I lasted 11 days, and the winner of our little 'guessing game' has been notified. Thankyou to all who had a shot at it!

Crazy Hi-Jinx

To celebrate my reunion with Nicole and Dubai, we hit 'Double Deckers' last night, and bumped into an old friend of mine from Brisbane, Matthew. We used to work together in Myer and now he is in training college with good ol' Emirates.

Galley-vanting around

You may have heard I now live in Dubai (or DXB for airport-savvy folk.)

You also may not completely believe me based on the amount of time I have been back home in Brisbane of late.

I didn't take many pictures on this last little jaunt, mainly because I'm a blogging man these days, and I know my core die-hard fans are over seeing Brisbane pictures! I did have a great time once again, blessed with an excellent crew in economy to make the flying experience bearable. Nothing much to report on my passengers, except for the last sector of our journey on Wednesday night, from Singapore to Dubai. Iratxe and I discovered an unconscious woman in the toilet and had to treat her. She was 63 and spoke almost no English, but we managed to bring her back! I mean, HELLO! I have watched All Saints for a good 7 years! The upside of all of this was I got to sit in a passenger seat administering oxygen for four hours til we landed, which meant I didn't have to work! At one point I was so busy chatting away to the other girl sitting next to me that the poor old lady nearly suffocated - the oxygen almost ran out and she still had the mask sealed over her nose and mouth, but no harm done - nothing a few good weeks in intensive care won't fix!

I know how much you all love a good 'Daniel-on-the-aircraft' picture, so I've included a few from this trip.

Enjoy! or as they say in Russian - насладитесь


with Amber from Holland (preparing a beverage/cocktail cart for the dinner service)


Special Meal time in the aft galley (damn all you vegans, children and lactose intolerants!)


My first-class economy team (oh the aviation humour - when will it end?) L-R: Iratxe (Spain), myself, Amber, Nichole (Australia), Sleiman (Lebanon), Tareq (Bahrain) and Min (Korea)

12 hours and 45 minutes in Paradise

I am never complaining about my job again! It may have been short but it was oh so sweet! Mauritius has always been very high on my must-see list for the world, and on Saturday I was able to fulfill that dream of mine. After no sleep during the day, pick up from my apartment was at 12.30 am for a 2.55am departure... The one good thing about this was that the passengers slept the whole way and I go to sleep as well (3 hours in the back row - don't tell my boss!!)

We arrived in beautiful Mauritius (located off the east coast of South Africa on the other side of Madagascar) at around 10am and by 11 we were settled into our beachside hotel rooms. By 12 we had organised a 3-hour boat tour to a waterfall, with drinks, snacks and snorkelling included (for the equivalent of $30!) What a day! To be in your messy bedroom in Dubai at midnight, then be on the front of a speed boat on crystal clear turquoise water in Mauritius a few hours later is quite surreal.

We drove by one particular island and saw this mammoth tortoise grazing by the edge - amazing!!! Snorkelling was a real treat. The fish were everywhere, swimming all around us, all colours and types. Thankfully no sharks! In the distance you could see massive surf breaking over the reef. The temperature was around 28, with no clouds where we were. Jealous yet?!

When we returned to the hotel around 3pm it was time for a fresh seafood lunch. Unfortunately no alcohol allowed (one can't drink less than 12 hours before a flight - one girl last year was fired for having a glass of wine by the pool in Mauritius for this reason.) Then back to my room for 3 hours rest before I had to get dressed to fly back to Dubai.

At 12 hours and 45 minutes, it's the shortest layover the company offers, but we really felt we made the most of it. I will definitely be bidding for this flight in the future! I really hope you like the pictures.

Daniel


The view from my hotel room


Not bad for Emirates accommodation!






Before we set sail - with Yolande (South African)




Yolande...


Paradise! Click on the picture to enlarge it - you can see the surf in the distance.


The hard life...














My friend, Zaf. He's South African and works in business with Yolande.


The small reef where we snorkelled and fed the fish.




What a good look!


When I turned around and saw this tortoise, I believe my words were "HOLY F%$#!" It was enormous, hard to see in the picture.




This is someone's house. It is out of my understanding how good it would be to live here, waking up to this view each day...

4 days to go, can I make it?!!!!!

I don't smoke, I'm not a drug addict, so what have I given up, and how long will I last? My goal is eleven days. Could it be chocolate? Television? Picking my nose?!!! SEVEN DAYS DOWN and my defences are starting to crumble - but I have not yet caved!

Whoever guesses wins! Leave your guesses in the comments section. I'll update every other day with my progress :) And I'll really find out who reads this blog!!!

CLICK ON THE COMMENTS LINK BELOW AND HAVE CRACK AT IT...

Coming Up for the rest of May:

17th - Standby from 5am to 5pm
18th - Reserve (can be used and abused for any flight)
20th - MAURITIUS
24th-25th - SINGAPORE
26th-30th - BRISBANE
1st-2nd - SINGAPORE

39 degrees and rising

It has been a hectic few days since I've been back! What with going out to dinner and and going to water-based theme parks there has hardly been any 'me' time ;)

Thought I'd throw in a couple of photos...

