Blogs from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Middle East - page 7

Sunday, 16th September 2018 Here we are on Day 04 of our vacation in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Sunday is a working day in UAE. After a swim at the hotel pool in the morning, we headed to the Mall of the Emirates for brunch in order to beat the lunch crowds. Since we were rather early, we decided to pop by at the beautiful Carrefour store for some souvenirs shopping before our meals. The goods and fresh produce were so nicely displayed at their flagship store that it would be extremely difficult to go home empty-handed unless you are one determined window shopper. After shopping at Carrefour, it was time for brunch at the Cheesecake Factory located at the other end of the basement that is next to Ski Dubai. Contrary to its name, the ... read more

Thursday, 13th September 2018 Our 3pm flight to Dubai was delayed for more than 2 hours at Changi Airport due to some air-conditioning servicing. The passengers onboard this flight were civilised as none of them vented their frustrations at the helpless cabin crew. It was closed to six in the evening before the flight was given the green light to depart. Seven hours later, we landed at Dubai International Airport. UAE is made up of seven kingdoms and this is where we would be spending our weekend away from Singapore. With little expectations on how things would pen out over the weekend, we continued our journey to the city centre via the Dubai Metro. Barely 20 minutes into the ride, we reached the Emirates Towers Station where our hotel, the Millennium Plaza was right at the ... read more

With our flight departing Manchester at a very civilised 2.00pm there was no need for us to rise at a ridiculous hour. We had done most of our packing yesterday before dinner and finished it off before bed so we were able to shower and dress and have our breakfast in a leisurely fashion. Once we’d cleaned our teeth all we needed to do was pack our toilet bags and we were ready to go, which made us happy ... and sad ... at the same time. It will be great to get home to see Finbar and family and sleep in our own bed, but it is always sad saying farewell to good friends. Kath and Albert do not currently have any travel to Australia booked so we are not sure when we will see ... read more

I’m not sure about this flying out at 9.15pm. It makes for a long, long day of anticipation! Since Bernie had decided to work a half day I ‘worked’ too at Fitzroy Gardens as per my usual Thursday morning shift. After a quick lunch with Loren I headed off home to freshen up and change into travel clothes in time to do the handover with our housesitters at 4.00pm. Kerry arrived about 4.30pm and with the handover with Fabian and Sarah complete we hugged Finbar and set off to the airport. We had planned to arrive about 6.00pm to check in for our flight, but we had a pretty good run on the Tullamarine Freeway and arrived at the airport just on 5.30pm. Even so we were not first in the queue that was already lining ... read more

Tuesday 11 September 2018 On the eve of departure for the next rip to Dubai - with our friends Kathy and Graeme. Having sold the house, downsizing and moved into rental accommodation in a two week period, life has been a bit hectic and we are looking forward to the break. Fly at 10:50pm tomorrow night and arrive Dubai 7am on Thursday morning. Will see how I go with the blog this time around. Wednesday 12 September 2018 - Brisbane Megs drove us to the airport and had us there in plenty of time at 8pm for our 10:50pm departure. Met Graeme and Kathy as we were checking in. After a glass of celebratory wine, we boarded at 10:0pm taking up our seats neaer the rear of the B777 aircraft. We paid extra to get seats ... read more