Dubai, UAE

The last time we were in Dubai was during COVID. In fact, I don’t even think it counts—we were only there for about two hours, roaming around Dubai Expo. It wasn’t easy to move around back then because of the restrictions still in place. Our whole stay in the UAE at that time was limited to Abu Dhabi.

We definitely wanted to go back, but we didn’t know when. We needed to find a way to do it without causing too much financial damage—either on accommodation or getting around the city. Now, if you didn’t know it yet, Filipinos are everywhere. There’s always a slim chance we have cousins somewhere. And if you know anything about Dubai, you’ll know that it’s basically another Filipino city outside the Philippines.

What I’m trying to say is: Iris has cousins in the city who were kind enough to take a few days off to host us. Huge thanks to Abby, Amir, and Kristine. We could have stayed at their place, but we decided to book a hotel room next to their apartment because—guess what—Hannah (yes, you guessed it), another cousin of Iris from London, was also coming. The more the merrier!

Every time we travel, one of the things we look forward to the most is food—at least, for me personally. And did I mention Dubai is practically a Filipino city? That means there’s an abundance of Filipino food. It may sound crazy that we leave the Philippines only to end up looking for our own food in another country. But it’s the same story for every Filipino you’ve met or will meet. And honestly—who gives a shit? Our food is that good. 😉

Speaking of food, as soon as we landed in Dubai, Abby and Christine took us straight to a carinderia—a typical Filipino restaurant serving all kinds of home-cooked dishes—where we had our first meal of the trip: bulalo and monggo. The perfect combo to kick off a sleep-deprived, jet-lagged morning. Our vacation had officially started.

During our one-week stay, food was definitely one of the highlights (I’m looking at you, tuyo rice and Paluto restaurant), alongside the usual touristy things like:

• old town excursions

• a visit to the gold souk

• a 1 AED abra ride

• a more-than-1 AED yacht-ish ride

• marina walks

• sand dunes adventure

• drinks at fancy hotels (carefully chosen bars with no minimum order)

• picnics at the beach

• mall strolls

• and of course, chilling at a café in the middle of the desert, where we met new friends Jo and JP.

All of these activities required transportation and would’ve cost us a ton of money—but thanks (again!) to Abby, we only had to pay for food, coffee, and focus on having fun (and yes, we did).

Going back to Dubai was definitely worth it and if hot weather is your cup of Karak Chai, habibi, come to Dubai.