Dubai flight with 2yo

[June2009]

So the flight is going to be around 7hours, daytime, how do I keep her entertained? Hopefully she will have a nap at some point during the flight.
Any tips? :)

I live in dubai and constantly fly back and forth with my 15 month old. I take her trunky filled with books, pencils, toys and food. We usually get her a seat in between us and put the tray down so she can play with her toys on it. Failing that i just keep my fingers crossed its going to be a hassle free flight Lots of walking up and down the aisle and looking out of the windows.
Take layers of clothes, the flights are always freezing but once you land its a different story. 41 degree's here today.

I always take a pashmina. It's nice for you or DD to snuggle under and can be folded up small when you don't need it. If you're flying with Emirates, their ICE entertainment system is excellent and there is quite a bit of kids stuff on there.

As barbie says it is hot here now and going to get hotter, so it's often a good idea to try and take a small bottle of water off the plane with you as you may be thirsty before you get to the final destination.

Thank you for your replies, I have a pashmina I can take with me. Trunki is a brilliant idea and good bday present for dd, she can choose which one she wants :D

I was warned that it is going to be baking, I don't think I've been anywhere that's 41 degrees, and we're going at the beginning of july so it's only going to get hotter. We'll just see how we cope when we get there! I'm guessing I don't need to pack any jumpers... (unless it gets much colder in the evenings?)

Do you have any recommendations of what to do there with a 2yo? We'll probably be in the Jumeirah resort area.

If you give me a few hours i can give you a few ideas, just need to get bedtime etc over and done with

Be warned it's going to be uncomfortably hot. Most expats will be heading in the opposite direction to you, home to the uk for a cooler summer.

Im going to to write as things come into my head so excuse me if it's all a bit disjointed

The best thing for you to do is to get a decent hotel where children's entertainment is provided, most do very good kids clubs which will enable to you have a bit of sun in the safe knowledge dd is having fun and not in the blistering heat.

Dubai mall, the worlds biggest, which is next to the worlds biggest water fountain display, defiantly worth a look, shows start about 6pm every 20 mins. While in the mall check out the largest fish tank and wonder around the worlds largest candy store. There is a aquarium in the mall too. Me dd loves it.
On the top floor of the mall check out www.kidzania.ae/home.php..

Atlantis hotel is worth a visit, they have a brilliant water park and a good children's area, arrive early to get bed and shade. You can go inside the lobby where there is another aquarium type thing. Lots of child friendly dining too.

Most of the malls have children area's where they can play, although i doubt you want a holiday full of soft play day's!

There is a book called 'the entertainer' which is basically a book full of bogof vouchers, use for entry into atlantis and the book pays for itself *260 aed, works out about 48 gbp. Lots of places to eat included in the book too. If you want pm me closer to the time and you can have a few of our vouchers, there is no way we could use them all.

You have to be prepared to get up extra early so its not too hot or go out after sunset. It will still be hot of course but you dont have to worry about dd burning. The malls are open until midnight and its alwayd packed with kids after 8pm!

If i think of more ill come back

Wow thanks for all this info barbie. Dh LOVES the heat, me not so much.
I did notice there were no classes at the hotel gym (Mina A'Salam) between sort of 11am to 4pm.

We'll play it by ear, not sure how late dd will be able to stay up in the evening. I think the plan is to wake up early (dd is usually up around 6am, not sure how that is going to work out with time difference, max 8am I'd say) have breakfast and have a look around the resort and other hotels, have lunch and then all go for a nap. dd usually sleeps around 2 hours.
I do actually like the idea of going softplay everyday for a bit after nap, she gets bored of that after an hour or so but it keeps her happy for the rest of the day iyswim.
Then dinner and maybe just go for a walk with the pram, hang around in the room watch a film, that type of thing, we're not party animals any more.

The hotel does babysitting, we've never actually used a babysitter here in the UK (not even used family) so I'm not exactly comfortable with leaving dd with a stranger abroad. (she does go nursery 3 mornings a weekso it's not like she's never been left with anyone at all), but I was thinking a babysitter could tag along with us to dinner or pool or whatever so we can get a bit of handsfree time.

I'm not really into staying at the beach or at the pool under the sun, I'll be very careful with suncream etc and hopefully we'll come back unscathed.

I have a few general questions if you don't mind

• Do people smoke in public places, restaurants etc?
• Is there place that has an excellent reputation for sushi?
• Do I need to cover my head in public places?

