Sonia Majumder

Our city escape began as the skyline softened and the familiar rhythm of hustle giving way to the hush of open desert. Dubai’s endless architecture gave way to open roads, ochre landscapes, and the soft promise of sea. The noise fell away, and the world opened up—dunes glowing like embers, a vast sky unfolding above, and the ocean calling softly just beyond the horizon.

A staycation with good friends is a rare kind of luxury—a chance to pause, reconnect, and have fun. Our destination, the InterContinental at Ras Al Khaimah is tucked between golden sands and the gentle tide of the Arabian Gulf. From the moment we arrived, time loosened its hold. We exhaled and disconnected from the pulse of the city.

Over 48 golden hours, we fell into flow with the elements: salt on our skin, sunlight warming our shoulders, sea breeze tangling in our hair like old stories. We swam in the warm ocean, and with every wave that brushed past, something heavy left our shoulders.

By sunset, we gathered at the pool bar, piña coladas in hand, watching the horizon dissolve into a watercolor wash of lavender and peach. Breakfasts became leisurely, unspoken rituals—warm eggs and pancakes, ripe fruit, croissants that flaked at the touch, coffee that awakened us.

What also made the weekend rich were the conversations that unfolded like the waves themselves: sometimes gentle, sometimes deep. We spoke quietly of the future—families, marriage, children, soulmates. The men who would walk beside us. The kind of love that feels like home, not a lesson. The lives we want to build and the partners we hope to build them with. There was no pressure to solve anything. Only space to reflect, to dream aloud.

There’s something grounding about sharing these talks at the open beach, barefoot and sun-kissed. It felt as if the universe leaned in too—listening, nodding, planting seeds. We reminded one another who we are beneath the polish and posture. I am endlessly grateful for this. 

That weekend reminded me that I crave rootedness just as much as flight. That I want softness as much as strength. That ambition means little without moments of meaning woven in between. 

We came back to the city feeling lighter. Our minds felt quieter. Our hearts, fuller. And a little promise to myself—to create more of these pockets of peace. 

So here’s to trips that nourish the soul and conversations shared over breathtaking oceans, beneath wide, open azure skies. To the ones who hold space for each other, and the places that remind us how to breathe.