Your daily commute can be extremely stressful, as well as uncomfortable, but if you follow the five tips below, you can reduce your stress and anxiety while feeling more at ease inside your vehicle.

1. Always Reserve Your Parking Spot in Advance
One of the main reasons why a lot of people hate their commute is because they have to find a parking spot in an often crowded city at the end of the ride. If you’re commuting into a large city, it can be nearly impossible to easily and quickly locate a good parking spot where your car will be safe and you’ll be close to your destination. Thankfully, though, you can reserve your parking spot in advance so that it’s right there waiting for you to simply pull in and be on your way. Check out www.yourparkingspace.co.uk to learn more and to start reserving your parking spot.

2. Position Yourself Correctly
Do you find that you feel uncomfortable during your commute because you start to feel achiness or muscle tension along the way? Perhaps you feel stiff even when you get out of your car once you’ve arrived. The key to preventing this discomfort is knowing how to properly position yourself in your vehicle. Start by placing your body in the middle of your seat. Make sure that the backs of the knees don’t hit the front edge of your seat, as that will restrict circulation. Also, you shouldn’t ever have to scoot your body forward in order to reach the pedals with your foot.

3. Keep the Car Clean for Optimal Visibility
In addition to keeping the interior of your car free from debris that could make you feel stressed just looking at it and knowing that you have to clean it up, you should make it a point to increase your visibility by cleaning the mirrors and the windshield regularly. Once you have a better view of everything that surrounds you on the road, you’ll be more confident, less stressed, and more comfortable behind the wheel.

4. Listen to Relaxing Music
Relaxing music could be the ideal way to clear your mind of stressful thoughts that can actually cause tension throughout your body. Remember, the way that you feel in your mind can have dramatic effects upon how your muscles feel. To keep your muscles relaxed, you should relax your mind, and you can do that by listening to soothing music, such as classical music, or by listening to a guided meditation that will increase your mindfulness while allowing you to stay concentrated on.

5. Maintain the Optimal Temperature
Finally, you can increase your comfort during your commute, particularly during cold weather, by checking for any draughts that might be causing chilly air to enter your vehicle. Point all the vents away from you and close them completely to find the location of any draughts, and then check your car’s weather stripping, particularly on the inside of your door, to see if it needs to be replaced.

With the five easy tips above, you should be able to make your commute as comfortable as possible. :)

Five foodies, one mission: to search for the hottest breakfast spots in Downtown Dubai. This is the idea behind the invite that I got via email one morning. Although it entails having my Friday morning sleeping in cut short and having to spread my teeny tiny social butterfly wings, I accepted the invitation for two reasons—I will be in one of my favorite places in Dubai, and I will be meeting and mingling with renowned Filipino UAE bloggers. There's surely no reason to decline, yeah?

Had a quick burger fix at the Burger Fuel branch in Mall of the Emirates back when it was still Ramadan. I know, I know. I'm such an efficient blogger. Haha! :p

Haven't had breakfast yet that time and they were the only ones open at the food court (the rest of the restaurants are either closed on only opens at noon during Ramadan), so this is where my friend and I settled.

We were the first customers, so serving time wasn't a problem. I specifically ordered the Fuel Basic and obliged when the staff asked if I wanted to have cheese in it.

Fuel Basic - AED 32 (additional AED 0.50 for the cheese)

The Fuel Basic is Burger Fuel's take on the classic beef burger, with a 100% pure grass fed beef burger and fresh lettuce, onions, and tomato in a soft bun. The burger was generally good—patty was fresh, veggies were crisp, buns were soft—the only downer was the patty and dressing which were a little too salty. I had mine with cheese, which added up to the saltiness, I guess. And although the burger is huge, I think the price is a bit of a stretch.

BURGER FUEL
Food Court, Level 1
Mall of the Emirates
Barsha 1, Dubai
United Arab Emirates
+971 (0)4 354 9691
Nearest Metro Station: Mall of the Emirates (Red Line)

  sweetnothings.kriskamarie
  @kriskamarie   @kriskamarie

Mark and I are seafood lovers! I'm a sucker for shrimps and crabs while Mark loves mostly fish (he loves shrimps and crabs too but he's just too lazy have them shelled). I remember how we would always be on a seafood feast every weekend when I was still back home. Since I moved in to Dubai, my dad's crab and prawn specialty were just some of the foods that I missed. Mark, on the other hand, has been craving for seafood for the longest time now. A seafood feast is what usually welcomes him home but he hasn't come home to the Philippines for almost 3 years now.

So imagine my delight when I got an invite via email from Mr. Crab! We actually just had some seafood fix the night before, but we didn't mind having another much needed seafood feast at Mr. Crab.

Seafood overload!!!

There are plenty of advantages to booking your hotel online. Whether you’re looking for a long holiday abroad, a fun weekend away in the city, or need to find accommodation for a business trip, booking hotels online means that you can do so from the comfort of your own home or even on the go with your smartphone. Booking your hotel online also makes it easy to compare different hotels and deals, read customer reviews and view hotel photographs before you finally make up your mind as to where you want to stay. If you’re planning a trip, here’s what and what not to do when you’re booking a hotel online.

Do Use Comparison Sites
When you’re looking for a good deal on a hotel room, comparison sites are a really good place to start. You can view hotels in the area that you’re looking to stay, and enter a number of criteria which you want from your room, for example breakfast included, double bed, free parking and even the hotel’s star rating. Comparison sites make it easy for you to see all of the hotels which fit your criteria in the area easily so you can find which one has the best price and is the most suitable for you.

Don’t Buy From a Comparison Site
Even though it’s a great idea to use a comparison site to find your perfect hotel, you could end up being charged more if you pay for your booking through them. This is because comparison sites will take a commission for each booking, so many hotels which advertise on them will charge extra in order to cover this expense. Instead, to make sure that you’re not paying any more than you need to, go directly to the hotel’s website and see if you can get a better price there.

Do Read Reviews
When looking for a hotel to stay in during your trip, it’s essential to read reviews and see what other visitors have thought of the hotel. Even though the pictures might look amazing, it’s good to note that hotels will always show their best side in photographs and advertisements, and you’re going to get a much more realistic, honest description of the place by reading about the experience of other guests. Sites such as TripAdvisor are great for reading reviews of hotels and you’ll also be able to see photographs of the hotel and rooms taken by previous guests, rather than a professional photographer.

Don’t Be Misled
Although it’s essential to read customer reviews before booking your hotel room, keep in mind that there are fake reviews out there which you could fall foul to. The online review system may be honest a lot of the time, but recognize that it is open to abuse and that not all of the reviews you read may be strictly true. If a review seems a bit off or too good (or bad!) to be true, it probably is!

Booking online can be an easy and convenient way of getting the best hotel room. Use these tips to make sure you choose the perfect place to stay!

I always thought that I should only post reviews here in my blog if I get to eat in the actual restaurant, so I can point out more specific details not just about the food but also about the restaurant as a whole—ambience, service, dining experience, and all—but then again, I realized how it would be unfair to curb my excitement to share something good or to cover up for some bad experience by just keeping silent.

What if what I just ate was really great or what if I experienced a fast delivery or a commendable service? What if what I ordered was different from what was actually served or delivered? I know I can just post it on Zomato, but I feel the need to have it reach as many people as possible, so I thought this blog would be a good venue (although I think I only have a handful of avid readers haha!). And hey, this is my blog so I can post whatever I want, and besides, some of the food that I had were really amazing to just be sitting in my camera roll and not being shared.

Chicken Biryani  - AED 22