DUBAI… Beyond Awesome

By Senay GOKCEN | Editor-in-Chief

There are times in life when you want to quit your day job, leave everything behind and make a fresh new start… Does it sound familiar? Or is this your daily, never-ending dream? Let’s be honest; we’re ALL on the same boat…

Last month, when my sister in law, Mutti PORTO, asked me to take a break and travel with them, I had just seen Kanye WEST’s collection for adidas (you should know what I mean) and I was really in need of a medical help or a far away place to scream out loud! My mood was exactly pointing out a “new beginning” and I said, “Yes! Let’s do it!” Each year, we make tons of plans, schedules and try to keep everything organized as much as possible. For the first time ever, taking a big step for only US, we all moved on!

When the Emirates flight attendant served our meals, Mutti and I were making jokes about Tom Cruise, and wondering if we were too late to see him At The Top of Burj Khalifa! My husband didn’t find it funny, nor my brother did! Our kids were like; “Will we see the set of Mission Impossible 5!?? Yayyy!!!”

Landing Dubai International Airport…

(Ahem…) The warm (sexy) voice of the captain not just warmed our hearts but our bodies as well because we were coming from a freezing cold planet and landing on the heaven on Earth… switching from minus degrees to “it’s gettin’ hot in here” tunes… It was about 22:00 PM when we had seen the city lights of Dubai. Its magical scenery was fascinating and breathtaking at first sight and that could easily make a sudden damage to your brain. It kept us speechless for a moment, and then followed by lots of OMGs and simple words could no longer describe our feelings.

Dubai is like a huge construction site. Many towers surround you through the streets and architectural environment literally amazes you especially when you see those artificial islands and luxurious hotels. It’s also a tax-free shopping paradise. It’s a home to the world’s grandest hotels, biggest malls and modern shopping districts, super dining places and entertainment areas.

We visited the Dubai Mall, Dubai Marina Mall, Burj Khalifa, and Palm Jumeirah, Palm Atlantis Hotel, Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo and lots more in a quite limited time. Now we’re making a new plan to visit Dubai once more because we received many invitations from stores and restaurants every time we updated our Instagram account. They were all so kind but we didn’t have enough time to visit them all.

Mutti is a Mechanical Engineer. Although she doesn’t work in fashion business; she has a great sense of style, aesthetic abilities and most of all, she loves fashion and how to dress well. She’s also a talented DIY queen, making lots of creative accessories and I’m so lucky that fashion photography has become her newest hobby. We know each other for more than 20 years and I had been dying to get her name on our Editorial Board, but she never accepted until this time.So, I’m glad to introduce her to you as our New Editor-at-Large & Lifestyle Writer of Fashion Trendsetter. Mutti and I took over 10K photos in Dubai to save memories from this mega city. Since we don’t like to live our lives on social media, we only shared a few of these photos on Instagram and kept the rest for ourselves. To see the full three sets of our Dubai photos in high resolutions, please visit our Flickr account at flic.kr/s/aHska1WtMc

What we learnt from Dubai; never visit in few days of time like “a weekend”, stay as much as you can and better live there for the rest of your life if you finally realize the meaning of a famous quote; “Speak English, Kiss French, Drive German, Dress Italian, Spend Arab”…

Find the best luxurious lifestyles on the market, pour some stylish environment, use organic -take all my money- cars and fashionably cool places. Just triple the size of these ingredients, add more gold and glitter where ever is possible, combine them with great people and places at your service, at last for the dressing part, don’t forget the wonderful, helpful residents of Dubai… There you’ll have your “Delicious #MyDubai Dessert” on the Deserts of the United Arab Emirates; where you’ll feel at home… but your “dream home”.

With our kind regards to His Highness Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and all the people living and working for Dubai.

Dubai… We heart you…

All images by Senay GOKCEN & Mutti PORTO © Fashion Trendsetter.