Hello everyone!
When my husband told me he was going to be traveling to Turkey on business, I begged him for three days to let me tag along. He had to let me go; Istanbul was in our Life magazine as one of the “100 Must See Destinations”. Needless to say, he relented and said I could go. Since this was technically a business trip for him, I would be left alone for a good portion of the trip – The solution to that problem was easy; bring my mother. She has been itching to use her passport since I encouraged her to get it last year. She was packed three whole weeks before we were scheduled to leave.
I have so much to share from our trip to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Istanbul from last month, so I’ve decided to divide it into four parts. So without further ado, here is Part I – Dubai, UAE.
As you will come to find out, my husband is a bit of a hotel snob. Don’t get me wrong, I love a nice hotel too – but the lengths that man will go to in order to find the perfect hotel always amazes me. He scored once again by finding The Shangri La Hotel in Dubai.
top: Calvin Klein | bottom: Old Navy Rockstar |shoes: ASOS | bag: Betsy Johnson | accessories: Vince Camuto bracelet, Michael Kors watch and rings
There was construction going on behind this huge sign of yet another skyscraper Dubai-style – go big or go home.
If only public transportation was this nice in Atlanta…
Our first stop was one of the neighborhood Mosques near our hotel. The detail in these Mosques are breathtaking. The attention to detail in the columns and ceilings is nothing like I’ve ever seen.
The Heritage Village provides a glimpse into Dubai’s traditional culture and lifestyle, including the Emirate’s maritime history, pearl diving traditions, and architecture. Displays include a tented Bedouin village, ancient armory, wooden chests and cooking utensils. We arrived a little too early; most of the exhibits had not been set up yet, so we bought a few souvenirs from the gift shop and moved on to the next destination.
This was the view we had of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. We were unable to schedule a tour due to our time constraints. The price was about 3 times higher without a reservation.
We were able to go by the Atlantis Hotel to take pictures, which by the way is so beautiful; but didn’t have time to go inside. Oh how I wanted to see the inside of this hotel and aquarium that’s located inside and. Did you know that you can even get a room that looks into the aquarium? Go here to see how beautiful this resort is.
Our time in Dubai was not quite long enough. My husband’s business meetings ran longer than we expected, which drastically shortened the time we had left for site seeing. And when we discovered Abu Dhabi was only about a 90 minute drive, we decided to spend our last day there. We will definitely go back to Dubai to do some of the things we didn’t get a chance to do this go around – like actually go inside the Burj Khalifa and the Atlantis Hotel.
Read about the rest of our trip here:
So jealous! Looks like an incredible trip!
Hi Serena!
I adore your blog and just wanted to let you know I have nominated you for the Liebster Award! Your blog is fabulous and I really think you deserve it! Here are all the details … http://www.stylelixir.com/2012/12/the-liebster-award.html
Lauren x
http://www.stylelixir.com
Hi Serena,
I love reading your blog. I am a shoe fanatic and I love my heels. I have to ask how you go sightseeing all day in serious heels?
Heather
Stunning photos! I love to travel; what a great trip! I can’t wait to see more.
Tara
http://tarabelle-adropofink.blogspot.com/
Thank you so much!