Honeymoon #5 .. UAE + Maldives

With a handful of posts still outstanding from our trips to BC+Alberta and Sandbanks, I've been requested (urged) by my better half to resume our pre-Owen practice of documenting our travels. With that, I'm jumping forward to our UAE + Maldives anniversary trip.

We made the difficult decision to travel without Owen for the first time.  Despite his impressive 20,000 miles in the air before his first birthday, a 14 hour flight to 45C weather didn't seem to be in his best interest; or ours.  Fortunately, my favourite aunt and Godmother, so kindly offered to babysit Owen at our place and keep him in his daily routine with daycare. Advice we heeded from friends.

Par for the course we were packing until the final hours of the night before our morning flight.  Since Owen was already in bed we decided to make the late drive to the Sheraton Airport so that the morning would be less painful.  A wise decision. Despite missing the hotel shuttle we were checked-in a full 2.5 hours before departure.  A landslide margin over past showings.

A poor choice of seats for breakfast in the AC Lounge at YYZ

This journey includes a number of flights and some land transfers. Toronto to Dubai. Dubai to Male (Maldives).  Male to the hotel on Kihavah (huravalhi) island by seaplane transfer. We also have a car transfer from Dubai to (literally) the middle of the desert, approximately 2.5 hours outside of Abu Dhabi.

I'm not familiar with air trip routing other than it is dependent zones covered by ATCs -- but the direct path I charted certainly isn't our actual course.  Our flight path over Europe provided some very cool night views of metropolitan areas and through the "axis of evil" of Iraq and Iran before landing in Dubai.

Warsaw, I think.

Flying over Iraq

The Emirates flight was a mixed bag.  The seats seemed uncomfortable and we couldn't fall asleep -- although attempting to fall back to sleep at 10am isn't an easy task; despite exhaustion. Food and beverage selection was as expected, good.  In-flight entertainment was excellent.  Taking in at least 4 films I caught up on the movie-scene I've missed for the past 6 months. Amenities like sleeping masks, toothbrushes, and socks were all welcomed.  The socks actually came in handy as I didn't pack any and as such have worn them a number of times for dinner.

The fake sleep.

Arriving in Dubai the airport lives up to your expectation of Dubai.  Everything is massive. The atriums, the escalators, the elevators and the halls.  All impressive.  Less impressive, we maintained our record of choosing the worse queue spending over an hour at passport control while others disappeared around us.  After presenting our travel visas, getting our pictures taken and adding a couple new stamps to our passports we were in.

Sidebar -- As a first, I booked our trip through Linara Travel after reading about them in Conde Nast. Does this mean I finally handed over control of our trip? Not in the least. I merely emailed the travel agent and wrote; here are the dates, hotels and room types I'd like to reserve. So I wouldn't say I 'used a travel agent' other than to bounce my pre-existing ideas off and to help with the transfers (which actually were part of each hotel).

So here we are meeting the Linara Travel rep in Dubai. A portly and cheerful man grabs our luggage, hands us a packet, and tosses us into the enormous back seat of a BMW 7-series -- the official mode of transport in Dubai. Thirty minutes later we are checking in at the Jumeirah Al Qasr hotel down in the Jumeirah Beach district. Part of the Madinat Jumeriah complex the Al Qasr is said to be modeled after a Shiek's summer residence and translates to 'palace'.  As expected for all things Dubai the hotel wasn't lacking any opulence.  Actually, quite Vegas-like. Immediately we were reminded of our past South East travels as we were quickly whisked away to a check-in attendant.  There are no counters. Nowhere to line-up and stand impatiently. Here you are taken to a seating area where you are quickly checked in while being offered cold towels and fresh beverages. Minutes later you are escorted directly to your room by the same person who checked you in.  End to end service, with a smile, by a gentleman who I can't help but think resembles Aladdin.

Going for breakfast at Al Qasr.

We chose this hotel and location for a number of reasons.  It's situated between the Palm and downtown Dubai. Not knowing how jetlagged we may be it offers relaxing beach side environment but with ample walking throughout the Jumeirah hotels and souks (markets). Jumeirah, for the uninitiated, is the hotel brand that owns the Burj Al Arab (the sail) and Jumeirah Beach Hotel (the wave) that so many associate with Dubai.

Goodnight Irene.

After settling in the hotel and realizing that whatever preconceived notions we may have had of 'hot and humid' they would all be re-written on this trip.  A balmy 47C marked our first day. Since Emirates didn't quench our need for sleep we shut it down for a handful of hours. Shaking the travel cob webs we head over to the club lounge for some snacks. Of course the food service ended 30 minutes prior -- but alas, we're in the part of the world where service prevails. "Lets us get some sandwiches from the fridge for you".  Comfortably seated on couches we are within minutes bombarded with individual plates of sandwiches, deserts and who the hell knows what else.  We devour it. Stepping out on the terrace we are quickly reminded that we are in the desert. Roasting like chicken on a Swiss Chalet rotisserie we take in the amazing view over the hotel grounds with the Burj al Arab as the perfect backdrop.

Snack snack snack, all day long.

First views from the lounge terrace.

Bellies full we set out to explore. The contrast from full-tilt AC in the hotel to the surface of the sun heat of outdoors is mind-numbing. Pores that were clenched tight instantly evacuate water as quickly as they can. Opting to get back inside we do a quick tour of the indoor souk. Nothing amazing here. The complex itself is quite interesting.  Venice of the desert, waterways weave between the massive complex with abras (water taxi) available to shuttle you around at no-cost. Vegas again, comes to mind.

The Burj is everywhere.

We hit the beach in our very non-beach attire and snap some more shots of the Burj. Why not, we're tourist. With the cotton of my shirt reaching maximum absorption we head back indoors to get ready for dinner. On pace for a record number of showers we're back out the door, insanely sporting pants, and back at the lounge for some canapés and drinks before dinner at the highly regarded Pierchic - conveniently located at our hotel.

Pierchic with the Burj in the background.

With reservations for 930 we made the 150m haul down the pier. The hostess directed us indoors like most sane diners but we requested to sit outside -- an uncommon practice at this time of year.  Fortunately the breeze kept my shirt from becoming one with my skin and the views made it all worthwhile. With alcohol only available at hotels in Dubai we expected to pay a premium for drinks. In the end, cocktails and beers were manageable with Vegas/Miami-like prices.  Bottles of wine were substantially marked up. Fortunately we're old and don't drink much.

Attempt #4 as the camera kept falling over.

Burj Al Arab (left), Jumeirah Beach Hotel (center), Mina A'Salam (right)

We can't remember what we ate other than it was good the view was amazing and we're not sure if it's Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.  A successful first "day".