An influencer trapped in a five-star hotel in Dubai has said Brits who have managed to flee the city ‘have been lucky’ as she faces a £3,000 bill in living expenses while she remains stranded.
Lily Mann, 25, arrived in Dubai with her boyfriend James Shires, 33, on March 26 with the intention of a week-long holiday.
The couple has since spent the last two days trying to navigate a way back home after their Etihad Airways flight to Manchester Airport was cancelled, leaving them to either pay upwards of £10,000 each for a one-way flight or to wait indefinitely.
They join the thousands of British travellers stranded in the Middle East after US-Israeli strikes on Iran elicited retaliatory strikes by Iran across the region.
This comes as the UK has halved the readiness time for aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales ahead of a possible deployment to the region, it was reported today.
Ms Mann, who also works as a freelance social media manager, told the Daily Mail ‘the flights home are just not there’.
She said: ‘We have been very, very unlucky and people who have got out have been very lucky.
‘The few flights that are showing are business class or first class seats, which are coming up to around £10,000’.
Brits who have managed to flee ‘have been lucky’, influencer Lily Mann told the Daily Mail, as she faces a further £3,000 bill on holiday costs and dog care while stranded in Dubai
Ms Mann arrived in Dubai with her boyfriend James Shires, 33, on March 26 with the intention of a week-long holiday. They have had no choice but to extend their stay in the UAE
This has forced them to continue staying in the five-star hotel FIVE Luxe JBR, with the holiday extension costing upwards of £3,000 in holiday costs and dog care.
Ms Mann added: ‘We are spending a lot of money on having to stay in Dubai.
‘It is not cheap. There is no choice, we just have to pay for it.’
She and Mr Shires, a sports therapist, have tried to ‘seek guidance’ from Trip, the travel agent they used to book the stay, but have received a ‘frustrating’ lack of luck.
She said their hands are tied as they are unable to speak directly to the airline at the airport because entry requires a boarding pass.
They are currently waiting for ticket confirmation after being told last night they may be booked on to a flight next Saturday – more than a week after their original departure flight.
The couple, who have been together for four-and-a-half years, have visited Dubai ten times, which is documented on social media – with Ms Mann calling the city ‘kind of my thing’.
She added: ‘People tend to associate me with Dubai.’
The couple, who have been together for four-and-a-half years, have visited Dubai ten times, which Ms Mann documents on social media
The normally luxurious atmosphere associated with the UAE has recently been upended by alarm sirens, drone interceptions and evenings spent sheltered in underground car parks.
While influencers post the alarms from rooftop bars, three people were killed in the blitz on the city on Sunday, which saw the famous Jumeriah Hotel set ablaze and industrial zones smoldering.
Dubai International Airport was hit by further Iranian drone strikes today, causing the airport to be evacuated and flights suspended.
The couple had previously been oblivious to the rising international tensions until the first alarm bell was raised, and haven’t witnessed strikes or their aftermath first-hand.
Ms Mann said: ‘We were sitting in bed having room service last week and alarms on our phones started going off, causing us to question what was happening.
‘We saw a puff of smoke while we were having breakfast at the start of the week and a big black cloud of smoke at the start of the week.
‘But we do hear sounds.’
Despite saying one ‘gets used to [the current climate], she added ‘her heart does tend to go’ when an alarm is raised – which has become a daily occurrence.
She said: ‘We were in the mall when one went off and everyone looked around at each other. That was quite scary as we were above glass.’
While the ‘noises of the jets are the worst and can be scary’, the influencer said their holiday routine has largely continued as usual with walks for coffee along the promenade and shopping jaunts.
She said: ‘You get a missile alert and within thirty minutes another warning says it is safe to go outside. When you can’t go outside, you don’t go outside.
‘It is very normal. We are still going for coffee and walking around the mall.’
Ms Mann confessed her attempts to continue a sense of normality may be her trying to block out that she is ‘in the midst of the warzone’.
She added: ‘It will probably hit us when we get home.
‘We are trying to be normal. But you can be doing your normal activity and then suddenly the sirens go off and you have to get inside and stay away from windows. Your heart does go when that happens.’
Missiles have been falling for a week now after Iran was bombed by the US and Israel, which killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Since then, Iran has unleashed ‘revenge’ attack strikes on Israel, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq and Cyprus.
Six US servicemen have been killed in Kuwait after it was hit by strikes on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump said today Iran ‘will be hit very hard’ today and dubbed the country the ‘loser of the Middle East’.
Ms Mann said her family have been concerned about the couple’s safety.
However she added her main drive to come home are her dogs Nelly, a chow chow, and Noah, a Japanese Spitz.
She said: ‘I am dying to get home to see them.
‘They are my babies.’
