I honestly can't remember the first time I ever travelled alone. Perhaps it's because I grew as the child of an expat life - I took my first-ever flight when I was younger than the age of three, although obviously I was accompanied by my parents then! - and, as a third-culture kid born to two parents who weren't of straight-shot ethnic origins themselves, the world has always felt like a rich tapestry of places to explore, rather than one bound by borders that I was fearful t

#MeToo. For the time I stood in a crowd and had a man press himself up against me, feeling his hot and unwelcome breath on the back of my neck as he tried to place his hands on me, so that even after I turned to face and stop him and the coward bolted, I took four showers in a row in the hottest water I could stand when I went home that night. I still felt like I could not wash the feeling of his disgusting touch off me. For the time in high school when I saw a man at a beach

Morgan Carlson has a job that many would dream of: The 37-year-old Swede is, as he describes it, the “First Mate” at XDubai. Officially speaking, he’s the Athlete Marketing and Partnership Manager, and says he has a “Swedish passport but [is] flying under [a] pirate flag.” If you haven’t yet heard of XDubai, aside from the fact that you may have been living under a rock in recent years, it’s a company that, as their website says, aims to “encourage talented professionals to r

One of the most important cornerstones in any high-end Asian restaurant - or indeed, any high-end restaurant in general - is the quality of ingredients in its food. Few people know this better than Chang Sup Shin, the Director of 1004 Gourmet, a family-run business that not only runs one of the region's best East Asian food stores (which boasts two physical stores and an online shop), but also supplies an ever-growing number of luxury hotels and restaurants (including some of

At the young age of 24, Tanvi Malik has already accomplished more than most would have dreamed of by that age: Tanvi, who is Indian, was born in Dubai and raised between Dubai and New York City, is a freelance designer who juggles a lot of different creative disciplines. She's an Interior Designer for Spear Head Architecture and Design in New York, and juggles a variety of other freelance design work, as well as being the co-founder of Elevate, a UAE born-and-bred activewear

With a commitment and dedication to training that never seems to waver, it would be easy to assume that Brett Richard has always been in the business of fitness. But while he's always been in good shape - "I've been training since I can remember - it's been a way of life for my entire lie. I started during my early high school years and never looked back," he says - the 32-year-old professional trainer, life coach and online coach actually has a background working in the medi

Dubai-based musician Jamil Jabbour has a voice like warm butter sliding over a freshly-plucked piece of toast: It’s deep, silken, rich and comforting all at once, and the kind of flavour that seems deceptively simple at first but that you’ll never forget. The 24-year-old Lebanese musician was born and raised in Dubai - he considers it home - and this is where his career as one of the city’s most well-respected musicians (he's even opened for Coldplay during one of their UAE-b

Thais Kelly is a familiar face to many in Dubai's fitness scene. Through her work as a Relationships Manager for GuavaPass Middle East, not only is she responsible for creating, building, and maintaining relationships with the enormous network of gyms that are part of its network, but she also works with its various ambassadors, and is an indispensable cog in the well-oiled machine that forms their countless events held across the city and beyond. She's also a passionate jour