Dubai Is Kid Friendly!

This post is for my family and all my friends who have children. Dubai is kid friendly! Pack 'em up and head East - or West its pretty much the same distance either way. Oh, and don't forget about the Toronto to Dubai direct flight :-)

Front Page Gulf News

A few notes on the new metro:

20-30 seconds - average train halt at each station
60-90 seconds - average interval between two trains in the Red Line
1.8 million - maximum daily passenger capacity
47 - Total number of stations on Red and Green lines
15.5 billion Dirhams - cost of the Dubai Metro
The interior of the trains is based on a water and air theme and every train will have five compartments. Every train will have three classes - The golden Class (VIP), the Women and Children's class will have a luxurious interior with leather seating. The Woman and Childrens compartments will have plenty of space for strollers and bags to ensure a safe and comftorable journy.
The Silver Class has been finished in a combination of blues and gtreens. Seating is arranged in a variety of ways giving passengers the choice between admiring views through windows or chatting with friends.
All compartments will have reserved whellchair spaces for speacial needs people. there will be a policy of priroty seating for elderly, injured, special needs people and pregnant women.
The compartments will be equipped with audio visual devices. Visual and audio annoucment faciities will be avalable to serve people, especially those with speical needs.

Come visit!

Emirates has announced it will fly direct - Dubai to Toronto!

Dubai: Emirates will start thrice-weekly, non-stop service from Dubai to Toronto, a first gateway for the airline in Canada, starting October 29, the airline said.
"Responding to market demand, the new route will provide a first direct link between Canada's largest city and Dubai, providing also convenient, ongoing access to the Middle East, Africa and the South Asian Subcontinent.
The route will provide travellers with access to all major Canadian centres with connections available through Toronto's Pearson International Airport.
The non-stop service will take 14 hours and 20 minutes. The return journey will be completed in about 13 hours.
Making comfort a top concern on the long-haul journey, the aircraft will be fitted with eight private suites in First class, 42 of its latest lie-flat seats in Business class, and a comfortable Economy-class cabin for 304 passengers.
Pending government approval, Toronto will be one of five new Emirates destinations in 2007.

Weekend in RAK

It’s getting hot in Dubai which means patio season is coming to an end, malls are packed and summer specials are abound. Barry and I decided to take the weekend to visit Al Hamra Fort Hotel & Resort with our friends Elisabeth and Todd. Al Hamra is in RAK (a.k.a. Ras Al Khaimah) which is only one and a half hour drive away. A few days leading up to the trip we thought we may have to cancel our reservations because Cyclone Gonu was battering Oman (see previous post) and we thought RAK would be affected. We took our chances and we couldn’t have asked for better conditions, they sky was amazing, our villa room was fabulous and the beach was great. Barry and Todd made some time for golfing and Todd took in some windsurfing. I hope you enjoy the pictures – they can be found on the sidebar under more photo albums.

Cyclone Gonu

This past week Oman has been hit by Cyclone Gonu and the East Coast of Dubai has also been affected. A number of our favorite resort spots lost their beaches and experienced damage. News link:
http://www.portworld.com/news/2007/06/68068?gsid=2479aaa0483fd852288432386bc8951b&asi=1

What is the difference between a hurricane and a Cyclone? Hurricane is used when the storm is in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean east of the dateline, or the South Pacific Ocean east of 160E Tropical cyclone is used when the storm is in the Southwest Indian Ocean.

360

I was taking the golf cart to the circle building - it is one of my favorite places on earth. This place is called 360, it has a full view of the Burj Al Arab and a view of the Jumeriah Beach Hotel. This particular night they had very chill music and everyone was lounging around on the couches, smoking sheisha and enjoying the breeze coming in off the water. It was SO amazingly beautiful! A memorable moment.

One of my favourite places on the planet

This picture was taken on the way to one of my favourite places on the planet . . . . I was in a golf cart when it was taken so it looks blury - I like it that way.

Happy Anniversary!

Watching the sunset and having dinner with Barry to celebrate our anniversary. At times it's still surreal being in Dubai; and looking at the Burj Al Arab from the top of Jumeriah Beach Resort was one of those times.