As you know, I’m no travel blogger, but we recently escaped Dubai for a quick family vacay and it was so awesome that I simply can’t keep it from you. If you happen to be on the lookout for a fabulous beach holiday, I can’t recommend this one highly enough.

The decision to take this trip was a bit last-minute, and in the week that we were trying to make plans, both the hubster and I were so busy that neither of us really had to the time to do any proper research. And heavens knows, in this digital age of unlimited information, hours of your life seem to evaporate as you swoon over images of your desired holiday destination, doing so much research that by the time you get there, not only do you need a holiday from your intensive planning session, but you somehow know the guy at the front desk by his first name and you notice that they’ve made some small changes to the decor. Yes, we have all been there.

But I digress, as always. The point was that we had no time to shop around and we needed a quick and easy solution. Seeing this post on the trusty Sassy Mama website, was pretty much all I needed to make an on-the-spot decision. We got in touch with the lovely folks at Scott Dunn, booked our stay at Per Aquum Niyama and struggled to contain our excitement for the next 10 days.

You can see why.

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Suffice to say we found paradise.

The kids seemed just the right age to be in awe of their surroundings and actually appreciate the new experiences they had. The grown-ups were able to relax and unwind, thanks mostly to the brilliant kids club, and we all enjoyed some unexpected excercise getting ourselves around the island on bicycles. What a brilliant idea those are!

Whilst this was no budget holiday, our travel agent was able to arrange a favourable deal and I can safely say that it was worth every cent. We had five days of invaluable family time and we returned refreshed and rejuvenated. Long may it last.