three's company: rebecca and husband harry settle in at anantara the palm jumeirah  my husband harry and i knew this was going to be a landmark holiday   the last one on our own for a long time our baby girl is due on june 4 and, when we touched down in dubai, i was 28 weeks pregnant you can't fly after that without a doctor's note we had left it until the last minute and, by the time we arrived, both of us were ready to relax i'd been to dubai once before as a swimmer, when we stayed in an apartment this was completely different   and utterly amazing the anantara is part of the palm project and is like nowhere else because it has over the water bungalows there were times when it felt like we were in the maldives, but when we went to the australian themed restaurant, i imagined i was back in the jungle on i'm a celebrity — even though there weren't any luxuries in that jungle you have to see dubai to believe it everything is so clean, luxurious and new — even the main tourist areas and everywhere hotels are being built we kept asking ourselves how they will all survive, but somehow they will our room was on the lagoon, which meant we had direct access to the water we tended to spend a couple of hours in the morning by the main pool, then, after lunch, we retreated to our gorgeous room, where we had sun beds on the balcony harry is doing a graphic design course back home and so he spent some time each day on his studies by 4pm, it gets hazy in dubai some days we went for a wander around the whole resort, which is about two miles round but it is cleverly laid out it never felt crowded jump in: the anantara has three turquoise blue 'lagoons' ideal for swimmers of all experience levels  we had a lot of time to think and to discuss what name we should give our baby we always wanted to know what to expect — we're having a girl — because we are both impatient people and are keen to plan ahead, but we can't agree on a name naming something before you see it is strange and it's vital that her first name goes with her last, which will be harry's name, needs we want a name that won't sound as if she is 'needy', if you see what i mean one day, we went out on a boat and i hoped to see david beckham's house, but no one seemed sure where it was exactly but what we did see were some of the most expensive properties ever there's a lot of money splashing around in this part of the world we also made a trip to the famous dubai mall, which is bigger than a football stadium — or so it seems and guess what? we bought our not born yet baby her first swimsuit it has a french look to it, with jaunty stripes my plan is to take her swimming as soon as i can it's something we will always be able to do together retail therapy: rebecca adlington did a spot of shopping at the famous (and enormous) dubai mall  more importantly, i regard swimming as a valuable life skill and i was surprised to see at the hotel that some children had never learned that's why i've started becky adlington swim stars for three to 11 year olds already we have 17 venues taking part and 3,500 children are learning to swim with us there were lots of british people in the hotel and they were all very friendly it never bothers me if someone wants to come up and have a chat or have a photograph taken athletes are different to film stars in that people see us as we are, not playing a particular role and we are used to having a microphone shoved in our faces immediately after we have competed it teaches you to be natural one thing i enjoyed at the anantara was looking at all the baby equipment people have it started to give me ideas i was also pleased to see how kind everyone was to the children the staff went out of their way to be helpful this is a real family resort paradise pictured:  the anantara offers over the water villas which provide the perfect sea view  after i retired from competitive swimming at the age of 23, i didn't go near a pool for six months then i started to swim again as a way to keep fit and i still love it i love the feeling of being weightless and this is especially welcome when you're pregnant harry and i went to the gym a few times at the hotel and i did a bit of this and that, but i am not used to high impact sport a gym is difficult on my knees there is not the tiniest bit of me that ever wants to compete again as an athlete, i was so focused and driven and i left the sport knowing that i could not have given more of myself all that training was really tough, but i chose to do it flashback: rebecca survived daunting trials when she appeared on i'm a celebrity in 2013  now, i have a chance to get on with the rest of my life and i'm excited about that, too it gives me an opportunity to try new things — like coming to dubai with harry and spending most of the time lying around in the australian restaurant, an arab man came up to me and said he recognised me 'you'll feel at home in this restaurant, then?' he said 'why?' i said 'i'm not australian' 'because you were on that programme in the jungle,' he said, without mentioning my swimming i am so pleased to have done i'm a celebrity it helped me find my feet and i've always loved ant and dec but it was scary not knowing what would happen and suddenly finding myself with 11 strangers what's for sure is that it really made me appreciate a holiday like the one in dubai jasmine holidays (0333 7000 747, wwwjasmineholidayscouk) offers seven nights' stay at the dubai palm, anantara on a half board basis   from £1,150 per person, based on two adults sharing, including flights and transfers daily mail readers receive a £100 discount when quoting ref dm2015
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