Hello Dubai ... and wow hello Atlantis the Palm!
When I last left off we were waiting in the airport in Cairo to catch our flight to Dubai just after midnight. The plane was nowhere near full so I had 3 seats to stretch out on and actually managed to catch some sleep during the 3+ hr flight. Not sure what Ian did ... but he tells me he did sleep. The transit through Dubai airport was one of the smoothest we have ever had. Dubai is very efficient with quick bag transfer from the plane to the airport and many counters open to ease lines through immigration.
We were out of the airport in about half and hour and off to the counter of the Atlantis the Palm resort to meet the airport concierge who escorted us to meet our driver who would whisk us away to the hotel in a super luxurious Mercedes. I was so overawed that I missed getting a photo of it! Our driver gave us a small highlight tour as we drove to the hotel - pointing out the Burj Khalifa, the Dubai window frame and other notable features until we reached Palm Island and our hotel for the next 2 nights.
Now this hotel is absolutely bonkers off the Richter scale of luxurious hotels. It is our pure indulgence to ourselves ... and what an indulgence it is. Arriving at 8 am in the morning we were told it was okay for us to check in to our room overlooking the island and that we could indulge in the buffet breakfast if we liked as we had been travelling all night. Not often that you get a hotel that allows such an early check in. We went up to our room ... me snapping pics the whole way with my mouth wide open and my eyes darting everywhere.
The best way to describe this is to think of the most luxurious place you can imagine and then multiply it by about a quadrillion! The floors are beautiful inlaid marble, the ceilings are painted with incredible dioramas, the lights are exquisite and the lounges and halls expansive. I may sound like I am gushing but seriously this is nuts!
We dumped our bags, grabbed a quick shower before heading off to our very indulgent breakfast buffet ... all types of cuisines from Arabic to Asian to Western ... complete with a chocolate river and fountain. After stuffing ourselves - having not eaten lunch yesterday and only having a small snack at the airport we were starving, we headed off to explore the hotel and surrounds.
The hotel has its own beach and massive waterpark attached which we will go to tomorrow afternoon. Today we took the time to explore the space in preparation of our adventures tomorrow. Ian has worked out all of the water rides he is going to tackle ... and I have worked out mine (yep - I’m not as adventurous as Ian). Once again I took a million photos (mum will be so proud of me). We headed back into the hotel to explore some more and came upon the Lost Chambers Aquarium which is located in the hotel and we get to access for free. It is a stunning aquarium with crystal clear waters and windows that are so clean you feel like you can touch the fish. We spent a chunk of time watching the fish, rays and sharks in all of the different tanks before heading back to our room.
Ian is checking work emails as I type ... good lad. This afternoon we are off on a 4WD desert safari tour in the sand dunes near Dubai. The tour includes off roading in the dunes, a camel ride should we wish, falconry and ends with a desert BBQ in a Bedouin camp before we head back to the hotel some 6 hrs later! I can’t wait ... and will blog about it tomorrow as I think we will be pretty tired by the time we return. Tomorrow we have a half day Dubai city tour in the morning and then the water park in the afternoon.
So ... Dubai is a wow at this stage. Can’t wait to adventure a little more.
We were out of the airport in about half and hour and off to the counter of the Atlantis the Palm resort to meet the airport concierge who escorted us to meet our driver who would whisk us away to the hotel in a super luxurious Mercedes. I was so overawed that I missed getting a photo of it! Our driver gave us a small highlight tour as we drove to the hotel - pointing out the Burj Khalifa, the Dubai window frame and other notable features until we reached Palm Island and our hotel for the next 2 nights.
Now this hotel is absolutely bonkers off the Richter scale of luxurious hotels. It is our pure indulgence to ourselves ... and what an indulgence it is. Arriving at 8 am in the morning we were told it was okay for us to check in to our room overlooking the island and that we could indulge in the buffet breakfast if we liked as we had been travelling all night. Not often that you get a hotel that allows such an early check in. We went up to our room ... me snapping pics the whole way with my mouth wide open and my eyes darting everywhere.
The best way to describe this is to think of the most luxurious place you can imagine and then multiply it by about a quadrillion! The floors are beautiful inlaid marble, the ceilings are painted with incredible dioramas, the lights are exquisite and the lounges and halls expansive. I may sound like I am gushing but seriously this is nuts!
We dumped our bags, grabbed a quick shower before heading off to our very indulgent breakfast buffet ... all types of cuisines from Arabic to Asian to Western ... complete with a chocolate river and fountain. After stuffing ourselves - having not eaten lunch yesterday and only having a small snack at the airport we were starving, we headed off to explore the hotel and surrounds.
The hotel has its own beach and massive waterpark attached which we will go to tomorrow afternoon. Today we took the time to explore the space in preparation of our adventures tomorrow. Ian has worked out all of the water rides he is going to tackle ... and I have worked out mine (yep - I’m not as adventurous as Ian). Once again I took a million photos (mum will be so proud of me). We headed back into the hotel to explore some more and came upon the Lost Chambers Aquarium which is located in the hotel and we get to access for free. It is a stunning aquarium with crystal clear waters and windows that are so clean you feel like you can touch the fish. We spent a chunk of time watching the fish, rays and sharks in all of the different tanks before heading back to our room.
Ian is checking work emails as I type ... good lad. This afternoon we are off on a 4WD desert safari tour in the sand dunes near Dubai. The tour includes off roading in the dunes, a camel ride should we wish, falconry and ends with a desert BBQ in a Bedouin camp before we head back to the hotel some 6 hrs later! I can’t wait ... and will blog about it tomorrow as I think we will be pretty tired by the time we return. Tomorrow we have a half day Dubai city tour in the morning and then the water park in the afternoon.
So ... Dubai is a wow at this stage. Can’t wait to adventure a little more.
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