Miles returns from an overseas conference in a venue different to the norm.
Here are his thoughts...
"WOULD I GO BACK TO RAK?"
As a proud member of the Institute of Travel and Tourism I am invited to their annual conference, this year held in Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE. Where is that? Never heard of it? Where?? Is often the reply when you mention this place, known as RAK for short. Well, it is about an hours drive north of Dubai and keen to find out more I went along. One of the perks of our industry is the sometimes-possible opportunity to travel in business or first class when flying and so it was on this trip with Emirates. The start is wonderful a cheerful phone call on Saturday to confirm what time my chauffeur car will take me up to Birmingham. Despite living in a remote location where even Sat Nav is unpredictable the car arrives 15 minutes early, 10/10. I had not had this service before and on route to the airport, I quietly thought to myself how relaxed and calm I felt not having to drive but equally not having the hassle factor of parking and getting to the terminal. Check in was quick and simple and I immediately use the fast link through the queues to clear the back age checks. The Emirates business class lounge at Birmingham is not as big and grand as some but is more than adequate. With a flight departing at 21.20 I had a cunning plan, with lovely hot food all laid out I would eat my meal prior to boarding thus gaining more time to sleep in those lovely flatbed seats. My steak was excellent and helped pass the time and soon enough we were boarding. The seats did not disappoint and reclined into a comfortable bed and sure enough I was soon asleep ensuring I got over 5 hours sleep from the 6 hours 50 minute flight. As this was a 3 night very busy trip this was vital to keep me on the ball.
On arrival into Dubai I again use the fasttrack avoiding the quite extensive queues, far worse than I had seen in Dubai, ironically they have introduced new technology to speed you through the immigration process, I think we will just have to put it down to initial teething problems! Now Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) is a short hours journey across the desert north of its very well known neighbour Dubai, again I have a chauffeur driven car waiting to take me there on standby, great service again from Emirates. The driver has a bottle of water waiting for me in the car; at this point I should mention it was 44 degrees. The UAE is a year round destination with our winter being the best time to travel with temperatures in the 30's, move into our summer and you hot the 40 and sometimes 50's. This is certainly one to bear in mind and explains very well why you see such great prices for holidays in the summer. This heat is not for everyone, now I do like the sun and a bit of heat but by the time my journey home came around the thought of a chilly wind and 15 degrees was starting to be quite appealing! Hot, humid and therefore very sticky.
The conference hotel and my hotel for my trip was the Waldorf Astoria in RAK. The hotel was not difficult to see as we came out of the desert towering into the sky with an Arabic styling. As is often the case in the Middle East the entrance and lobby were grand and opulent and set the tone in scale of this hotel. My arrival at 8.15 was somewhat ahead of the check in time of 3 PM but after explaining that a room not facing the sea now was a better choice for me than waiting 7 hours for one that was I was quickly shown to my room. I have already mentioned the scale of the hotel and the rooms matched this very well. a separate dressing room, huge bathroom compete with large bath and even bigger walk in shower and the room itself had room for a large dance floor. Nicely furnished with a large balcony it was excellent. Having settled in nicely to the air conditioning I very quickly forgot where I has and in my enthusiasm to take in the view from the balcony simply opened the door and walked out. I was hit by a wall of heat that was quite over powering, it took a good few days to acclimatise. The conference was excellent with the usual mix of speakers from both in and outside our industry and as usual I scribble notes and always walk away with thoughts on how we can improve our service to our customers even more (despite having a 100% customer service score on Feefo Independent reviews) I don't think we will ever be complacent! The conference included an address from the ruler of RAK, quite a man and humble with it. He is clearly keen to see RAK proposer with tourism but equally keen to see this filter through to the locals with employment and money, a nice touch.
The final night beach party further showed the importance of picking the right time to visit this destination, despite it being 630 people were simply dripping in the heat, the lure of air conditioning proved too much for us all in the end. So what about RAK and would I be back? Well, rather like my autumn haunt of Fujairah on the east coast of UAE it is not for everyone. Quite isolated and without a huge infrastructure currently there is not huge amounts to do, the sea for boats trips, the mountains for sunsets, dune safari's and walking (summer only I think!) the hotel also had a small shopping mall up the road. For me it is primarily a winter sunshine resort offering a good alternative to other places at prices far lower than Dubai. Like the rest of the UAE it is not cheap with wine, beer and even soft drinks over £5 and even snacks starting at well over £10. Think about all-inclusive for this type of destination, as it could be far better value even for light drinkers.
My return ran very smoothly just as my outward journey. The business class lounge at Dubai airport was the biggest I have ever seen taking a whole floor of the airport. Unlike most lounges you do not have to leave it to go to the gate, the gates where in the lounge, an excellent timesaver and great design. Service on board was excellent, friendly helpful but not too suffocating. Back to RAK, I think so but in a year or two when they have built more infrastructures. In an "only in UAE" moment they are building a huge island with vast numbers of hotels some built just with couples in mind, some just for families etc. etc. this country has ambitious plans for tourism backed up with huge funds to do it, certainly a place to watch for the future.
Travel Blog by Miles Morgan
Phone Miles: 01291 762007
Email Miles: [email protected]
Visit Miles: 14 High St, Chepstow, Monmouthshire, NP16 5LQ.
