What about Goa? It's safe, fascinating, beautiful and hot - it's a fairly long way but most flights stop off in the Gulf somewhere on the way - you'll be safe enough shopping for an hour in Dubai's massive airport/shopping mall, for example.
As for the fearful prospect of the old "Steve Gritts": I was "performing" every 15 mins on the flight over there - but that was from a bad pie eaten in a pub the day before flying. But then not a drop for a whole two weeks while in India.