I know I’ve shared a great deal of my adventures in Dubai this week. It was such an epic trip, but coming home to beautiful East Texas is also pretty awesome.

While there was much to love about my experience during my travels, the comforts of home are quite splendid, too.

Our final two days were spent mostly at the resort. We toured the Atlantis Aquarium, enjoyed a fabulous dinner at the Seafire Steakhouse with friends and I took a boat tour around the Palm Jumeirah island as a delightful recap of all the amazing sights we had seen earlier in the week.

I’ve got plenty more photos to share with you of those days and a couple of our final dinner in a revolving restaurant overlooking downtown Dubai, but more importantly here’s what I was excited to return home to in East Texas.

  • My own bed. The bed at the Atlantis Palm Resort was super comfortable, but there’s nothing like sleeping in your own bedroom, especially after 24 hours of travel time returning home through London and Dallas. I slept like a baby that first night.
  •  Cuddles from my fur babies. My husband and I have three cats. They are Tammy, Alice and Stella, and we dote on them like most people dote on their dogs. They are spoiled rotten and affectionately loved. We have cuddled non-stop since returning after a week away.
  • Beautiful Fall Colors. Fall in East Texas is beautiful, and in our neighborhood we have rows of crepe myrtle trees that have turned brilliantly red in the past weeks, and are so lovely to see alongside the yellow and orange of other native East Texas foliage.
  • Crisp Autumn Temperatures. Dubai was warm. It was hot. Remember, it’s the desert. While we cooled off at the waterpark, and thankfully had access to air conditioning in most places, it was a pleasure to come home to cooler temperatures this week. I’m looking forward to a fire in the fireplace this weekend, and beginning to decorate for the Christmas holidays.
  • Mask Free movement. While I’m all for living healthy, I didn't love wearing a face mask all throughout our travels. As you know, face masks are still mandatory on flights. Did I mention we were on some long flights? They were 7-10 hours long, and while we could briefly remove them to eat and drink, we were mostly covered throughout the flights. In the markets, and shops we were also required to wear them as well indoor at the resorts. I’ve reached for my mask several times since being home out of habit, but it sure is nice not to be required to wear it now.

All in all, I love to travel. In fact, I’m booking flights today for my next two trips. I’ll be going to the Dominican Republic in January and visiting a friend in February. It’s challenging to travel right, but still worth it.

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Adventurous Texan Travels to Dazzling Dubai

Mandee Montana traveled to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on vacation. She traveled for nearly 24 hours to get there, enjoying airplane food, drinks and entertainment, while also getting a little sleep. She stayed at the Atlantis Palm Resort and experienced the Aquaventure Waterpark, fine dining and aquarium at the resort.

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