Also EMILY KATE WATSON take note: while every member of the Watson family is featured in the previous blog EXCEPT for you, take heart in the knowledge that you are the face I see on my mobile phone desktop every day!!!! (don't you think that's better?!)



Dinner at Long's Bar on my first night back in Dubai on Monday night. These are some of my best freinds here. From L-R: Patrick (Ireland), Lara (Northern Ireland), Caio (Australia/Brazil - Franck's boyfriend), Franck (Aus/France - my housemate), Nicole and myself



A little old Japanese lady tackled the surfing wave at Wild Wadi - a better effort than me, that's for sure!

We here at the GrindStone wish to welcome you back Mr Watson.... Enjoy your stay!

Time to get excited by the blog again! I am finally back in Dubai for the long haul after my 3-week holiday and then 9-day working trip to Brisbane and Singapore. It actually feels really good to be back - better than I thought it would. Dubai is sweltering at the moment and it's only going to get worse. Today it's sunny, a little hazy, and a cool 39 degrees!! Hits you nice and hard when you go outside! Nicole and I are going to Wild Wadi Water Park today (it's like Wet n Wild) and apparently its only 25dhs or $9 for Emirates Crew to go there so we'll soon see.... I have a couple of days off now, and on Friday I'm going to either Rome or Osaka, probably Rome. The rest of my roster is a little up in the air (no pun intended) but I do know that I am doing the Brisbane flight again from May 24 to June 1 (I'll be in Brisbane from the 26th to the 30th).

Thought I'd share some pictures of my trip. I was joined on my Singapore/Brisbane trip by friend Chantal from Malta, so she features in a lot of the photos.

I'll also be updating a lot more often from now on, just like in the old days! Enjoy, and PLEASE feel free to post a comment or two.



Hanging out with Beetle



My Dad and I on my last night in Geelong



My evening of posing with family members continues! Deb, my lovely WSM



AND NOW FOR PICTURES TAKEN DURING THE 2nd PART OF MY TRIP, WHILE I WAS "WORKING"



The view of Singapore from my hotel room at the Carlton. It was taken around 5pm during a rain storm.



By the creek in Singapore where we had dinner on our first night



Chantal opposite moi at dinner



Chantal and I getting ready to do the bungy bullet ride at Singapore (right after dinner!) I am extremely nervous at this point!



And UP we go!



On the beach at Surfers Paradise with Chantal last Friday



Dinner with the crew in Brisbane's Sofitel... Joining us were my friends Mitch, Paul and Drew

Daniel's back!

Welcome to the new-look blog! I have just arrived back home here in Dubai after 19 days of joy and merriment in Brisbane, Caloundra and Geelong - it was the most fun, relaxing and enjoyable holiday I have ever had! Tomorrow morning I aim to keep the dream alive a little longer with my day back on the job taking me where else but BRISBANE again!

I have received my roster for the month of May but will hold off publishing it here as there are many changes still to be made to it. What I do know for sure is that on 24th of May I leave once again for another Singapore/Brisbane trip, so very excited about that - it feels like I've never left home!

I am looking at swapping a few flights around so I can get myself to Melbourne, Auckland, Perth, Mauritius and Osaka.....

Will let you all know as soon as I know :)

Daniel

So what does Dubai look like?

UP Tower, where I live



The view of Sheikh Zayed Road (my street) from the pool



A famous Dubai landmark - Emirates Towers - next door to my building



The building on the right will become BURJ DUBAI (Arabic for Dubai Tower) the tallest building in the world at 800metres, due to be finished in 2008 - check out www.burjdubai.com (this building will be monumental!) The site is on Sheikh Zayed Rd, about one kilometre from UP Tower.



A streetside view of Sheikh Zayed Rd at night time - for many, it's the clubbing and dining epicentre of Dubai

From Athens to Kuwait, and every disco I get in...

Hey! Just about to get on the plane and fly home! Cannot wait for the next 3-4 weeks!!!! Have been very busy flying this past week so I apologise for the delay in getting some new pics up... these are from my trip to Athens last week (April 2-4) In the last few days I have been on two 'turnarounds' (same day flights) to Kuwait and Alexandria in Egypt flying on Emirates' pride and joy, the Airbus 310! This aircraft, the only one of its kind left in the fleet, is ANCIENT!!! It makes noises on take off and landing that remind you of the opening scenes of LOST! And just walking around the cabin you find loose pieces of plastic that have fallen off somewhere, if only you knew where! Not everyone in the company is special enough to work on the old beast, but my training batch was picked - so every month for the next year I get a couple of 310 flights. Can't wait! Hope you like the pictures!




A small church in one of the town squares.... and me in the door



Outside the Acropolis with Zoe (Scotland) - a fellow economy slave :)



The freaky guards at Parliament House - who knew netball skirts and pom-poms on shoes could look so bad on a man?!!!