A few months ago, I had the chance to hop over for Dubai for two weeks for work. Who was I to say no? I’m always up for going someplace new.

And now that I’ve been there, everyone’s been asking me, “Dubai! So what was it like?”

My reply is generally, “It was … interesting,” followed by any number of details, depending on the audience:

• It was perfect weather in January – sunny and 85 degrees pretty much every day (in the summer, apparently not so nice, unless you like it hot-hot-hot).
• Amaaaaazing souks, with just about any beautifully exotic trinkets you could want: scarves, spices, shirts, jasmine perfume (my favorite!), and tons of gold jewelry. You can definitely get some deals if you know how to bargain.
• Delicious food, especially Indian, Pakistani, and Moroccan. Not exactly the best places for the squeamish as far as cleanliness of eating establishments goes, but you can test out your stomach of iron here.
• No alcohol. No kidding.
• My co-workers and I were pretty much the only women we saw out on the streets. And I couldn’t figure out where the kids go to play – didn’t see a single playground.
• All that half-finished construction makes it feel a bit like a ghost town. Besides the Burj Dubai towering over the rest, there are dozens of other high-rises downtown, but it sure looks odd when you get up closer and see that so many of them aren’t close to done, and that they are surrounded by abandoned cranes. Will they ever be finished?

Let’s face it – it’s this last point that makes current-day Dubai so distinctive. Several articles have been written about the high level of bankruptcies and desertions, and the sad state some of the guest workers are in – who came there to work and are now stuck there, many without work. Seeing all those empty and unfinished buildings definitely hits it home, since these signs of the economy’s downturn here are too big to hide.

If you find yourself in Spain with a hearty coffee addiction, you will feel like you’ve finally come home.

To begin with, the sheer number of coffee varieties will amaze and astound. I’m not talking about the double-shot-grande-no-foam types of choices, but a panoply of completely different ways to transform a simple espresso into something magnificent. Choices include:

• café solo (espresso – the simplest and sometimes most delicious choice)
• café cortado (espresso cortado, or “cut” with milk)
• café con leche (espresso with milk – similar to a latte, this is the typical breakfast drink in Spain)
• café bonbon (espresso with sweetened condensed milk)
• café del tiempo (espresso served over ice)

If for some terrible reason you must resign yourself to a decaffeinated coffee, never fear. Ask for a café descafeinado and when they ask you de máquina o de sobre (“from the machine or a packet”), make sure to request de máquina, and you might not even be able to tell the difference.

First off, a primer for those who don’t know what the historical triangle is:

• Williamsburg
• Yorktown
• Jamestown

They are all on the east coast of Virginia, very close to one another, and chock-full of historical significance (hence the name).

When we went there a few weekends ago, we didn’t think we’d hit all 3 angles of the triangle, since we only had about 24 hours. Plus, with toddler twins and general exhaustion, we figured it was best not to plan too much.

However, what we ended up doing was a great balance between doing stuff and not doing stuff (aka relaxing). Anyone on a speedy tour could definitely make this winning combination work!

Saturday:

• Sleep in if you can
• Travel to the Triangle (this took us 3 hours)
• Arrive early afternoon
• Instead of going to the Visitors’ Center and buying expensive tickets to the Williamsburg sights, drive right into the heart of downtown and park for free in a lot or for $1/hour in a garage
• Have a tasty lunch at The Cheese Shop in Merchants’ Square in Williamsburg (http://www.cheeseshopwilliamsburg.com/)
• Go to your hotel for a dip in the pool, a nap, or a chance to chill
• Whenever you’re ready later in the afternoon, head out to the Yorktown Battlefield – the Visitors’ Center closes at 5:00, but you can still wander around the redoubts, climb the canons, and stop by Surrender Field – and it’s free after closing! This option probably only works in the summer though, because they close off all the other areas at sunset.
• Get a good dinner – at a colonial Williamsburg tavern if you made a reservation and can shell out the cash, or at an Italian place like Maurizio’s on Route 60 – yum!

Sunday:

• Start your day off early with a good breakfast and a drive out to Jamestown – you’ll be surprised at how much it’s like a quite famous Disney movie!
• If it’s going to be a hot one, do yourself a favor and skip right past all the indoor exhibits when you arrive. Breeze past all of the cool and interesting parts of the grounds, and hurry out all the way to where the boat replicas are. Since you have to come back the same way anyway, you can get to the farthest point, and then take your time strolling back through the fort, the Indian Village and anything else you want to see!
• Time for one more meal before heading out! Whatever you do, don’t go to an old tavern hoping you’ll get in because it’s only lunchtime. You’ll end up out in the Biergarten, eating hot dogs off paper plates like all the other poor slobs who didn’t beat the rush to make it to an inside table.

A few general notes:

• If you have older kids, they might be ready for and enjoy the pricey Williamsburg tickets to walk through some of the renovated buildings etc. Don’t even bother with toddlers!
• Of the three sights, Yorktown was my favorite, and it was the one we just kind of squeezed in at the last minute, so you never know. Enjoy your trip!

If you happen to be traveling down I-81 between somewhere and somewhere else, here are a few spots in the Shenandoah Valley region that are worth a visit:

• Edelweiss German Restaurant, south of Staunton, Virginia, and just off 81 (exit 213). Delicious and authentic flavors. You can even get a bag of Semmel to go if you miss your morning rolls.
• Gypsy Hill Park, Staunton, VA. I went there once and the kids loved it – fun train to ride on, nice playground and cute pond with ducks and swans etc. Last time I tried to go there I couldn’t find it though – it is somewhat elusive.
• Virginia Safari Park, just south of Lexington, VA. Once again, a big hit with the kiddies. You can see a bunch of animals in a zoo-like setting close up (tigers, monkeys, giraffes), and also drive your car through the safari park, where you can get your car licked by all kinds of llamas, bison, deer, camels, and zebras.
• Monticello (very close to Charlottesville, so a little farther east off 81)
• downtown Charlottesville – cute! Lots of nice restaurants and shops

Places I’d like to get to:

• Skyline drive and Shenandoah National park

Places people have told me are worth a visit, but are not really my thang:

• All those caves and caverns they have around here

Now that I’ve been there enough times to go to a bunch of places (some multiple times), I think I have a decent list of favorite places to eat in DC:

• Jaleo (Spanish, Chef José Andres) – delicious traditional tapas as well as some good modern twists, out-of-this-world gazpacho
• Ping Pong (Chinese, dim sum) – very modern dim sum, much more expensive than your traditional dim sum, but totally worth it
• La Madeline (French, bakery) – tasty tomato soup, decent croissants (not as good as Clear Flour in Boston of course)
• Bistro Francais – typical French bistro with service to match, nothing out of this world (not as good as Les Halles in NYC) but quite good
• Legal Sea Foods – yes, it’s a chain, but when you’re craving your chowda from Boston, here’s where you can get it!

Seeing as I have no time to do anything these days, I’ve given myself what I’m calling “the yoga challenge” to combat two of my biggest problems:

• insomnia
• no time to exercise

The idea is that right after I pop the tater tots into bed, and before I start up the computer to do the myriad of stuff I don’t have time to do during the day, I pop in a Rodney Yee DVD for 12 minutes  – yes, 12 completely doable minutes – of yoga. My goals are to somehow relax, prepare my mind to shift into high gear, and stretch out my body. It’s hard to let a dancer’s body stiffen up and stagnate for too long, and it’s been too long!

It’s been 2 nights in a row now – I want to see if I can do it for a full week straight. If I can, I might actually try to double it to 24 whole yoga minutes, totally out of control …