First entry

Want to know how I did Dubai and Abu Dhabi in 10 days? Read this.

Since this is my first blog entry, I’ll start with my most recent trip.

AIRFARE: It started with Cebu Pacific’s “Love you so March” airfare promo on March 2013. I bought round trip tickets Manila-Dubai for travel on January to February 2014 at Php11,942.46. The fare is already inclusive of baggage allowance of 15kgs Manila to Dubai and 20kgs Dubai to Manila; and 1 serving of hot meals in both flights. This is a very good deal considering that usual round trip tickets to Dubai costs around Php35k and up.

Since this trip was almost one year in preparation, I had ample time to prepare my budget on airfare, hotel accommodation, visa fee and pocket money.

VISA: A friend of mine who has been working in Dubai for nine years helped me in my visit visa application. She just asked for a colored scanned copy of my passport and there, after four days I got a message from her that my visa has been approved. She got me the 14-day visit visa since I am staying for only 10 days. I heard it costs less than the usual 30-day visit visa, but I don’t know the actual fee because she did not let me pay for the visa fee. Yey!

ACCOMMODATION: I really had a struggle with this because hotels in UAE, especially in Dubai, are relatively expensive (actually not just the hotel but almost everything is pricey in Dubai). I used different booking sites like agoda, booking.com, hotelclub, hotelscombined, asiarooms, etc. This task gave me a lot of headache for some days. Finally, I was able to book through asiarooms and booking.com.

First 3 nights – Dubai Youth Hotels, Dubai @ Php3,1++ per night
Second 2 nights – Al Diar Mina Hotel, Abu Dhabi @ Php3,2++ per night

Our room at Al Diar Mina Hotel

Third 3 nights – Ramee Guestline Hotel, Dubai @ Php4,1++ per night

Our room at Ramee Guestline Hotel

For the tours, that same friend bought a Dubai Entertainer booklet, known for its “buy one get one free” voucher. This is really a great buy. The vouchers are valid from Jan 1, 2014 to Dec. 31, 2014 so it is not so advisable to buy if only staying for a few days. If I remembered it right, this one costs 395AED and again, I paid nothing.

You also what to travel on a budget? Here are a few tips:

1. Plan ahead – With all the seat sale promos, I really save a lot of money on airfare. Just be flexible on the travel dates.
2. Research – In this generation, almost all we need to know are just a few clicks away. After I booked my airfare, I research on what to do, where to stay, what to eat, things to do, etc. 
3. Budget – Having done my researches, I am able to allocate a budget for the trip. Since the payments for everything is on a staggered basis (airfare paid months ahead, hotels are booked using credit card which is payable in a month or two after the trip), I prepared my pocket money which is in cold cash.
4. Lastly, keep a positive attitude and stay flexible. Just enjoy the place and the experiences you’ll get.

 I’ll share the day to day itinerary of my UAE trip in my next post.