Dubai

This year I turned 21 and I wanted it to be huge! This begged the question...party or holiday?

Considering both were going to be expensive, I wanted to take the option of being able to wake up the next morning and remember what I spent my money on. So a week in Dubai it was! With a lot of help from my Dad of course, because lets face it in all I'm not financially stable enough to be THAT spontaneous!

Dubai can literally be summarized in three sentences. Extravagance. More extravagance. Nothing less. The metropolis of skyscrapers is enough to encapsulate your attention for hours and I was lucky enough to have the marina skyline as the view from my hotel room, making for an amazing backdrop for photos. I stayed at the Jumeriah Zabeel Saray, which is probably more fitted as being described as a palace rather than a hotel because the architecture and interior design is immensely stunning. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from the seven days there, it’s that Arabs don’t do low key.

It's located on the Palm Jumeriah, which is the palm shaped island that has been dubbed the '8th wonder of the world'. The only way to see it in its true glory is to fly over by plane so the next best affordable option is speedboat which truthfully is a terrifying experience for the first time if, like me, you have never been aboard a small open boat. The gulf water is quite calm but still managed to cause some serious nerve-wracking boat movement, so if there’s anyone reading this who works at sea…I applaud you. I've not been to New York (yet) but the view of the skyline from the boat is impressive to the say the least with one of the most impressive buildings being the Burj Al Arab.

Celebrating my official becoming of an adult here was really motivational. Seeing the visionary and commercial extravagance that is Dubai can give you a sense of what can be achieved if you truly put your mind to something. The city was merely desert a fraction of a century ago but is now a hub for the world. For many of us, turning 21 and graduating from university are synonymous events at which point our lives can feel like a desert looking for a source of regeneration. It’s the point where most people we converse with ask the dreaded question….’So what are you doing now?’ and my go to answer now is to confidently say ‘I’m regenerating’. We often feel the need to transition so quickly from university into careers, (no doubt an honourable feat if achieved) but there is no harm in taking a step back and taking a moment to decide what you want to take forward in yourself and what you want to leave behind.