Dreaming of Dubai

I honestly have to say Dubai is a very unique place. I would describe it as New York meets Vegas meets luxury lifestyle in the middle east. It’s not only one of the biggest and fastest growing cities in the United Arab Emirates, but it a city with dreams and limitless adventures.

My husband and I needed a little getaway together and decided to stay at FIVE Palm Jumeriah Hotel. This hotel is luxurious, hip, fun and gorgeous! It’s mainly a young crowd that has a live DJ on the weekends at the pool and a nice private beach as well.

There are so many to do in Dubai so you really have to plan it out well and budget your activities as well. Being from NY I think prices of restaurants and things to buy are comparable in prices but all these adventures can really add up. We decided to just do a few things but I will list a bunch of cool things I’d love to do if I had more time and money at the end of this blog post!

I’ve been skydiving twice before but nothing compared to Skydive Dubai. I would highly recommend booking weeks ahead of time because time slots fill up super quick! Prepare to spend 2-4 hours there by the time you check in, call your group, actually jump, and wait for your video and pictures (which takes about 45 min after your jump). The views are really like nowhere else in the world! It really makes you appreciate what this beautiful world has to offer.

Right near Skydiving is Dinner in the Sky Dubai. I’ve always wanted to do this and really happy we got to do it. You can have lunch, afternoon tea, or dinner in the sky. We decided to do afternoon tea because the food just sounded better and we wanted to start off during the day and get to see the sunset and finish off our meal when it was dark so we got to appreciate all times of the day. Make sure you look when sunset is during the time of year you go so you can plan around it. I thought overall the food was great, service was excellent, they played the best music during the entire thing and the staff made it super fun.

If you could stay at One & Only Royal Mirage I highly recommend it! It was out of our price budget for the week so instead we decided to go to their beach/pool club for the day instead at Drift Beach Dubai. It is elegant, luxurious, beautiful and the food is out of this world. You just have to email them to make a reservation in advance.

We also decided to go to Dubai Miracle Garden. It’s definitely more family friendly, but very cool none the less. We got tickets for entry right when we got to the place and there wasn’t really a line.

I highly highly recommend to do a Desert Safari Tour. We did it through Arabian Adventures which included sand bashing, watching the sunset, dinner in the desert, belly dancing show, camel rides, sand boarding and overall just a really fun afternoon/night. They pick you up from your hotel at about 3 pm and you start your adventure dune bashing and the night just gets better.

We rented a car which was super helpful and we took a ride to Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi definitely has a more middle eastern vibe and is very beautiful. We went to the famous Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque which was beautiful. Make sure you dress appropriately but incase you are not they give women robes (you must be covered to you wrists and ankles).

We decided to have lunch at Emirates Palace which about a 15 minute drive from the Mosque. There is a restaurant inside called Le Cafe that is a little pricey but still good! They are known for their Cappuccino with 24k gold flakes in them.

You obviously can’t go to Dubai and not visit Burj Khalifa. I highly suggest going super early before the crowds come and before parking at the mall becomes a nightmare.

I wanted to visit Burj Khalifa during the day but we had dinner at this amazing restaurant Called Armani Amal that is in the Burj Khalifa that was stunning! Asked to be seated outside and you won’t regret overlooking the beautiful fountains of Dubai and staring up at the Burj.

Recommendations:
1. Sky Dive Dubai
2. Dinner in the sky
3. Summersalt for Brunch at Madinat Jumeriah (you can see Burj Al-arab)
4. Visit Atlantis
5. Visit the Dubai Mall and Aquarium
6. Go skiing in the Mall of emirates
7. Zip line over the Dubai Marina (wish I did this)
8. Go to Burj Khalifa (earlier the better)
9. Swim with dolphins
10. Day trip to Abu Dhabi
11. Visit the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
12. Dubai Miracle Garden
13. Desert Safari Dubai (is a must)
14. High tea at At.mosphere at burj Khalifa
15. Helicopter ride of Dubai
16. Hot air balloon
17.Armani Amal for dinner!

Beach Club Recommendations:
1. Drift Beach Dubai
2. Saadiyat Beach Club (Abu Dhabi)
3. Zero Gravity Dubai
4. Drais Dubai

Tips:
1. Rent a car- made our lives so much easier
2. Exchange money to their currency
3. Book things ahead of time

Brooklyn And Chill

Destinations

Sometimes you just need a staycation. I’ve never appreciated New York so much until this summer. Earlier in the summer I stayed at the William Vale which I previously blogged about.

Incase you wonder why you live in New York like I do, the 1 hotel Brooklyn Bridge will remind you exactly why. I did a staycation for my 8 year anniversary and it was one to remember. The rooms are definitely not cheap but I think it was worth it for that occasional splurge. The hotel has Tesla’s waiting in the front that will drive you to you destination within a 1 mile radius free of charge. I highly suggest going in the summer so you can really enjoy what the hotel has to offer.

The Williamsburg Hotel

If you’re looking for a gorgeous rooftop overlooking the city skyline that does NOT involve you getting a room for the night look no further than The Williamsburg hotel. You can get a day pass for about $75.. I suggest arriving extremely early as people who are staying in the hotel will probably already be there by the time you come. I believe the earliest they let outsiders come in is at 10am.

Tip: If you go there in the evening they don’t charge you anything and you can still swim/lounge out/eat/drink.

