Cosmopolitan Dubai: Shopping, opulence, desert safaris and the long-awaited Expo 2020

The Expo 2020 in Dubai was delayed because of the pandemic, but you can still get to it, writes Karen Murray

Karen Murray at the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve

March, 2020: Covid-19 was barely on my radar en route to Dublin Airport to board an Emirates flight to Dubai. Positive cases had been confirmed in Ireland but nobody then realised the impact the pandemic would have on a global scale.

There was a vague inkling that the press trip would be postponed due to the uncertainty around travel but word came through that it was all systems go. Little did we know that by the time we’d touch back down on Irish soil, Dublin Airport would be like a ghost town and the country would be in the first of several lockdowns.