314 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
314 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
travel
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celebritytravel
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7221016
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# Andrew Flintoff's Dubai
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## Andrew Flintoff and his family have set up home in Dubai. Here, he offers
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a guide to the city and reveals why it's the ideal location for a cricketer.
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![Andrew Flintoff's Dubai][1]
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Image 1 of 4
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Andrew and Rachael Flintoff in front of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest
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building
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![Andrew Flintoff's Dubai][2]
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Image 1 of 4
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The Jumeirah Beach Hotel on Andrew Flintoff's favourite beach
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![Andrew Flintoff's Dubai][3]
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Image 1 of 4
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Ski Dubai, in the Mall of the Emirates
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![Andrew Flintoff's Dubai][4]
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Image 1 of 4
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The ambitious Dubai Sports City stadium
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By Andrew Flintoff 8:00AM GMT 14 Feb 2010
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My wife Rachael and I have been on holiday to Dubai with our children (Holly,
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five, Corey, four, and now Rocky, one) many times. We'd always enjoyed it and
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about a year ago we got chatting about the possibility of living here. So
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after my knee operation in September we just decided to do it - the children
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only start school once and we thought we should get ourselves settled.
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Dubai was right for me professionally as well. I'm coming back from another
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operation a month ago and with all the rehab I'm doing and the medical
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facilities here - as well as the cricket facilities for me to practise - it
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was a no-brainer. It'll probably be the end of July or early August before I'm
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back on a cricket field again for Lancashire.
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So now we're living here. We started off in the Marina, the world's largest
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man-made marina, up by the Palm. We loved it, but it was a bit of a trek to
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the childrens' schools, 30 minutes or more inland. So we moved to Festival
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City, which is reasonably close.
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I knew a few people here before the move but when you have children your
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social life is pretty much about them. So our gang of mates are mostly parents
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at the schools. We've been lucky with that because in the classroom there'll
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be six or seven nationalities and many of them know nothing about cricket. So
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I've turned into an "Andrew" again. Either that or "Corey's dad", but never
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Freddie.
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## Related Articles
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* [Celebrity travel homepage][5]
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27 Jan 2009
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* [The rise of the Persian Gulf][6]
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08 Dec 2008
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* [The new golden age of air travel][7]
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03 Dec 2008
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* [Girl's guide to Dubai][8]
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26 Jan 2009
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* [First look inside Burj Dubai][9]
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26 Nov 2009
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* [Dubai imperilled by global downturn][10]
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23 Nov 2008
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You can do pretty much anything you want in Dubai. In terms of getting around,
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everywhere's within half an hour in the car. We take the kids to the beach all
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the time and they're free; always running around, having swimming lessons,
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mucking about.
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Our favourite is Jumeirah Beach, a huge stretch of sand with lots of cafes and
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all sorts of things to do. We're members of the beach club at the Jumeirah
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Beach Hotel, and that takes in the Madinat and the Burj Al Arab, the hotel
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that looks like a big sail in the ocean. Dubai is superb for watersports and I
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plan to get a kayak and do some kayaking. But I have to be careful what I do;
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I can't really waterski, for example. I would try monoskiing, but the problem
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is my dodgy knee's on my right side and my bad ankle's on my left, so I can't
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really use either.
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And there's skiing, here, too, on a vast indoor ski slope at Ski Dubai in the
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Mall of the Emirates. I'm not allowed to ski, for obvious reasons, but it's a
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great place and the kids love it.
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As for eating out, again, Dubai has pretty much everything and the restaurants
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are spot on. There's a group of them at the Madinat, but for its setting,
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Pierchic at the Al Qasr is hard to beat - you walk a hundred yards or so to
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the end of a pier and eat superb fish surrounded by the sea.
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Our favourite place, though, is Zuma, a Japanese restaurant by the Emirates
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Towers. There's one in London and the chef from there, Colin Clague, has moved
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here, so he's handy for getting us a table. There are a couple of good
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American steakhouses, Ruth's Chris and JW's, at The Marriott. And for a
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special treat for my birthday this year, Rachael and I had dinner in the
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desert. That was something I'd really recommend. We eat out at least once a
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week but Dubai wakes early. The children start school at a quarter to eight
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and we're mindful of getting them to bed on time. I'm up that little bit
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earlier than I used to be, too. I'm not really a morning person so these days
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I need a few early nights.
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All of which means we don't get out to bars much but there are dozens of great
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places. The hotels and sports clubs are where most people tend to go and
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everything's themed - you've got the Irish Village, Aussie Legends, a
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Cricketer's, a Jockey's… I've got to say that there's not much of Lancashire,
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where I'm from, represented out here. I think I'm the only Lancastrian in
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town. I'm thinking of starting up my own themed bar - and calling it the Red
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Rose Camp!
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I've been back to England three times since we've been here and of course we
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miss friends and family. But it's not as if we're worlds away. Dubai is only a
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seven-hour flight from Britain and there is plenty to remind us of home -
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including a Waitrose in the Dubai Mall, the big shopping centre. My parents
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have been out twice - I took my mother to the Mall, and she was amazed by it.
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My mate Steve Harmison [the Durham and England bowler] and his wife were also
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here on holiday recently. Harmi sat on a beach without any sun cream on, fell
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asleep and you can imagine what happened next: yup, just like a lobster.
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Other activities I can recommend in Dubai include racing - we went to the
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opening of the city's Meydan Racecourse the other week: it's an awesome place.
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I have a share in two horses here, one called Our Giant and the other called
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Wonder Lawn.
