39 Hours Jet Setting & a Quick Trip Down Under (by Monty)

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Jet setters are nothing like James Bond, I can assure you. Then again, we jet setters didn’t have a private jet and our route was anything but direct. The most daunting task was not flying around the world for 3 days; it is the knowledge that we must eventually endure it again. With a 7-hour stop over in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, (I had to look at a map too) Trisha and I decided to break in her unblemished passport with a stamp from the Middle East. Our mission was simple; see the Middle East mosques, temples, thriving night markets and desert dunes that awaited us around every corner. When the door to our tram shuttle opened we found alas, a replica of the Mall of America…. Are you kidding me?! This mall would define our Middle East trip and try as we did to escape it, the heat kept us coming back to the comforts of air-conditioning. We did see a beautiful mosque lit up at night but 3 teenage children loomed in the distant shadows and with no alternative route to the mosque, we both chickened out and headed back to the wondrous Dubai airport for our next 10-hour flight to Perth, Australia.

Perth Australia is a wonderful city on the other side of the world. Locals say that if you drilled a hole from New York through the earth’s crust, you would eventually hit Perth. A vibrant city situated on a lovely harbor, the capital of the Western Australian Territory, Trisha upon arrival declared this her favorite city on earth and it is easy to see why. Perth was a great place to catch up on sleep, leave some kite luggage at the Air Rush factory and from our tiny hotel room next to the harbor park and Farris wheel, we learned the art of packing, repacking and why the toxic anti bug spray called permetherin/deet should not come in contact with skin. With a transit system that rivals New York, we opted against the train and instead called for a taxi on our departing day for a very early flight to Malaysia but wait…… we are so jet lagged we have no idea what time it is!!!!

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