The view from Room B, Apartment 306, U.P. Tower, Dubai!

As one can see from the pictures below, I live next to a construction site (as do approximately 98% of Dubaites) and in about a year it will very closely resemble Big Ben. That's right, Dubai can come up with NOTHING NEW - always a copy of something! And because of said construction site, my bedroom windows are usually filthy on the outside. Thankfully they were cleaned yesterday for the first time in ages, so I took some photos of my view. It's not as great as some as I'm only on the 3rd floor, but its better than the poor and unfortunate souls on the SECOND floor! Can you IMAGINE!!!!!????

Umm yeah, so a bit stuck for a title here. Oh gee, crap! The pressure! Oh, I have one - MY SISTER AND I IN LONDON, ENGLAND!

Now I know London is becoming a little too regular a feature on my roster - and I'm going back tomorrow! - but last week I was there and caught up with sister Jessica who was traveling with her friends. She was there for 9 days before heading off on a Contiki tour around Europe, and we had a few hours there on the night I was there. I'm trying to get her to join Emirates so she can see the world for free rather than fork out thousands for each overseas trip, but we'll see! Anyway we went to Harrod's, had dinner in an Italian restaurant that left alot to be desired, then went over to Westminster to see Big Ben and the London Eye. It had just closed when we got there but I might try next time. So here are the photos! (I had lent my camera to Patrick for the week - he had his first Brisbane trip - so these were all taken on the mobile phone)

Also a formal and public apology to Sue-Ellen, Mr M. Itchalot, and Mutch for the delay in getting this post out. It can be difficult to get things done in Dubai when you're busy doing nothing!

Hard to believe that Christmas decorations are out in August!
One for Nanna's mantelpiece!


Houses of Parliament and...
...Clock Tower and Big Ben (the name of just the bell inside, not the whole tower as I previosly thought)
Another one for Nanna
London Eye from Westminster Station
Getting arty under the 'Eye' as it oft called by the witty locals!

Daniel's MIRACULOUS roster!

Well I had some good news on Saturday afternoon with the publication of my roster for September. Bearing in mind I am very low in seniority and on 'bottom bid' for the month (crew are divided into 7 groups, which are given bidding priority on a rotational basis - my group is last this month.)

So here it is:

SEPTEMBER
2-3 LONDON HEATHROW
7-14 SINGAPORE/BRISBANE!!!!!!!!! (cue instant happy mood - I'll be in Brisbane from the 9th to the 13th)
19-21 NAGOYA, Japan (a brand new Emirates destination, and I'm flying with my good friend Dache)
22-24 RESERVE DAYS
28 TEHRAN, Iran (turnaround flight)
30 KUWAIT (turnaround flight)

All other days I'll be baking in Dubai!

London with Jessica pictures will be up tomorrow :)

A Dubai Summer Surprise!

Well two weeks ago I shared some pictures of the Dubai most tourists flock to - the new Jumeirah Beach area with the hotels, restaurants, clubs and the Burj. Now I bring you some of the old Dubai - the Dubai which is much more relevant to the locals. Nicole's family friends recently came to visit and I took these to capture the spirit of the evening.

My roster will be out Saturday night, and while I am expecting NO miracles, there is always hope!

The outside of Sheikh Saeed Al Mahktoum's House
The inside of the house - now a museum
Yes, that is a door, and yes, I am enourmous
Dubai Creek
The douws (traditional Arabic boats)
Boarding time - hats and smiles people!
Cruising up the Creek
I'm not sure if these boats are used as homes or commercially...
...I'll aim to uncover the truth in the next edition.
The fairly dirty, messy streets of downtown Deira (the biggest suburb of Dubai - NOT where I live!) Note the temperature at the time (around 7pm) was a VERY muggy 40 degrees. We were sweating like bushpigs!
The Mosque in the background was blaring the siren for prayer time - a very interesting time of the day!
Jackpot time at the gold souks!
MARHABA is Arabic for WELCOME and part of the staple vocab diet for cabin crew!