I'm going to have a look at dubai.com that should cover a few of my questions, if you know of another site then feel free to let me know :)

Thanks for the offer on vouchers!

Sorry i didn't come back, small issue of different time zones!

Try here for info on whats happening and up to the minute deals and advice. The kids section usually has a few ideas to keep lo entertained.

Do people smoke in public?, yes, sadly. It's everywhere, dont be surprised to see people smoking in restaurants. Although ones attached to the malls tend not to allow it.

Sushi, yes again, loads of excellent place. I dont like it myself but i will ask friends for recommendations for you.

Do you need to cover your head? Well not for religious reasons, unless you do the mosque tour but more to protect you from the sun and heat

It is very western here, just be respectful when in the malls etc. The general rule is shoulders and knee's covered. I normally in dress or vest and t shirt, both don't cover knee's but i looked covered iyswim?

There are loads of brilliant soft play areas, i can let you know closer to the time. Like i said feel free to pm any time

If you're in the Mina a Salam, that's right next to the Madinat. It's a sort of mall/restaurant area aimed exactly at people like you. Always nice and cool in there, loads of restaurants and more touristy type shops. No kids play area though. It's on the canal that goes to the Mina and Al Qasr and you can take the abra that goes between the various places in the resort.
There are loads of cinemas in Dubai - which are always freezing even in the heat, but in the summer they often put on cartoons and Disney especially for the kids. Remember the malls don't open till 10am, though supermarkets are open earlier.
All great advice from Barbie and I just want to emphasise that not only will it be VERY hot, but also very humid. Even at night it is in the high 30c's and you will sweat a lot if you are outside. So make sure you bring clothes made of natural fibre and you may want to keep changing tops and undies - maybe TMI, but it's the truth!
If you plan to spend a lot of time by the pool, make sure you bring flippy flops as the tiles around the pool get ridiculously hot. A hat and good sunglasses are also a good idea.
As Barbie says, by July 1st, we're all heading out to Europe to escape the heat. The Mina is a lovely hotel, so I'm sure you'll have a good holiday, but do be careful in the sun.

We travel quite often to the middle east, though tend to go Feb/march due to heat. Even at 2 I found that DD could be amused by a appropriate film on the seat back TV could occupy her for a good while.
It is worth knowing if your DD is pale and blond that many people in the UAE will be intrigued by your child's colouring in a nice way. My DD is very blond and we often get requests to touch her, if you decline it is accepted pleasantly. I have allowed other mothers to touch DD all they want to do is stroke her hair or cheek. One of the most touching experiences I have had in the middle east is being approached by a woman in the full burka she looked me in the eye smile with her eyes and I nodded and she just briefly touched DDs cheek.

Have lots of small presents/playthings to bring out during the flight. My DS loves sticker books and finger/glove puppets which are obviously easy to pack loads of and do keep him entertained for quite some time.

Thank you very much for all the advice :)

We received our tickets and some leaflets through today from the travel agency. Very excited to be going away!

Can we get things like calpol from the chemist out there? I tried looking at the updated medicine list from the embassy website but it's broken and I would rather not take anything with me.
Also wondering if I can take my pill there? That's the only prescrition medicine we're on that I would like to take with me.

I was trying to find the prices of leg waxing etc in the spas at the hotel and I can't find any, is there something I should know? (like do they not do that over there?).

I need to go shopping, literally not got any clothes for hot and humid weather whatsoever.

Thanks lizcat, dd has olive skin and dark hair so I don't think she'll attract the same attention :) We'll bring some sun cream (that's allowed right?I'm a bit worried about bringing anything else than clothes!!)

another question, dd will have her own seat, do i need any special belts/ seat add on?

June, we lived in Oman so not a million miles away. Calpol is availabel and so are paracetamol suppositories, they were a life saver when DD refused oral medicine.
Sun cream is also readily available. I honestly wouldn't bother buying too many new clothes. IME, it is just as cheap to buy them there. Also, if you fancy something new and snazzy and made to measure, visit a tailor. I miss them so much.
With regard to the plane, we found Emirates to be much better than BA for children. DD still has the rucksack and elephant/rat/other animal thing she was given when she was 3. She is 10 now.

Thanks, we're flying with emirates as well :)

I probably will buy some clothes out there, they'll be more adequate i think. It's easier to go shopping here while dd is at nursery though, well it would be if only i didn't have another million things to do first :s