We had expected to be on our way to Sydney on the 18th but Emirates airlines had other ideas! Due to their routine overbooking policy and having confirmed seats we still ended up being put into the Millenium Airport hotel annex. So after getting settled, at around 11:30 we decided to have a walk out and see if we could find the coast. 2 hours later we still hadn't found how to get there. Eventually we found a metro station at 14:00 so went to the Financial Centre. The whole area is still being built. We saw a welder working on the edge some 50+ floors up. The walk from there was some way off the coast so we gave up with sore feet and had a McDonalds ice cream! We had dinner - not bad ... read more

We arrived in Dubai in the early hours. I set the alarm for 09:30 so that we could have brekkie before it stopped at 10:00 - I was awake, Brian for once was not - well it was his birthday! We had some coffee and crisps for brekkie then wandered around using the map I'd printed - what would we do now without Google? Came across a metro station (Khalid Bin Al Waleed) and decided to see if we could see the famous hotel Burj Al Arab. We were confused by the map as not all the stations are open even though they are on the map, but it was a great way to see the views. Got to the end of the line (Nakheel harbour) but was only a power station theres. As we'd forgotten ... read more

We are packed (save the toiletries) and then we are off! Having to keep hold of some of Brian's birthday cards so he has some to open on the day at least!... read more

Here is trip of a lifetime we will be going on for Brian's 50th birthday... read more