Water Slides, Motion Sickness, & Snow

I can't tell you how disappointed and sad we were to find out Iceland had closed their border to non-EU residents due to Covid-19. Tickets were bought, the campervan was reserved, huts were also reserved, and plans were made to visit an old friend. Actually, most countries are not allowing UAE residents which means we are stuck in Dubai for the HOT, HOT, HOT desert summer. Did I mention it's HOT? Really HOT? The countries that are allowing UAE residents are also very hot during the summer and require a two week quarantine upon arrival. I know it could be worse. We are lucky to be healthy and to have everything we need. But it's been a year since we've been able to travel anywhere, so we were really looking forward to a change of scenary. 

Since we can't fly anywhere, we decided on a short staycation. Robbie thought it would be fun to do a combination of sun and snow. So first we stayed in a pretty cool family suite at the Atlantis and went to the aquarium and water park right next door. The kids love staying in hotels and our room was one of the nicest we've ever stayed in. It wasn't cheap, but it was well worth it. The hotel gave us free tickets to the aquarium and the water park which was a nice perk. Visiting the water park was probably the part the kids were looking forward to the most. They had an absolute blast! Mason and Cadyn were both tall enough to go down the same slides including the Leap of Faith! Ember wasn't tall enough to join them, but we were able to do the family tube rides which she had the best time on. There were also plenty of slides for her to try in the kids splash park and it was also a great place to hide from the sun and recover from motion sickness. Yes, that's right. I got motion sickness on the water slides! I didn't even know that was possible. It all started on one of the family tube rides. All the spinning while going down side to side was just too much for me. I rode it once and made everyone ride without me after that. After walking all over the water park, we thought it might be nice to end the day with a ride along the Lazy River. The Lazy River is exactly what it sounds like - a slow, go at your own pace, no spinning, kind of ride. Every water park has one and there are all the same, right? WRONG. This particular lazy river had rapids, waves, and park attendants spinning people around as they passed by. The exact opposite of lazy. I should've known it was going to be bad when we had to ride a conveyor belt upwards while on the tube. There was no way of knowing this was coming because you actually have to float on the calm part of the river for a few minutes before you reach the conveyor belt which is hidden inside a cave! The nausea didn't actually kick in until the waves started pushing us along which was towards the end. I was about to jump out of the tube when the kids shouted they wanted to do it again. Seeing them laughing and having fun makes me happy, so I took several deep breaths and continued on with them. Huge mistake. I don't know how I managed to keep the vomit from exploding out of my mouth. But I did, thank goodness! The last thing I wanted to do was cause a panic and have people think I had Covid. As soon as we reached the beach again, I jumped out and ran to the bathroom. Robbie did another round with the kids. Before we left the park, Robbie and the kids rode a couple more rides. I watched. Next time I'm bringing Dramamine.

For the second part of our staycation, snow, we went to Ski Dubai. It's not the Alps, but the kids still love going there and it's an activity that we can do as a family without getting sick! We stayed at the Kempinkski which connects to Ski Dubai, so it was easy to head back to Ski Dubai for a second day of skiing the following morning. 

This was the first time we had ever done a staycation and it went very well. Dubai has plenty of nice hotels to choose from which makes it easier to plan a fun, little vacation for the family. If travel restrictions don't loosen up soon, we might be planning another one!

photos coming soon!