Sicilian Summers

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I’ll get right to the point and just say Sicily blew my mind and is totally underrated! It is much bigger than I thought and many different places to stay! There are 3 airports there so just need to think ahead where you plan to stay. We decided to stay in Cefalu which was a great decision. We stayed at Le Calette which was a stunning hotel with gorgeous pools, views, ocean and food!

I highly recommend renting a car! My sister and I did a lot of driving . Certain places we had on our list was anywhere from 1-3 hours of driving which would not have been possible without a car! Coming from Lake Como, the roads are easy to drive on there are real streets and highways just nobody follows any sort of traffic laws by any means😂.

If you’re not staying in Taormina I suggest doing a day trip there! We drove and parked in a parking lot which was right near a bus stop that took you straight to town. We walked around town for a little bit and went straight to the beach called Isola Bella.

We decided after the beach to have lunch at Belmond Grand Hotel Timeo. I’d highly recommend staying at this hotel if you wanted to spend some money in Taormina. If its out of your budget at least treat yourself to a gorgeous delicious lunch here. The food was delicious! and the views speak for themselves.

We did a day trip to Favignana which was honestly amazing to say the least. In order to get to Favignana you have to take a ferry (Pre purchase) from the port of Trapani which is about 2 hours from Cefalu. There are parking lots where you can leave your car. It’s a pretty short ferry ride that brings you right into the tiny town of Favignana. One of the nicest beaches on that island which is the only one I would recommend is Cala Rossa. Don’t even think twice about going to any other beach. Everyone rents bikes in order to get to the beach. It’s about a 20 min bike ride and you literally cannot get lost because everyone is pretty much headed that way. It sounds more of hassle than it is but it is worth every second.

I’ve never seen nicer water in my entire entire life. BE PREPARED to have to literally climb up and down rocks to actually get into the water but it was worth it. If I actually had water shoes this would have made my life 400x easier but we life and we learn right.

There are so many things to do and see in Sicily that I just didn’t have the time to visit. I think it has the nicest beaches Italy has to offer. All in all, Sicily was nothing short of amazing and I would go back in a heartbeat.

Tips/Recommendations:
1. GET WATER SHOES
2. Go to Taormina
3. Go to Favignana- Cala Rossa beach
4. Go to Scala Dei Turchi (wish I had the time)
5. Go to San Vito Lo Capo (wish I had the time)
6. Visit Sicilia Outlet Village if you want some designer stuff at outlet prices!!!!

Majestic Lake Como

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Lake como blew my expectations point blank. We flew from Dubrovnik back to Milan and rented a car to drive to Lake Como. If you plan to stay in Lake Como (which I highly recommend) then I suggest renting a car. Uber’s are extremely pricey and I liked the freedom of driving around. Some hotels are absolutely stunning and a price to match, so we decided to stay at an airbnb. This air bnb was GORGEOUS. The grounds were beautiful it was so much nicer then the pictures portrayed. If i ever come back to Lake Como which I plan to do so next summer, I wouldn’t waste my time or money staying elsewhere. But if you do want to spend $800+ a night I do have amazing recommendations for you 😇.

The pool at our Air Bnb

So this air bnb is a part of a small community where a few other apartments I believe are rented out so you do share the pool but I don’t think there was every more then 6 people at a time. Our air bnb had the cutest balcony with a gorgeous view over looking the lake.

Paola the host was always a text message away and was really amazing. There is a cute restaurant over looking the lake that is right down by the lake near the air bnb. The pictures really do not do it any justice. If lake como or this air bnb is not on your list you are missing out!!

Take a day trip to Bellagio. We drove about 20 minutes on the tiniest roads to get there but it was worth it. It is so picturesque and stunning to just walk around there. There are many things you can do there like have some lunch, do some shopping, go to their botanical garden. On trip advisor there are a list of things you can do in Bellagio– if you can I would make a day out of it.

We decided to do a fancy dinner at Villa D’este. The food was absolutely delicious and the service was impeccable. If you don’t want to eat there you can just walk the grounds but I highly recommend eating there.

Villa D’este

We also decided to do Kayaking in the lake which was a day of decision. It really was beautiful (if you could plan it ahead I would). I found Bellagio Water Sports on trip advisor, sent a message on Whats app and then had our kayaks booked.

Dubrovnik

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I have to say Dubrovnik was probably my favorite place in Croatia. I’m not a Game of Thrones fan by any means but I’m sure by that alone you’d really enjoy this place. I stayed a Sun Garden Dubrovnik which could have been one of the nicest hotels of my trip. The pictures online really do not do it any justice; you could actually stay at this hotel for a week and probably never have to leave! It’s massive first off– theres a beautiful beach, it has restaurants, a supermarket it’s own marina and a welcome drink which is always a plus in my book.

We decided to rent a private boat for the day which I simply found a few days prior on trip advisor. I sent a whats app message to Denies from Dubrovnik Rentals and with some negotiating we got a really awesome deal. Our skipper was awesome and literally stopped anywhere we wanted. He also can give you suggestions on where to go if you don’t have anywhere in mind. I highly recommend doing a private boat if you can– its worth it.

On one of the beach stops where you have lunch– Dubrovnik boat rentals will make a reservation for you at this restaurant called Obala. The food was amazing as was the view.