We are just coming to the end of the most awesome, if quite pretentious, weekend! For Caroline's birthday I bought her the hire of an Audi R8 for 24 hours. Friday was the day it would arrive. A while back, to make things special, we arranged to go and have afternoon tea at the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. We have always felt a little jealous of those individuals arriving or leaving the valet parking with amazing cars, so we thought for one day only, that could be us! As a spur of the moment thing, we also decided to book into the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi to stay on Friday night. So here comes a run down on our weekend activities....
First of all, the car arrived on a flat bed truck to our villa. The regular R8 was in the garage, so they had to upgrade us to the V10 Spyder - YES!! (see stats below and you will see why I was so excited).
We then decided to go and check into Emirates Palace, before we made our way to Dubai. We have been to Emirates Palace so many times, but it feels so much more special arriving in a smart car, turning heads. Even the rumbling sound of that V10 makes people look around to see what it is!
These are the key cards for the rooms... a nice touch!
The room. It was of course very nice, but did somehow lack that wow factor you would expect for the price. They very kindly left a list of charges for all the stuff you usually nick from the rooms, so we didn't bring anything back!
We did, however, have use of a butler while we were there. I did actually use the service to ask for plasters for where my shoes had rubbed, and very quickly, perfect sized plasters arrived! I am sure they do have their service abused big time though, by the knobs who think they own the place! (actually, some of them do though).
We then drove to see a couple of friends in Dubai, after which, finally, it was my turn to drive! I had been very patient, with it being Caroline's special day and all, but I had been itching to have a go!
I think it suits me.
First of all, the car arrived on a flat bed truck to our villa. The regular R8 was in the garage, so they had to upgrade us to the V10 Spyder - YES!! (see stats below and you will see why I was so excited).
You can see Caz coming out with a case the virtually filled the storage space in the font! We wanted to cram in as many exclusive venues as we could and also get in a good amount of driving. First stop, St. Regis, Saadiyat Island. Caz drove down the Yas highway and stopped off at Al Manarat on Saadiyat Island for a couple of photos.
Then it was the first valet park of the day for breakfast at the St. Regis. (Yes, Louis came too)
Caz at check in....
These are the key cards for the rooms... a nice touch!
The room. It was of course very nice, but did somehow lack that wow factor you would expect for the price. They very kindly left a list of charges for all the stuff you usually nick from the rooms, so we didn't bring anything back!
We did, however, have use of a butler while we were there. I did actually use the service to ask for plasters for where my shoes had rubbed, and very quickly, perfect sized plasters arrived! I am sure they do have their service abused big time though, by the knobs who think they own the place! (actually, some of them do though).
Arriving at the Burj Al Arab was chance for our third valet park of the day. High tea in the Sahn Eddar lounge was really nice and included a "carving of the day" slice of beef.
I had told the hotel the booking was for my wife's birthday, so fraudulently, on the 20th of April (Caz's birthday is March 16th) the harpist played "Happy Birthday" and Caz was brought a cake!
We then drove to see a couple of friends in Dubai, after which, finally, it was my turn to drive! I had been very patient, with it being Caroline's special day and all, but I had been itching to have a go!
I think it suits me.
On the way back from Dubai to Abu Dhabi there is a long stretch of the Emirates Road (6 lane highway) with no speed cameras and on a weekend it's not too busy. Now if someone were to put their foot down in an R8 V10 and rocket through the gears, taking it up to 265 kmph (164 mph) that would be very silly and dangerous and I wouldn't suggest anybody actually do that, at all, ever. Someone did once, and even at 265 kmph it was still accelerating easily, they said. Sounds like that would be an awesome experience. If someone actually were to do that, I mean.
In the evening we did more posing, having a drink at the Shangri-La and drinks/shisha at The Fairmont Bal Al Bahr - two more down on our valet parking crawl!
Before we returned to Emirates Palace, we had to fill the car up with petrol - here's where the Brits snarl at me.... it was about 20 quid (112Dhs) to fill up on "Super" unleaded! The petrol station we used is always full of cruising poseurs (yes, we chose it especially - anyone from Abu Dhabi want to guess which?) and was the one place we did get car "trumped", by a gorgeous "Carbon" branded Bentley Continental GT, which also looked awesome....
In the morning, Caz couldn't resist a final spin in the car before it was collected from the Palace. Then we just had a bit of a chill at the pool until it was time to come home.
We have had the most amazing weekend! Monstrously pretentious, we know, but with tongues firmly in cheek, we have had so much fun! Below is a link to all the photos and a quick video. I wished I had taken more video, and turned the radio down!
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| R8 Spyder V10 Weekend |
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