Hot winter vacation!
I want to tell you about our trip with the whole family to the UAE city of Dubai. . .
Because each day of rest was divided into 3 parts: beach-hotel-city, so I start my story from the beach, but before that, a little introduction - flight.
1. Flight Samara (Kurumoch Airport) - Dubai (Dubai International Airport), Natali-Tour of Samara put us on an economy class Boeing-737-800 aircraft of Fly Dubai airline (the airline belongs to the government of the emirate of Dubai). Do not be afraid the words "economy", from all the "economical" I singled out for myself only that the plane did not have a very large distance in the aisle and at the feet of the passengers, although with my height of 171 cm it was quite comfortable to sit. On the plane, in the seat in front of each passenger, there was a monitor on which you could see only the flight map, Duty Free goods and the food menu on board for free, everything else: movies, cartoons, games, etc. for a fee. By the way, meals on board are paid (they accept euros, $ and AED (UAE currency))! Because, as they explained to me, meals on aircraft of this airline are not an item of mandatory expenses, but an item of income! But we knew this and therefore had a hearty meal at the airport before departure. And so they took off, flew 4 hours 15 minutes, sat down !! ! For information: check-in in Samara took 2.5 hours, now Dubai airport: retinal scan (everyone is required except children) - 20 minutes, including the queue (we were about 30th out of 175 passengers), passport control - 15 minutes, baggage claim - 1 minute and that's it !! ! We found a representative of the meeting party (Alfa Tour) and began to wait for our transfer... After waiting 15 minutes and very tired from the flight and terribly dreary check-in in Samara, we decided to get to the hotel by taxi. Having warned representative of Alfa, we got into a taxi, calling the name of the hotel, we arrived in 15 minutes and $ 16. We are at the hotel-time 22-30 everyone should sleep)))!
Daily 7-00 (morning), air temperature +16; +18 breakfast and on the beach by bus that arrives at 8-20 and if there are not enough seats, then another one drives up, so do not make a flea market! The beach is a 15 minute drive on perfect roads. We, and almost all tourists, are taken to Al Mamzar Park (entrance fee is 5 AED or about 40 rubles per person) on the territory of which there are several beaches, incl. and the park itself. A beach with fine sand, but our Russian tourists do not always reach the bins to throw out garbage or a goby, so the attendants do not always have time to remove the garbage. The water temperature upon arrival was +23 and the sea was a little stormy on the first and second days, there were red flags that forbade entering the water, but how not to swim on the waves that I had been waiting for so long, and naturally most tourists entered the water at least near the shore)))). On all subsequent days the water was calm and after a couple of days it was +25, it became more pleasant to go into the water at this temperature. By the way, Wednesday is considered women's day, so for men this day falls out of visiting the beach!
From the beach we were also picked up by a bus from the hotel, in three stages, either at 12-00 or at 12-30 and the last one around 13-00. The air temperature in the afternoon warmed up to +30, +33.
They settled us in 10 minutes (passports are taken away for the duration of their stay / they do not take a deposit), the Land Mark 3 * hotel is located in the shopping area of Dubai. There are only English-speaking staff at the reception, unless of course they wave their hands or loudly prove something in Russian, then they will understand something))))) (for some reason, all Russians abroad, not knowing the opposite language, begin to speak louder in the hope that at least something he should understand)
But in our case there was one person with knowledge of broken English, so it was easier for us)! In our accommodation, only tomorrow was included, the restaurant (for breakfast) is open from 7-00 to 10-00, but we always went at the beginning of eight in the morning . Meals, I would say, for a breakfast buffet (every day there were: sausages, sausage, cheese, cereals, all kinds of pastries, scrambled eggs and 5-7 more items that I didn’t remember). The room was on the 8th floor, under the pool, but my expectations that there would be noise from the pool pumps were not confirmed. It was quiet and calm! and comfortable, cleaned daily. On the roof, as I said, there is a swimming pool (free of charge), a gym (free of charge) and a sauna (here it is paid). All this works from 9-00 to 18-00. The pool is not big, about 3 * 6 * 1.5 (w * d * depth), but there is where to plunge, with 3 sunbeds and 2 chairs. There are not many visitors, so take a sunbed, if you come before 10 am, you can catch it.
Daily/Evening. Time 17-30. The heat subsided, after an hour (at about 18-30 in Dubai it gets dark sharply). Not far from the hotel there is a metro station called Union st. About a 10-minute walk. In general, we used the metro every evening, very convenient, fast and relatively inexpensive in comparison with a taxi. You should definitely look at such a subway as in the UAE! Each station looks like a shell from afar, a subway train without a driver! here is the red line laid along the coast, green semicircular. When buying tickets, be sure to say which station you are going to go to, the price depends on it, and take only (one way) one way, it’s cheaper, it’s checked! also the price of the bus, but it is not always needed!
I have a question! Is your house clean?? ? I will say NO!! ! It’s clean in the Dubai metro! At first, for the first few days, I thought that we went into the metro immediately after cleaning, well, a coincidence, you never know! Then I realized that this is not so! The cleanliness is such that local children enter the car, and if no seats sit directly on the floor))))) But you must see it!
Back to the "territory" of the hotel....
There are also a lot of eateries around the hotel (in which we often had lunch or dinner, prices are similar to Russian ones, for example, McDonald's - $ 7 / person) and small shops, which we loved very much, because only in them they will give you a good discount! And they won't let you go without a purchase. The only thing that was very annoying was the barkers on the street in the area of our hotel, by the end of the holiday there was such an impression that the IPhone-4, mink coats and fake women's bags of famous brands are brought to this area by "KamaZami" weekly)))!
In general, there is something to see in this city, we had a schedule every evening! Dubai Mall, Emirates Mall, Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab, Singing Fountains, City Museum, Gold Souk, Spice Market, Fish Market (by the way, the last three places in 10 minutes walk from the hotel in the opposite direction from the metro station).....
And about one more public transport - these are boats!
Be sure to swim to the other side of the Dubai Creek for only AED 1/person! After crossing to the other side, walk (about 500 meters to the Dubai City Museum) entrance 3 AED/person - very educational and interesting
Unfortunately, due to the narrow budget, we could not get on more than one excursion, so we left the excursions for the next arrival! ) On average, excursions cost from $ 50 / person.
You can tell a lot more, but the main thing seems to be everything!
Have a good holiday everyone!
