three holidays and a wedding

I do apologise for the rather sporadic posts this month so far, but we have had a very busy fortnight indeed. We started our leave with a 4 night trip to London, leaving Dubai on the 27th November from the new Emirates terminal, terminal 3, at Dubai International. And I must say what a vast improvement over the other, older terminals. We were off to the UK for three very special and important reasons; first, my little brother’s wedding; second, my nephew’s Christening, and last but not least I was going to see my family again after some long months apart.

We arrived in the early afternoon to a rather wet and grey day. The luggage took some time to arrive on the carousel, which you would know if you had travelled into Heathrow terminal 3 any time lately. What a disaster. We then whizzed into Paddington courtesy of the Heathrow Express (what a win) and caught a cab to our hotel in Kings Cross. All that awful Africa travel had finally paid off, we had amassed enough loyalty points to get three nights free at the Holiday Inn. By then I was impatient to meet Mateo, my new nephew (and Godson), and reunite with my brother, his fiancée and my parents who were in town and staying in various locations nearby. After a rather loud initial reunion we reconvened in a small Italian restaurant called Carluccio’s which is a stone’s throw from their apartment. Here we were also introduced to our lovely new Spanish in-laws, needless to say the decibel level was climbing steadily, especially with the addition of a few bottles of vino. Mateo, in my biased view, is an angel and slept through all the commotion, I have to say that I am completely in love with the little guy, what a cutie. Stu and I stumbled out of there at around 10pm UK time, feeling like it was 4 in the morning with our mild case of jet-lag. We collapsed into bed exhausted, and then promptly woke at 3.30am (this of course being 7.30 in the morning in Dubai). We then discovered it is impossible to get a fresh cup of coffee at that time, and had to make do with instant.

Friday was the day of the wedding, which was a small family affair at the Church of St George the Martyr. The bride looked amazing, the groom was beaming, yes it was perfect. The reception followed in a private function room at the Charlotte Street Hotel, and it simply was a triumph. Excellent food and wine, a good time was had by all despite the fact that a quarter of the guests did not share a common language. No-one even noticed that it was still raining outside.

Saturday morning, after a nice walk and a late breakfast with my dad and step-mom Ann, we met up with my brother to watch SA play rugby against England. Sadly for the boys we couldn’t watch the end of the game as we were due back at the church, this time for Mateo’s Christening. Again he was an absolute star and only protested a tiny bit when the water touched his forehead, luckily for him it was warm. Drinks and snacks were then served to friends and family at the Art Workers Guild and another very festive and noisy celebration followed.

The remainder of our weekend was spent with family and friends, and we flew back to Dubai on Monday evening, to arrive at some awful time in the early morning on UAE National Day which is the 2nd December. My dad and Ann followed a few hours later for their brief visit to the desert, and happily they had no traffic to contend with on their journey to our house due to the holiday. Incidentally this year was the 37th National Day and a very big deal, with flags draped on buildings and decorative lights all over the place. My folks enjoyed their visit a great deal, and we sent them happily on their way the following day after an afternoon of sight-seeing, a delicious dinner at Khaymat Al Bahar at the Al Qasr Hotel, and of course a good nights rest.

This week began with 3 days of Eid Al Adha, which is the second Eid celebration in the year and commemorates the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son to God. This holiday, along with the fact that the schools and all government offices are closed this week has meant that the city is quiet with many people being away on holiday. We have enjoyed being at home and chilling. On Monday we went to the Dubai Museum and enjoyed discovering more about the history of Dubai, but found it somewhat frustrating too as some of the displays are rather dusty and moth-eaten, and the signage could do with a revamp. Today we braved the crowds to visit the new Dubai Mall which we had been avoiding since it opened. We went early and happily missed the rush. I was amazed at the scope of the place. Apparently 5.9 million square feet of retail space, the biggest mall in the world, complete with an ice-rink and aquarium. Nothing is ever done in half measures here that is for sure.

Now there really is no excuse not to visit, every shop you could imagine has a presence here.

So, have you booked your ticket yet?