Snow in the Desert, Ski Dubai! (Update)

The worse aspect in my job is the packing of my clothes. The destination dictates 'the what and what not to pack'!

To simplify things, I always travel with my Philips electric shaver and Philips Sonicare toothbrush, cashmere jumper as it’s light and does not need ironing. My ever present Levi’s 507 jeans, a few Abercrombie polo shirts and t-shirts, cords and trainers (or better known as sneakers in the US – Adidas and Nike are my personal favourites). Sounds a lot - doesn't it? I always pack gym wear on every trip as a rule to motivate myself to exercise and stretch my dodgy back and for a dose of natural “high” after every workout.

Let me tell you about my trip to the airport from Battersea yesterday as it was eventful. It took me 2 hours and 34 minutes to get to the car park due to a broken down bus in the middle of the convergence at the Chiswick flyover – how unlucky was that? On normal days around 30-50 minutes give and take - that's an 18 mile journery, door to door. The expletives in the car were DEAFENING! Luckily I was traveling on my own but apologies to my very dear friend John who phoned me at the peak of stress and heard it all. Sorry John.

To cut the very long and stressful journey, I made it to the plane just in time! I had to lug my semi-packed Samsonite suitcase through check-in and security with my right hand and my Apple Mac draped over my left shoulder hurriedly, out of breath and panicked.

The Journey begins.

Landed in Dubai after 6 hours and 25 minutes flight. The immigration and customs was a speedy exercise – not bad.

The airport is well laid out. Upon disembarkation from the aircraft, the jetway walk is fairly short and then you are in the main terminal. To proceed to the arrivals hall, you will need to take another brief walk - a signage to the downward escalator is clearly posted or if you prefer elevators this is also available. Please note that if you take the escalator, it may be a longer trip as it is equivalent to 3 flights of stairs. Upon reaching the ground floor, you will then have a pretty long walk to the Immigration and Customs so if you are travelling heavy, make sure you use the travelator and if elderly or infirm a buggy is there to hand on request - I think.

Just before reaching the Immigration area, another upward escalator takes you to the Immigration Hall where you can start your formality queue. Immediately after the immigration, your handcarried baggage would then be subjected to search under x-ray. You can then proceed to the baggage carousel and then clear customs. Please note that they will x-ray all your luggage just before you finally exit on to the arrivals hall. The whole exercise could easily take up 40 minutes to an hour of your time depending on your speed in walking, luggage and circumstance.

Once outside, you can then relax and finish the rest of your journey. In my case, boarded our hotel pickup bus and traveled another 35-40 minutes to Courtyard Marriott, Green Community, Dubai Investment Park, Dubai, UAE which is about 35km if I remember it right.

Amal handed room keys in the bus for express check-in as our rooms were pre-booked. This saved us from queueing at the reception. Well done Marriott – for saving us time in checking in! Amal also briefed us en-route about the Courtyard Marriott and the services available on our stay. By the way, Amal is a very charming and efficient lady and works for Courtyard Marriott. Amal is approachable and comes across as very helpful and willing to help just like the rest of the hotel staff.

By the way, Courtyard Marriott also provides free transport to and from the Mall of the Emirates. Timetable to and from the Mall of Emirates is available from the Concierge and is also posted in the foyer.

The drive to the Mall of the Emirates took roughly 20 minutes from the hotel. En-route to the mall, from a distance you will clearly see the expectacular outline of Burj Al Arab that soars majestically resembling of a giant sail and the skyline of the whole city. I noted that on the slow lane of the highway to and from the mall, lorries lined the whole stretch of the highway in absolute order. It amazed me that they did not cause a traffic jam whatsoever.

We arrived at the Mall of the Emirates in good time and were dropped off at the main entrance. The mall looked massive from the outside and it was beautiful inside. Keep in mind that Ski Dubai is annexed to the Mall of the Emirates. In keeping with the Christmas season, they erected an igloo, a giant Christmas tree lit in deep blue light (just like my VolksWagen Golf GTI panel!) and several small Christmas trees within the grotto. The mall was full of patrons from Abaya clad ladies, Arabic men in Thobes, western and eastern men, women and children all doing their thing.

I was quite astonished by the selection of the shops available in the Mall. In my observation, they cater very well to the western consumers and the array of merchandise on sale was rather wide - very European in their style.

I went into a few brand shops I normally visit when at home or on my travels and, to my surprise, the wide selection of merchandise was as good as if not better than what I have seen elsewhere and I therefore would highly recommend Dubai as a destination for shopping.

I collected a Store Guide from the Information kiosk and I would like to share with you the shops that are available in the mall to name a few:

For Ladies Fashion: Forever21; French Connection; Guess; Kenneth Cole, Lacoste; Levi's; Mango; Massimo Dutti; Monsoon; Oxygene; Pepe Jeans; Quick Silver; Rage; Rip Curl; River Island; Timberland; Top Shop; Zara

For Men's Fashion: Adidas; Bossini; Burberry; Cafe Coton; Columbia Sportswear; Esprit; French Connection, UK; G2000; Giordano, Guess, Lucky Jeans; Marlboro Classics, Next; Oakley 'O' Store; Phat Farm; Topman.

The Mall has a few restaurants and fastfoods and they are located on the first and second floors. If you are after a quick and jolly wholesome meal you can start off at the Food Court. (A Food Court is a dining area with restaurant outlets surrounding the tables, usually with both local and international cuisines represented.) I had Thai food on this occasion from the Thai Express and their Chicken Curry was very nice - would highly recommend it! I also ordered Tom Yang Soup which was delightful.

At the food court, you will find KFC for fried chicken; Magic Wok for some chinese; McDonalds for burgers; Papa Johns and Mrs Vanellis for Italian and Pizza; Saj Express for Indian meal; Charley's & Subway for subs; Hardees; Karam Beirut, Shamiana Restaurant for some Middle Eastern Delight. More restaurants are on the upper floor.

In the mall, you will also find a couple of pharmacies, health and beauty shops like Crabtree & Evelyn, The Body Shop and a few more. A hypermarket called CarreFour, department stores like Centrepoint, Debenhams and Harvey Nichols. A few banks and money exchanges, bookstores, electronics, optical shops, watch stores like - Mont Blanc, Omega, Rolex, Vacheron Constantin Boutique and many many more.

On this visit after a long walk, shop hopping and window shopping, I had a large cappuccino at the Barista Coffee Shop and I must tell you that it's my new favourite coffee shop now - they make the best coffee! I then picked up a free copy of 'GulfWeekly' by the till and had a good read. If I am not mistaken there are around 20 coffee shops in the mall from Starbucks, Costa to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Again too many to mention but I am sure you get the idea and can understand the size of this up-martket, trendy and impressive mall!

I think, I am shopped up so I will be talking about places to see and visit in Dubai. I have compiled some info for you but I would like to give you a breather - and myself! I have been writing non stop now for quite a while so I will be posting another update which I'll call "Snow in the Desert, Ski Dubai (Update 2!)"

Thank you for reading my Blog. Take care and God Bless you all!

Alan Aldana