Perth, Irish Boybands and a New Baby: One Man's Journey

And so the Westlife 2007 journey begins! Just got home to Dubai from a great trip to Perth and will be touching down in Melbourne in about 18 hours from now - craziness I tell you, craziness! I'm taking ye olde laptoppe on my holiday this time so can report from Ground Zero when I arrive.

And a big congratulations to my great friends Kim and Ben who had a baby girl on Tuesday morning - Zara Kim Sampson. Word has it that it was Kim that actually had the baby but Ben is widely regarded to have been involved somewhere along the line.... :)

My intercontinental sickness debacle :(

I should never have set foot upon that plane, in fact I should never have set foot out of bed in the first place. Sore throat, sore skin and joints, menopausal hot flushes... this was not going to be a fun day. But when Emirates dangles a carrot in front of your face and the carrot says "come on Daniel! Let's go to Singapore and Melbourne for 5 days" it's hard to not take a bite!

By and large it was a good crew, all fairly new and inexperienced in economy which made me look like a dinosaur, but I was happy to look after the mid-economy galley and guide and assist the newbies where required. It was tricky however, in between throwing up in the back toilets, blacking out in the galley and generally feeling like death had come for a quick weekend getaway in my body.... So what does an infection-riddled boy like myself do when he arrives in Singapore? Sleep? No. Hot tea with honey and a bath? No. That's right, he commandeers a tour bus and heads for the night safari at SIngapore Zoo! Not the smartest move, but I'm not the smartest cookie!

It was a twilight tram ride through natural habitats of elephants, lions, tigers, giraffes, rhinos, hippos, cows..... These photos are the best of a bad lot... Then it was on to the nightly show in the amphitheatre - again, no flash photography allowed, so there are no photos of me with a massive boa constrictor wrapped around my arms and shoulders. I nearly peed my pants! Oh, the memories!


Our kind-one-minute-Nazi-the-next tour guide Lina, and a photo with sleepy Vivi (Thai) Oscar (Argentina) and Annabel (UK)


The animal palooza begins!

I SWEAR that's a lion on the hill!

The 'Creatures of the Night' show where I was mauled by a giant snake, and not the good kind!

My view from the 19th floor of the Carlton Hotel in downtown Singapore!

Well I decided to press on to Melbourne. Calling the International SOS medical service that Emirates provides worldwide seemed like a daunting experience and I thought if I'm going to do it, I'd rather do it in Melbourne. Assuming the doctor would make me stay behind and for the crew to operate home without me, better I'm within general proximity to my family and friends I say. Lo and behold, the doc says I can't go anywhere, and before I know it 3 days in bed sick have passed. The Hilton is certainly not the worst place to find yourself sick! I took a few short strolls to alleviate my intense boredom resulting in some beautiful Melbourne photos... I also caught up with my very good friend Sam who left Emirates in December - we miss her!


More hotel views, this time from the 12th floor of Hilton On The Park - MCG, Rod Laver Arena, Fitzroy Gardens.... so magnificent!

Not feeling the best, but so great to see Sam and her new man slash latest Emirates recruit (oh, the irony!) Adam


Now for the best bit of this sickly tale.... flying home direct to Dubai (14 hours) in a FIRST CLASS SUITE! Seriously, this seat set my fellow passengers back $6095 ONE WAY - not dirhams, DOLLARS! I felt so lucky even though I was coughing and or vomiting all the way home. Private suite, mini-bar, basket of chocolate bars, 20 inch television with the usual 600 channels, close to fully reclining leather arm chair slash bed, gourmet food on demand, complete silver service the list goes on. I tried to take a few photos to give you an idea but this was the best one :)

I DO feel like dancin'!

Well back-to-back visits to Australia minus my trusty iBook have kept me away from the Jube Eye for about a week, so while I'm stuck in bed sick I will commence with some serious updating. First stop: Brisbane.

I was desperate for the days off so I could accompany Nathan to the Scissor Sisters on the 3rd of Feb, and crew scheduling heard my wailing pleas and thought it might be best for all to give me what I wanted so the noise would stop!

Put simply, the Sisters were the best live act I've ever seen and that includes Westlife! Nate and I were right up the front boogeying down with all the other married straight slash single gay couples! Honestly it was simply brilliant and so glad the opportunity came to go see it.... I may have been sick ever since but it was worth every cough, vomit and loose motion I've had!

The weekend was topped off with a day boating out on the boat with the family in Caloundra - noice!


My biggest fans, Macy and Ava, let me stay at their place for a few days!


Another great reunion - before new years it had been a long time since I had been in a room with Kim, Ben, Jodie and Aaron at the same time and it feels like nothing has changed. Kim is 5 days over due for baby #1 at the time we went to press...


Preparing for the Scissor Sisters with Nathan and Alissa in the Queen St Mall at their cd signing!




Jake Shears, Ana Matronic, Babydaddy, Del Marquis and Paddy Boom kept us grooving like young hip things for hours!


With my sister Jessica on the family boat, brother Ben is driving...


Next stop on my world concert tour: WESTLIFE! 28th Feb!

Salamat Datang!

A great crew makes all the difference as Aristotle once said. I wasn't in briefing for 1 minute when I struck up a conversation with Grace from Ireland and we were thick as thieves for the whole trip! In fact everybody in economy was fantastic, as was the purser and SFS (no, they didn't pay me to write that!)

After sleeping straight after landing, we were up and at'em first thing. Petronas Towers (tallest set of two buildings in the world), the KL tower (4th tallest tower in the world) mixed with lunch, shopping and perfect weather made for an awesome day. I was off to Brisbane on Scissor Sisters-induced leave the next day and this was an excellent send off.

(above picture from left: Miroslava (Czech), Ian (Maltese), Mohammed (Egyptian), Grace (Irish) and me)


The Petronas Towers from the street below, and looking up to the KL Tower in the background

Views from the top of KL Tower
Every green light in KL is the start af a new drag race, so much fun to watch!

How many crew can you fit inside a refrigerated galley space? Evidently only four when Daniel's backside has to fit in there too!