I think I am a Northern Lass at heart. I love the rythmn of the seasons, the feel of wet grass beneath my feet, frosty air, a good sea breeze and the perfection of the occasional sunny day. When I read about places in books it is descriptions of The Orkneys and Shetland that excite me and draw me in. Carbeth House and County Cork gave me a sense of place from day 1.

It has to be said, therefore, that Dubai has never been on my radar of places to visit, despite having cousins who live there. Once we decided that we were going to do a long trip to South-East Asia, however, it seemed only sensible to have a stopover in Dubai and catch up with the family. Dubai couldn't be further away from the wilderness that stirs my blood. Everything is ordered and organised, it revolves around money, luxury and prestige. The housing estates are all gated communities in neat rows with fake grass, accessed by 5 lane motorways.

We flew in overnight on the 4th November with clear skies right across Europe, making it look like a deep ocean below, the street light sparkling like irridescent sea creatures - star fish, eels, plankton. Further south and the lights made the settlements more like archipelegos, circular rather than linear communities. I had a quick nap and awoke to a sand-misted dawn followed by a dusty taxi drive - the urban features of Dubai shrouded in a dust cloud.

Stopover in Dubai

I know several people who regularly visit Dubai and had asked them what we should see in our stopover of 2 days. The number one was to go and see the dancing fountains in Dubai Mall. During the day we relaxed by my cousins' pool and I spotted my first five "lifers" (birds that I have never identified in the wild before) and then we were taken out to The Mall in evening for food and to see the very spectacular dancing fountains, light show and the excellent service. It felt like a fantastical shrine to consumerism, but fun nonetheless.

After we had planned our trip we realised that Peter also has a cousin in Dubai, so our second day in the city we set off to see him. Much to my family's amazement we didn't book a taxi, but decided to travel to Jameira Leisure Beach to meet Gordon by public transport. We took a bus from the local 'community centre' (a small arcade consisting of Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, a local supermarket, gym and a restaurant - that appears to be a community in Dubai) to Mall of the Emirates where we took the train. The Metro in Dubai consists pretty well of one line from the airport right through the city. It is efficient, economical and very clean. As complete newbies to the area we managed to go right to the end of the line as we misunderstood the lady at the ticket office! This meant we couldn't get out through the turnstiles as we hadn't paid to go that far! Luckily there was a member of staff on hand who just turned us around and told us which stop we needed! After disembarking at the correct stop we then got a bit mixed up with the tram loop - meaning it took us over two hours to reach our destination and contact Gordon to meet for lunch!

We really made a meal of getting to JLB on this occasion. On our return stopover in January 2025 we had about 6 hours to spare and made in to JLB for breakfast from the airport in just over an hour each way for a cost of about £10 for the two of us.

Dubai Marina and Jameira Leisure Beach

After a very nice lunch at a Greek Restaurant Gordon showed us aroung the beach area and the marina. Dubai likes to boast that it has the biggest and best of everything and we were able to watch people on the longest urban zip wire in the world and there was also the largest Big Wheel in the world - unfortunately the latter hasn't worked for about 2 years as the sand island had subsided. This area did have more of a community feel than the housing estate and the Dubai Mall - the beach and the sun certainly being a big draw. I think by using public transport we also got more of a feel for the place - this is a multi-cultural city for young people from across the globe who want to better themselves.

With so many long-haul flights passing through Dubai they are making it as easy as possible for travellers to partake in a stopover - weather a couple of days or a few hours. There is no need to get a visa to travel to Dubai and the ultra efficient airport (which includes and internal train it is so big) means there are practically no queues As we discovered on our way home, if your connecting flight is less than 12 hours you don't even need to collect your hold luggage, it will be transferred on.

Conclusion

Whilst we didn't find any "soul" in Dubai, I am really pleased that we broke our flights in both directions to visit the City. In both November and January the weather is very pleasant, the public transport is good, there is a huge choice of food outlets (mostly international chains)and it is very safe. It is a consumerised, technical city which feels alien to me, but is certainly impressive.

Dancing Fountains in Dubai
Dancing fountains at Dubai Mall
Common mynah bird
Common mynah bird - one of my "lifers"
Dubai Mall
Peter with a dinosaur in the Dubai Mall
Dubai Marina
Dubai Marina