not as ornate/crazy, but is only 300 AED or you can pay without alcohol and only pay 135 AED or so. They also do it on Saturdays.
I think Risa and JennyBee have gone to some good ones, too that are a bit more reasonable in terms of price.
OK, let me know if you have any more questions.
WOW. You guys are AMAZING!! I think our GTG should be a Friday brunch, amiright?!
As for what we want to do, desert safari for sure, shopping- for sure, creek cruise for sure. DEFINITELY the souk's. GAH. Is that too much for a week?
I've also been reading about the conservation areas being really nice and a trip to the Jameiriah(?) Mosque is good as well.
Wedding stuff.
Desert safari starts at 3pm usually so you still have the whole morning free to do the souks. It's definitely doable in a week so long as you move quickly. Taxis are pretty cheap and the metro only has a few stops, so I'd plan on taking taxis everywhere or just renting a car.
I never went to the conservation areas or Jumeirah Mosque - I've seen enough mosques to last me a while, but I heard that one is nice. Apparently the mosque in Abu Dhabi is spectacular, though.
I'm jealous I can't meet up with you guys! If it was just a bit later we would join you guys, but we're just getting back to Tstan from our honeymoon on Oct. 16. Darn.
Well, I say a week, but it would probably be 10 days. I think we're going to want to be lazy that week, tbh.
Anyone heard about/been to the Sofitel? It looks nice.
Wedding stuff.
Dave & Jennifer 10.18.08
My Doha Adventures