TRAVELS: heading to Dubai & the Maldives

Our vacation is now only a few days away and I literally can not wait! It’s is the first vacation (other than weekend trips) we’re going on since I started working at the beginning of last year and I am SO ready for it ♥ And since a lot of you have been asking where we’re heading I wanted to share our destinations with you today.

This trip has been in the planning for a while, and it all started with an amazing surprise back in December. The lovely Kuramathi Island Resort invited us to come and stay with them in the Maldives for a week during spring, and of course that was an offer we weren’t about to refuse. Since I have been wanting to visit Dubai for over 2 years now, and flights going to the Maldives usually connect in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, we decided to start the trip with a 6-day visit to the United Arab Emirates. For Dubai we booked at the Grosvenor House, because good friends of ours spent their NYE there and couldn’t stop raving about the hotel. I’m super happy we booked early enough, since everything seems to be incredibly busy during the next week in Dubai, as it is Russian Easter Orthodox Easter (thank you for the info Claudia) and apparently Dubai is a well-liked destination amongst Russians.

The hotel is located right at the beginning of the marina and has a great view of The Palm, including the Atlantis Hotel, as well as the beautiful skyline of the marina. At first we wanted to stay on The Palm itself (the Westin Hotel was my personal runner up in terms of hotels for Dubai), but we ended up deciding to book on the mainland, as there is not that much to do on The Palm. Right now we don’t have too much on the agenda yet, since we’re excited about just enjoying some time off, but I do have a few things in mind that I definitely want to do. A desert jeep safari is at the very top of my list, of course I’ll have to check out the Mall of Dubai, and I also wand to visit Chanel’s “Little Black Jacket” exhibition, which happens to be in Dubai for the next two weeks. We also want to visit the old town, maybe a few souks (the gold and spice souks sound amazing), smoke some sheesha at Nasimi Beach, go up on the Burj Khalifa and have drinks at the Address Hotel downtown to watch the fountains. If you guys have any other recommendations, I’d love to hear them!!

After Dubai we’re heading to the Kuramathi Island Resort in the Maldives. It is located in Rasdhoo Atoll, a tiny atoll with just 5 islands, but with a length of almost 2km Kuramathi is one of the bigger islands of the Maldives. I have never heard of a person that didn’t think the Maldives are paradise, so naturally we’re beyond excited for this part of the trip. For the week on Kuramathi Island we have nothing but relaxation, lots of snorkeling, possibly a bit of island hopping and maybe a sunset boat trip planned. Upon arrival we’re picked up by a speedboat at Male International Airport, which will then take us to the island. But more on that once I actually have pictures to show you 🙂 Here are a few first impressions of Kuramathi:

**all photos via Kuramathi Island Resort & the Grosvenor House Dubai