One of my favourite things to do in Dubai is walk, it gives a very different view of the city. Being flat makes a place very accessible and easy to walk along, especially with the paths that are springing up around the city. Enjoying the cool March sunshine, I chose to walk from my hotel at Dubai Marina all the way to the monorail. It’s a very easy walk that anyone can do but I wouldn’t recommend it in the warmer months because there isn’t much shade.
My walk began amidst the skyscrapers which separate the marina from the beach. I’m not the biggest dinosaur and walking through these buildings makes me feel tiny! I use google maps offline when I travel so I have directions and a vague idea how far I am from my destination. This walk is meant to take around an hour, depending on how fast you wish to walk. I was strolling and kept stopping to enjoy my surroundings. It took 20 minutes to reach Skydive Dubai and the halfway point of my walk. After leaving the Marina via the bridge I was beginning to see the Palm, I was still unsure how exactly I was going to get to the Atlantis the Palm. Walking along King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud St I spied a couple of hotels I would love to stay in when I next return to Dubai. My favourite was the One and Only, Royal Mirage ( I wonder if I can convince my photographer to take me for my birthday).
Passing by the lush greenery outside of the hotels, I made it to the Palm Jumeirah Metro Station where I found a sign which pointed me towards the car park. Unsure where else to go and excited to feel the cool air con I followed until I came upon the entrance to the monorail after a 50 minute walk.
I opted for a return ticket as the taxi fares on the palm are extortionate due to the crazy traffic. 30AED (£6.60) got me a ticket onto the driverless monorail, which rides across the world’s largest man made palm tree. I managed to get a seat right at the front, if you only ever take one piece of travel advice from me, ride the monorail and sit at the front. The stations in between may not be finished yet, which I was slightly disappointed by; I really wanted to visit The Pointe ( maybe in the future I’ll make it there). It takes 15 minutes to go from the first to the last station, the view was so good I was even able to see across to my hotel.
I can safely say I was sad to get off the monorail, but I was very excited to see one of the most famous hotels in the world. Lots of humans were congregated on the rocks opposite the hotel, attempting to get the perfect hotel selfie. I personally found the view of the Atlantis was best from the monorail. I headed inside the hotel but all I found was designer shops and security. I had considered going to one of the restaurants but sadly couldn’t reserve a table. Instead I chose to visit Starbucks and just enjoy the opportunity to visit such an extravagant place. They got my photographer’s name incredibly wrong it was hilarious, I laughed so hard my photographer turned red!
I decided against visiting the water park (dinosaurs can’t swim) and the aquarium because it is a lot smaller than the one in Dubai mall. So I headed back to the monorail station for another beautiful view on my way back to the mainland.
Not wanting my day to end I decided to go along to Souk Madinat Jumeirah; the more modern version of Al Fahidi. I always enjoy visiting here, there’s a beautiful calm atmosphere and everywhere is picture perfect. I could wander around here for hours, each time I visit I find something new.
Parakeets were flying around as I headed back past the Palace to the tram station. I couldn’t believe my eyes, seeing them so close was the perfect way to end another wonderful day in Dubai.
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Rex the Veganosaurus 
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