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As their long-planned skiing trip to Courchevel drew near earlier this month, Rima Karam Patel and her husband made a decision many across the UAE are now making: they cancelled and stayed home.
With regional conflict casting uncertainty over travel across the Gulf, the choice felt right, even as some of their friends boarded flights regardless.
Instead, the family packed up and headed to Ras Al Khaimah for Eid Al Fitr, joining a group of friends for a few days by the sea.
“It was a fab idea – we were all able to enjoy and switch off, despite the weather,” Karam Patel tells The National. “We’ve also been spending more time with the kids and our close friends, going to the beach, malls and restaurants. I am appreciating the time I’m getting to spend with my family and the slower pace of life.”
Karam Patel’s husband, Pallav, a business owner, had his own reason for wanting to remain in the UAE. “He wanted to show his team that we are here to stay, that there was nothing to worry about and that we are safe,” she says.
For many UAE residents, the weeks since the conflict began on February 28 have brought up versions of the same story – plans cancelled, itineraries abandoned, deposits lost. Yet for some, what began as disappointment has gradually given way to something more unexpected: a slower pace, a rediscovered sense of place, and connections that might never have been made had their original plans taken flight.
For Srayaunsh Upadhyaya, an engineering project manager in Dubai, the response was to get on a motorbike. He had been booked to fly to Mombasa, Kenya for the Eid holidays, but when the flight was cancelled, he made an instant decision: Oman. Within hours he had a route planned that would take him through Wadi Shab, Mibam, Qalhat Beach, Muscat, Wakan village, Jebel Akhdar and Nizwa – 1,900km in four days, much of it through rain, flooded roads and unexpected detours.
“I’ve always thought of Oman as an extended part of the UAE,” he says. “In the end, I’m glad that it was not just another trip to Oman, but a special one – adventurous, with hiking, swimming in wadis and a bit of off-roading.”
He calls it the best bike trip he has ever taken.
Not everyone sought adventure. For Archana Rao, the co-founder of an advertising agency, the gift of grounded time was quieter but no less meaningful. With working from home saving her the daily commute, she found herself with an extra hour and a half each day – time she had long promised herself but never quite found. She started meditating for 30 minutes each morning, enrolled in a daily yoga class and began taking walks through her community.
“Life in the UAE has always been fast-paced,” she says. “Work, home, meetings, PTA, school drop-off, traffic. But I feel like we all should take a pause and appreciate the sense of safety, stability and community we experience here.”
Bhavya Chandrahas, founder of a jewellery brand, had been planning an extensive trip across Europe that had taken six months of visa preparation to organise. When the airline cancelled her tickets, the loss was acute. But gradually, something else took shape. She found herself drawn to Umm Al Quwain’s beaches, to Pilates, paddleboarding and, most unexpectedly, to gardening.
“Growing vegetables even on a small scale changes how you think about food,” she says. “You become more patient, attentive and connected to what you are eating.” Chandrahas has also returned to reading, stepping back from the news cycle in favour of older, more sustaining habits. “Sometimes when plans change, it creates space for something else.”
That sense of recalibration is echoed by Carl Kevin Timbol, a cabin purser from Sharjah, whose routine has shifted with reduced flight schedules. The slowdown has given him time to focus on his other passions – DJing and CrossFit.
“In a normal situation, I juggle my role as husband to my loving wife Koko, father to my bundle of joy Cali, then be a fly guy by day, DJ by night and a CrossFit coach on demand. My struggle before was having more time,” he says. “Since I fly less, I’ve been lucky enough to get booked and perform as a regular club DJ in Dubai, performing for huge crowds.
“Plus, I’m glad I could slow things down and focus on what matters most – my family.”
For Lokesh Dharmani, a radio presenter at City 101.6, the cancellation of a planned trip to Vietnam with his mother on March 2 was a blow. But he chose to channel the disappointment into something more positive.
“We lost a lot in our prior bookings,” says Dharmani, who returned to work instead of wasting his leave days and used his spare time to create more content.
The experience, he adds, made him realise “how quickly plans can change unexpectedly – both in travel and life in general”.
At the same time, it has reinforced his confidence in the country he calls home. “As far as life in the UAE is concerned, my faith in the city and leadership remains intact. We have seen how quickly authorities work here – be it during the Covid-19 pandemic, the floods or even now. We have always bounced back stronger. So I have full faith we will sail through these times as well.”
Chandrahas shares a similar perspective. “I have lived in Dubai for about 18 years and have also travelled quite extensively,” she says. “This has been a reminder that there is a lot to experience right where you are, if you take the time to look for it.”
