DEFINITELY DUBAI

Hello everyone.
I will not even begin to apologize for the lack of posts.
I guess it will be like this forever - sporadic posts from time to time.
If only I could blog directly from my mind, then there would be a gazillion of entries here!

Anyhoo, you must have known from my Facebook posts that we recently visited Dubai.
This trip (as in all my biyahes naman), took almost a year of planning.
As usual, thanks to Cebu Pacific promo fares, I was able to score an uber cheap fare to this Middle Eastern destination.

We were traveling with the AZARCONS - our travel companion for several years now.
For this trip, they were bringing with them Glenn's 84 year old mother Mommy Toning.

And, just like in Japan last November, I am so happy to have brought along my Mom again in this trip.
You see, she is in need of dialysis twice a week so I had to find a renal center who would accept her in their clinic as a medical tourist.

It took a lot of papers not to mention the energy and time before we finally got accepted in one of Dubai's premium hospitals.  Well, more on later posts.

For now, let me tell you about the long road we took to get to Dubai.

Mommy and the Kiddo on our way to NAIA Terminal 3.  

Cebu Pacific flies to Dubai several times a week.
Taking off at around 3:15 in the afternoon and arrives in Dubai around 9 in the evening Dubai time.

We were stepping foot in the Middle East for the first time!

As you may already know, Philippines is 4 hours ahead of Dubai so we arrived there 'pupungas-pungas" as it was already around 1AM at least for our body clocks.

5J 7944 uses Cebu Pacific's newest aircrafts. A huge A330 that had internet
service on board.  That's for a handsome fee of couse. 

Despite the long time allowance, we did not have much "idle" moments in the airport.
Immediately after passing through Immigration, we only had a couple of minutes to spare to buy food before boarding began.

And, as soon as the "fasten seat belt sign" was off, we wasted no time in munching our early dinner.
We were on a long haul flight so we came in prepared with all sorts of things (gadgets, snacks, etc.) to keep us busy.

Here is my busy boy deciding which among the many "time consuming" things
I bought for him shall be opened first. Hehe.

Since we were crossing time zones, we all found it weird that it was still very bright outside at 8PM Philippine time.

Oh no, the sun is still up in this part of the planet!

The Pilot did mention that we were to pass through Vietnam, Myanmar, India etc. so we must be over India at around the above picture was taken.

Midflight, Jon and  best buddy Glenn were mostly "catching up" while the rest of us were either sleeping or eating. Hehe.

Mom was engaged in her Solitaire.

While the little boy was busy making donuts, snakes and balls. Hehe.

While I, on the other hand brought WORK!
It was a good idea though as I was able to accomplish a lot that night.

With only a few minutes of delay, we arrive at Dubai International Airport.
Good thing we requested for Wheelchair service for the two Seniors in our party.  The walk from the plane to the Passport Control is a good kilometer away!

We met the hotel representative and rode in their shuttle.

The trip took no more than twenty minutes and voila, we were already at AL NAWRAS HOTELS AND APARTMENTS - our home for the next five days.

The hotel from across the street.

It was clear from the moment we checked in that I made the right decision in booking this hotel.
We took a two-bedroom suite for each of the families.

We had our very own living area.

Our own dining space.

And a fully functioning Kitchen to boot.  Yipee!

Jon and I took the Master's Bedroom with the little bub while Mommy and Ate Lyn took the other bedroom.

I favored this kind of set up against hotel type of accommodations because of the space and the convenience on checking in on Mom several times during the night.

We both got a luxurious toilet and bath complete with bath tub and bidet.
Happy happy happy indeed!

The Azarcons, who were occupying a similar apartment as ours were also satisfied with our booking.

After settling down, Jon and I thought it wise to survey the hotel's environs.

We found two supermarkets nearby where we bought all our necessities from.

One thing we also realized, totoo pala na napakarami ng Filipino sa Dubai much to our delight.
Almost all the employees of the two Supermarkets we went into were Filipinos.  It is as if we never left home.  How cool is that?

Para lang kaming nasa SM.  We should not have brought too many food in
our luggage.  Everything we need is here!

Another thing, Dubai is indeed an "open" city.
It is not too strict on Islamic traditions and it respects People from every nation.

As SM would say, "We've got it all for you!".

Too many realizations and we were not even started with our Dubai Tour.
Join us in our Arabian adventures in the following posts.
Thanks heaps!