You may not have noticed because I’ve had new posts being published every week but I’ve been seriously off blogging for the past month or so. I worked super hard to focus and plan/write content over the summer and I think treating my blog as a business and trying to come up with posts that were within my niche just killed my momentum. So I stopped writing for several weeks, I just published the content I had already written and shared it on social media but aside from that I haven’t really thought about the blog.
Well, except thinking about the fact that I’m not blogging.
Anyway, wow, that was a long and rambling introduction to this post but I’m taking the blog back to it’s roots. I first started this little blog when I went on a gap year with my then boyfriend. We’re now living as expats in Dubai and I want to try and recreate some of that authentic style of just keeping my friends and family up to date. I want a reason to sit down and write instead of trying to come up with a super helpful and SEO friendly blog that might just improve my traffic.
So welcome to the new series on the blog; Expat Diaries. It’ll be a little like the monthly summaries I used to post while on my gap year. Except who knows if they’ll be monthly, possibly half termly instead. I’ll share things that I’ve found important, different, new, confusing, fascinating; you get the idea. It will be full of photos that don’t make it to my Instagram and it’ll be my place to just write freely.
I hope you enjoy the first post, I promise the intro won’t be so long next time.
Expat Diaries #1
La Mer
This is probably the only ‘new’ place in Dubai we’ve explored properly since moving here in August. We have managed to get out of the city and enjoy many of the sights that the UAE has to offer but our weekends have ended up filled with routine beach visits, running and general life admin. La Mer was certainly a welcome change from all of that though. The minute we arrived it kind of felt like we had walked into California. I instantly got vibes of Venice Beach or at least something similar but much more tame.
La Mer is a beach district in downtown Dubai and has two beaches, a waterpark and plenty of places to eat and drink. We timed our arrival with sunset and I’m so pleased that we did, I got some gorgeous photos and had plenty of time to take in the street art before heading for some dinner. Despite the temperature still being hot when we visited the beach area was pretty busy with locals and tourists.
There will be a full guide coming soon but I need to take a return trip to try and few more spots out first.
Cooler Temperatures
It feels like it’s been a long time coming and I wasn’t even here for the whole of summer, but finally the weather is cooling down. Having 37+ temperatures each day is brilliant when you can lie by a pool but when you have to work in them it’s a little less fun. Those temperatures mean indoor play for the children at school and not being able to wait for a taxi without sweating. Thankfully, we are past those days for several months now and we can start enjoying afternoons sitting outside.
I’ve been promised that with this cooler weather comes a more alive and vibrant city that will always have something going on. Maybe not conductive for saving money but it will certainly make our weekends more fun and lively. This has begun with the Dubai 30×30 challenge, a month where the whole city commits to exercising for 30 minutes each day and there are so many free events along side this.
Escaping Dubai
We recently headed up to Musandam in Oman which is a couple of hours drive north from Dubai. It was a trip I’d been wanting to take for a month or so, ever since I stumbled across the idea on Pinterest. We finally got to go for a friend’s birthday who kindly organized the trip for all of us. we stayed on a boat overnight and got to enough all of the amazing scenery and dolphins. It was a fantastic weekend that meant fully switching off and recharging away from the city. It certainly made me realisedthat despite how much there is to do in this city it’s good to get out too.
Half Term
I’ll admit that my first eight weeks of work have been crazy, in a good way, but still crazy. Getting used to a new job takes a lot of energy but thankfully in the last few weeks before half term I finally started to feel settled and like I *might* have a clue about most things. Still I won’t lie, it was lovely to have a week off work, to step back and gain a little perspective on everything that just isn’t possible to do when you’re so busy and tired.
Here’s to hoping the next half term is a little less crazy and a little more balanced.
I hope you enjoyed this first Expat Diaries post, let me know below if there’s anything you’d love to here about in the next edition.
