After waiting for almost an hour in a tiny Hertz rental office, waiting for some South Americans to stop arguing over 20 Euros in their bill, we finally took possession of our car - not the Ford Mondeo wagon but a Ford Galaxy minivan. It's great to see that even in Italy, you never get a rental car with a full tank of fuel. Luckily the TomTom GPS we brought with us from Australia worked and we managed to get out of Rome on a relatively quiet Sunday morning without much fuss and get onto the Autostrada heading south towards Napoli and, eventually, the tiny town of Amalfi. At 130kph, we were passed by most cars but made good time. A stop along the way at the Fashion Outlets allowed us to get lunch and get ... read more

Well, actually Vatican City is not in Rome. It is a tiny nation itself. But we still consider it part of our visit to Rome. We met our tour guide, Alex Mariotti, outside the Ottaviano San Pietro Metro station at about 1:15pm. David didn't show up, but we liked Alex better. By 2pm we were ready to start our tour, complete with headsets, inside the Vatican Museum. Alex was a fantastic tour guide and story teller. He told the story of Michaelangelo and how he came about to paint the Cappella Sistina. He told us how Michaelangelo was not a painter, but a sculpter, and shared the story of his relationships with the Pope, other artists and his life. After all of that, of course, Michaelangelo was a great artist. By the time we had reached ... read more

Unlike our arrival in Duba at 5:30am, at 7:00am in the departures area, there are people everywhere. This airport is enormous - and incredibly modern and clean. Surprisingly, we get through check-in, passport control and security without much fuss and quite quickly and then look for somewhere to have breakfast. Paul's patisserie was a great choice to spend the rest of the Dirhams we have left before we board our plane at gate 146 (there are over 200 gates!) for a 6 hour flight to Roma. After a 1 hour delay, we take off and head towards Italy. The plane trip is quite bumpy, but everyone does ok watching the on-board movies. Emily takes a power-nap after she decides that Sue's noise-cancelling headphones look better on her. Getting off the plane at Roma is like a ... read more

As we wait for our tour guide from Arabian Adventures in the lobby. Emily's excitment levels rise dramatically. She is desperate to ride a camel and get more tattoos. Jake is not so keen on the camel idea, but we are all looking forward to driving over the sand dunes in the Dubai desert and a new experience. Hashim, our driver, arrives to collect us in his Toyota 4wd. It's a 40 minute drive to the desert conservation area where the tour starts. He was born in Zanzibar, has some Arab heritage, and has lived in Dubai for 34 years. He has been doing the safari tour for 15 years, so we feel like we re in good hands. Hashim is not a talkative person. So Emily decides to fill in the quiet time. She does ... read more

By 3pm we are getting ready to visit Dubai Mall and then on to our booking at the Burj Kalifa for a trip to the 124th floor at 10 meters a second!! We don't think the kids are going to make it. First we have a look around the mall. We stop to see the aquarium and an enormous candy shop. Emily was in love with the candy shop. We then stop for a quick snack before getting ready to go to "At the Top" - the observation deck at Burj Kalifa. Emily falls asleep in the food court and we are all not far behind her. What an amazing view over 650m high, just on sunset. You can see the desert, the buildings and the man made islands in the Arabian gulf. Dubai is spectacular ... read more