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Published: April 1st 2011
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Mall of the Emirates
Quite a shopping experience Our Blog - No.15
Friday 1st April 2011
Well, our last day in Sydney was again great. We did in fact go out to Manly on the ferry having met up with Janet, Celia and Thomas at Circular Quay and then Elizabeth when we arrived off the ferry at Manly. A short walk through a pedestrianised shopping centre and we were facing the most amazing beach with great rolling breakers with lots of surfers and swimmers and sunbathers. Needless to say Nicky had to have a paddle but preserved her dignity this time by not getting too wet. Elizabeth had booked lunch for us all in a restaurant overlooking the beach which was really good. After lunch we all took the ferry back to Circular Quay. There was a sudden change in the weather and we saw a dramatic skyline and had a heavy downpour. We said our final farewells and walked back to our hotel ready to be collected and taken to the airport.
We have had a wonderful time in Australia thanks firstly to Janet who looked after us so beautifully in Perth from the moment we arrived until we flew off to Adelaide. Janet also joined us in
Sydney so that we could all celebrate Celia’s 70th birthday just a little early. Then we have to thank Gill and Barry for putting up with us for so long in Tasmania and taking us to so many different and exciting places and finally to Alan, Elizabeth and Thomas who made us so welcome in Sydney and making sure we were well looked after and saw as much as we could whilst there. Of course we can’t forget Celia who was in Perth and Sydney whilst we were there.
We got to Sydney Airport what we thought was early but there was an enormous queue and it took some time to get through to actually checking in. To be honest it wasn’t a good experience and we felt like cattle lining up and expected a bale of straw at the end!
We went through security and had a wait before the flight was called. Again it was a cattle market although Emirates did try to organise people going on board in an orderly way by zones but as always there are passengers who ignore instructions and make it so difficult for other travellers. Eventually we got on board and
settled in our seats and we were surprised at how little leg room was available. The Emirates we know from the past is not the Emirates we experienced now. They ran out of main course meals so we only had a tray of the accompaniments without any real apology. When breakfast was served about 8 rows were missed out (including us!) and it was a mad panic to try and find enough for us. The service was not good and I actually only saw two cabin staff smile on the whole journey. We flew for 14 hours non-stop from Sydney to Dubai in very limiting seats with some of the worst service we have ever known when flying. The saving grace for Emirates is their in flight entertainment which is excellent.
We arrived on time in Dubai only to have to wait our turn to land because of others arriving at the same time. The queues to go through passport control were very long as they decided to change all the staff at once at 6.00am in the morning! Eventually we got through and collected our bags and joined another lengthy queue for taxis. Eventually we were driven by a
woman driver who I think believed she was an F1 driver! Very fast but safe.
Arrived at our hotel which looks very comfortable and is 4 star. We tried to check in but the rooms weren’t ready because we were so early. Eventually we were able to check in and go to our room. Very comfortable.
We were extremely tired and eventually Barry lay on the bed and nodded off for a while. Nicky was quite stubborn about going to sleep during the day. Barry woke up later and shaved and showered expecting to go for dinner (Nicky had already had her bath). After a few minutes he was back on the bed and out for the count. Nicky asked him if he was going for dinner, got a grunt and that was that. She gave up and went to bed herself. Barry woke several times, it was a little noisy as Thursday is the weekend in Dubai and time to party and do they know how to party!
So good to wake up feeling refreshed and ready for breakfast as we had hardly eaten anything in the Last 24 hours. Excellent breakfast buffet.
Having lived in Dubai 34
years ago we were not sure whether we would really like it having seen so many TV programmes about how it has developed. It is jaw dropping and from the moment we arrived in the airport (they have 4 terminals) it was unbelievable. Our journey to the hotel was so amazing we couldn’t really take it all in seeing so many sky scrapers in the business area. We plan to see more over the next couple of days and will fill you all in on our next blog.
Take care and goodbye for now from Dubai. Next blog will be from the Queen Mary 2 which we rejoin on Sunday afternoon.
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Janet Hornbuckle
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Sorry you had such a horrible time leaving Australia both at the airport and the flight. Perhaps you were meant to stay longer!!