Sophistivacation

It's not often that rugby and Kylie are mentioned in one sentence, but today we have the pleasure of both! It's Friday, and given that we arrived in Ras Al Khaimah on Wednesday morning, we are both still tired. Nevertheless, we have a reasonable lie in before embarking on the journey to the Sevens Stadium, just a short distance from Dubai. As part of our holiday package, we received complimentary general admission tickets for both Friday and Saturday; Emirates is the main sponsor of the tournament and we booked directly with them. And to be fair, it's really the fact that we will get to see Kylie that is making us go! The concierge organised a taxi for us and gave us directions for the journey back in the evening. It took around 1 hour to get to the stadium, stopping en route to get some fuel. We also passed a stunning mosque which I was determined to get a picture of on the way back. We were dropped off at the taxi stand where we followed a huge ex-pat community ...

I should tell you a bit about the hotel and our experience so far. As I said in the previous blog post, we are staying at the Rixos Bab Al Bahr Hotel in Ras Al Khaimah. It's a five star all-inclusive resort so our plan is to relax and unwind for seven days. There are 3 pools, one of which is an infinity pool and is adult-only, a reasonably large beach with around 100 loungers and a spa; relaxing seems like the only option here, as well as general over-indulging. As its December, you will notice the Christmas theme too... A gingerbread house in reception - I can testify, its made of gingerbread! After sleeping for a few hours on our day of arrival (Wednesday), we headed to the beach and promptly fell asleep in the sun. We managed a few beers before hunger struck us so we wandered to a fast-food style restaurant called Toast N' Burger.  It was pretty good for a snack bar and definitely quelled the hunger pangs. We also decided to try out the aptly named Mojito Bar; ...

I normally try to blog each day when I am on my travels, but not this time. This is my "relaxation" holiday, and by that I mean, I will be sitting on the beach (or by the poolside) sunning myself and drinking the cocktail(s) of the day!  It all started with a day at work, followed by a tram-ride to the airport for the 7.05pm Emirates flight from Edinburgh to Dubai. I have travelled Emirates on numerous occasions and have always seen them as a cut above the rest. This flight was not one of these occasions... It was cramped, the staff were verging on rude and the food was mediocre to say the least. We did arrive at least 30 minutes ahead of schedule due to a fierce tailwind though, so all was not lost. Dubai immigration has definitely improved since the last time I was here around 15 years ago. I haven't mentioned it yet, but we are not actually staying in Dubai; I like staying in the more obscure places so I thought we would go to one of the lesser known Emirates, R...

Today we fly back to Edinburgh, but not until late evening, which means we have almost a full day in Brussels. As we had to check out of the hotel, we thought it best to take it easy and have a lie in. We left at 11am, so our first stop was brunch. The Waffle Factory is famous, although there are many dotted around Belgium, but we thought we would try it anyway. We both went for waffles filled with savoury fillings, which reminded me of a calzone. I chose one with goats cheese, spinach and sun dried tomato along with a latte, although it was so small, and cost 3 euros; the waffle was worth it though. After brunch, we decided to find the comic strip museum as Brussels is extremely famous for its comics, such as Tintin and the Smurfs. We decided not to go in as neither of us were particularly interested in the comic strips but I did take a few picture in the main entrance. We also walked past the Everard t’Serclaes monument which apparently brings luck and grants wishes to all who touch ...

After a reasonably early night, and a pretty late alarm, we got up feeling a bit more refreshed.  Our first stop of the day was breakfast at Le Roy d’Espangne at Grand Place where I was determined to have my first Brussels Belgian waffle. I wasn’t disappointed, even with the healthier option of fresh fruit. We had decided to do the hop-on hop-off bus and try and get our bearings, plus one of the places we wanted to visit was at least a ten minute drive out of the centre. As we walked up to the station, we heard “POLICE, POLICE” and saw two undercover officers tackling two men to the ground about 2 metres from us. We have no idea why they were arrested but we thought it best to move away and find the city sightseeing bus stop. The buses were lined up just along from Brussels central station so we boarded the one with blue line (line 2), ready for a day of exploring. Our first stop was the Atomium, originally constructed for the 1958 Brussels World Expo. The structure is 102 metres t...