As the Glow Garden does not open until 4.00pm, we took the opportunity to spend some time to relax by the pool. It is not a large area, but being on the roof, all areas receive excellent sun. The water in the pool was so still cold though. Think we will stay out of it next time. It was nice to have a little rest as we have been on the go since we left home on 18th April. The nearest metro station is about 15 minute walk from the Glow Garden. Unfortunately, we thought we saw a short cut and ended up walking around a company car park for a few minutes trying to get out. Once on the right road, by the time we got there they had just opened. We realised we had ... read more

In Dubai the weekend is Friday and Saturday. The traditional thing to do on Friday is a Brunch. You can not go to Dubai without doing one. An excellent opportunity to embrace the various cultures. Today's brunch is at the Crowne Plaza in Deira in their restaurant called Spice Island. The first ever brunch we had in Dubai was here, so we know it is good. We had a lazy morning and got to the hotel about 11.30am for the meal to start at 12.00. This gave us a chance to get in photographs of all the food before anyone touched it. During this time, we also got to speak to many of the managers and entertainers that were wandering around. These brunches are a great opportunities to witness other cultures. People from all around the ... read more

This afternoon we are flying from London Gatwick to Dubai UAE. Due to the unpredictable traffic of the M25, we decided to leave the Beaconsfield hotel at about 7.00am as we had to return the car by 10.00am. We have a lounge booked from 10.00am for three hours so we have somewhere comfortable to relax before the flight. We were really surprised that there was not much traffic on the motorway and we were at the airport about 8.30am. So we returned the car even earlier than expected and made our way over to the Emirates check-in desk. Due to runway works in Dubai, Emirates are not currently running their early morning flight, so the desk was not open. For a month, DXB is using only one runway. Other flights are being diverted into the nearby ... read more

First stop today is at Tesco´s in Bicester, as we have realised Theresa did not pack her swimming costume. From there it was a short journey to Aston Clinton, Bucks where we met Anita who has just moved to the area. Anita was a work colleague of Georges when he worked in Ealing. Anita and her family had only moved in on Thursday so most things were still in boxes. We did get to have a look around the downstairs and the garden. Our second new house viewing of this trip. After a quick bacon sandwich and coffee we were on our way again. We did not want to hold them up for too long, as they obviously had lots to do. Hotel for tonight and tomorrow night is the Ibis at Beaconsfield. It is a ... read more

We had a nice lazy start to today and finished off the repacking. First stop was Asda in Worksop to buy some wine for our hosts tonight. We could not resist a visit to the other shops around Asda whilst there. As we had not really eaten anything substantial since yesterday lunchtime, we decided to pop into the pub alongside Asda called Roman´s Rest. They had a great meal deal offer which was more than enough for us two. Next stop onto Theresa´s sister Julie and her husband Mick. We last saw them when they were living in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, so it will be nice to see how they are settling back into the UK. It was a really great catch up finished off with a lovely BBQ cooked by Mick ... read more