Some AMAZING downtown Dubai pics, coming your way Friday night!

A BLOG BackLOG

Now Emirates have been working me like a dog of late, so keeping the blog up to date has been a slight challenge. I want to take my laptop on my layovers with me, but it can be a rather expensive exercise (usually 30 Oz Dollars for 24 hours) so I wait to come back to Dubai, hence the delay.

The last week has taken me to London and Munich which were both pretty great trips. The first was pretty interesting due to the security scare in the UK. First of all we had to divert to Birmingham then drive to London, and then on the way home we were delayed many hours due to the extensive security checks we had to go through. My phone, ipod, camera, toiletry bag and Emirates fobkey all had to be taken out and placed in my suitcase which made me feel part of the global community against terror! I spent some time with Arta and Tania from the flight, and we went to Harrod's, Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace- the first time for me to all the above!

Two London landmarks - Harrod's and the Underground
The Egyptian staircase in Harrod's, and...
...the Diana and Dodi tribute, which was a little wierd.
Moi at the Hyde Park lake/pond thingy...
My friends from the flight - Arta (French/Iranian) and Tania (Indian)
The beautifully brown Hyde Park
Pick up Liz, I KNOW you're in there!

She let Rolf Harris in but not me! What's with that?!


Then it was off to Munich, where I was able to catch up with a long time friend of mine who I hadn't seen in many years, and spend some time being a Contiki-er! Since leaving Australia, Aaron (aforementioned friend) has become a tour guide and I was able to join the group of 40 or so for the afternoon/evening! I felt like I was in my mid-twenties seeing the world again! I really loved the city and the summertime, beer-swigging, pretzel-eating, pork-inhaling atmosphere! I really hope I get this trip again soon.

At the town centre - and up the glockenspiel we head!


Stunning views of Munchen from the top of the tower.
Outside the popular-with-tourists HOFBRAUHAUS....
....where one litre beers are the order of the day!
Our trusty guide Aaron poses with some really hot guy...
And the band played on (do their wives know they're here!)

500 gram sirloin, medium-rare, thanks!

On Saturday I came back from another great layover (this is probably becoming rather monotonous now for regular readers!) - this time from Johannesburg. It was the first time I had been back to South Africa since my second big trip in 2000/01, and many will know how special a place it has always been to me. I was placed on this trip at the last minute to cover my three days of reserve, which is a LOT better than being given multiple turn-around flights!

Due to the timing of the trip (arrive in JHB at lunch time after flying through the night and leaving at lunch the next day), it doesn't leave time to do any real sightseeing, so instead I focused on the shopping, dining and drinking! Off to Sandton City (the site of my infamous eyebrow piercing of 2001) to stock up on some South African essentials (Madam and Eve, Astros, PS Bars) and then after a one hour catnap, it was off to dinner with a very good friend of mine, Miranda, and some of the other crew. (pictures below)

I got into BIG trouble with the Purser on the way over as I fell asleep during my rest period. This is not officially allowed although most pursers allow it - mine didn't. I didn't actually mean to fall asleep, it just happened due to the dark, quiet plane in the middle of the night, and having been picked up at 1am to go to work. Anyway it was the most humiliated I've ever been at work, despite the great passenger comments I got on the flight. So what better way to fix the problem than with a couple of bottles of vino! :)

The whole table and the four of us - Miranda, myself, Rob and Steph
Stephanie and Miranda, Rob and I

Looking a bit sexual after two litres of sauvignon blanc!

God Bless Suid-Afrika

I've been pulled out for a Johannesburg flight leaving at 4am tomorrow, which DEFINITELY beats 3 days of crappy reserve! It will be so amazing to go back to South Africa for the first time in over 5 years! Anyway, just thought I'd share :)

Also here is a picture I took the other night of my building - UP Tower. NOICE!