People often accuse Dubai of attracting a superficial, money-obsessed, show-off crowd and while these people do exist, there are just as many sincere, down-to-earth characters here too. Over the past decade, I’ve met an array of weird and wacky people – from the ex-conman (shot in the leg five times) who swapped the Costa del Sol for Jumeirah Islands to a jewellery thief who was deported from the States but happily mingles at every glitzy party in town. Dubai is certainly a place of reinvention and why not? While I was editor of a celebrity magazine here, I interviewed everyone from Kelly Rowland to Kanye West and flew a micro-light plane with Sheikh Ahmed bin Hasher Al Maktoum (the UAE’s only gold medallist). More recently, I’ve eaten with locals around campfires in the desert and practised yoga on the beach with teachers from all over the world. I’m grateful for it all. The good, bad and the ugly – my time in Dubai been a real trip.