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And you should definitely visit the new Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in
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the world. As it happens I'm scared of heights - when I went up the Empire
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State Building I nearly passed out - but here I survived a trip up to the
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observation deck.
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Best of all, my oldest boy, Corey, and I went camping for a night with some of
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the parents and the kids in his class - tents in the desert and a barbecue and
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a fire. It was only 40 minutes inland but it felt like the middle of nowhere.
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Then, of course, there's the day job - cricket. They are currently building a
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complex, the Dubai Sports City, dedicated to sport. In it there's the Ernie
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Els Club for golf, the Manchester United academy and the ICC [International
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Cricket Council] Global Cricket Academy - it's getting bigger and better all
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the time. The ICC academy isn't quite finished but its practice facilities are
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already second to none. They've flown in soil from various parts of the world
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so they can replicate a hard wicket in Australia or a dusty one in India. You
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can pretty much pick your pitch and they have the right soil prepared. So once
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I'm back on my feet I'm going to have the world's best places at my
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fingertips.
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Dubai's position geographically and its amazing facilities I think will tempt
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more and more people to do what we've done, and move here in the next few
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years - certainly if you're a sportsman like me: I can be in India in three
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hours (once I'm back practising I'm going to spend time working in India),
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South Africa's not far and England is seven hours away.
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I'd love to play domestic cricket and Twenty20 in Australia, as it's not too
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difficult to get to from here either. Some people have written that I'll never
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come back but I'm not too fussed about that. I'm not coming back to prove
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anybody wrong, I'm coming back because I want to. I've plenty of ambition
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left. I want to be the world's number one one-day player, I want to win a
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World Cup, win the championship with Lancashire - those are my motivations.
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Have I any interest in the Ashes next winter? Yeah, sure - I'll be watching.
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But I won't be playing. Apparently "sources who are close to me" told another
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paper that I wanted to play. They said I missed playing Test cricket at the
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highest level - but I'd tell a stranger that. Of course I do. Speak to anybody
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who's played Test cricket who doesn't play now - they miss it.
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Anyway, the call for the Test side is not going to happen and I'm not really
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in contact with the England dressing room. I texted Belly [Ian Bell] when he
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got his runs [141 in the recent Durban Test] - I was pleased for him because
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he's a class player.
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But the England team have been working hard. I don't think they need me
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telling them that I'm sitting on Jumeirah Beach.
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Phoning Jimmy Anderson coming in for his 30th over in 35 degrees of heat.
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"What you up to Jim? It's Fred. I'm sat by the sea."
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* Andrew Flintoff has recently been appointed as a sports ambassador to
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Dubai. He was talking to Benji Wilson.
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### Getting there
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**Virgin Holidays and Hiphotels** (0844 573 2460; [www.vhiphotels.co.uk][11])
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can tailor-make trips to Dubai in a range of hotels. Three nights' full board
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at Al Maha Desert Retreat, Virgin Atlantic return flight from Heathrow and
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private transfers, start from £999 based on departures in June.
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### Eating and drinking
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Andrew Flintoff's recommended restaurants include: **Pierchic** at the Al Qasr
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(00971 4 366 6730; [www.jumeirah.com][12]); **Zuma**, just off the Sheikh
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Zayed Road by the Emirates Towers (425 5660); **Ruth's Chris**, One Sheikh
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Zayed Road (501 8666; [www.ruthschris.com][13]); **JW's** at the Marriott (262
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4444; [www.marriottdiningatjw.ae][14]). For desert dining, contact **Desert
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Safari Dubai** (357 2200; www.desertsafaridubai.com); **Irish Village**, north
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side of Al Garhoud Bridge (282 4750; [www.irishvillage.ae][15])
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### Further information
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The** Jumeirah Beach Hote**l (348 0000; [www.jumeirah.com][12]); **Ski Dubai**
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in the Mall of the Emirates ([www.skidxb.com][16]); **Dubai Mall**
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([www.thedubaimall.com][17]);** Meydan Racecourse
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**([www.meydan.ae/racecourse][18]); **Dubai Sports City**
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([www.dubaisportscity.ae][19])
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To repeat Andrew Flintoff's desert camping experience with his son, contact**
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Arabian Adventure** (303 4888; [www.arabian-adventures.com][20])
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[X][21] Share & bookmark
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[What are these?][22]
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* Share: [Share][21] [ ][23] [ ][24]
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[Tweet][25]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/celebritytravel/7221016/Andrew-Flintoffs-
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Dubai.html
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Telegraph
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## [Celebrity Travel][5]
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* ### [Travel »][26]
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* ### [Middle East »][27]
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* ### [Dubai »][28]
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* ### [Andrew Flintoff »][29]
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In travel
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[![][30] ][31]
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### [A-Z of celebrity interviews][31]
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[![Celebrities at Heathrow Airport: Dennis Stone photography][32] ][33]
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### [Celebrities at Heathrow Airport][33]
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[![The best celebrity-owned hotels][34] ][35]
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### [The best celebrity-owned hotels][35]
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[![Sign Language: week 126][36]][37]
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### [Sign Language][37]
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[X][21] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][22]
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Share:
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* [ ][21]
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* [ ][23]
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* [ ][24]
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* [Tweet][25]
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* Advertisement
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![][38]
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[![][39]][40]
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Advertisement
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## [Telegraph Cottages »][41]
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* [UK][42]
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* [FRANCE][43]
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* [ITALY][44]
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Loading
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[View more Telegraph Cottages here][41]
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