Today (13 May 2013) was our 41st wedding anniversary.
We left Canberra at on a Qantas flight at 1655hrs to fly to Sydney to catch our 2110hrs Emirates flight to Dubai. After checking in we headed for the Emirates Business Lounge. Although our Qantas flight was not part of our Emirates booking, we were still able to check in our luggage through to Dubai in Canberra. We were able to do this because of the recent tie up between Qantas and Emirates which enabled us to also use the Business class lounge in Canberra despite the fact that we were flying economy class from Canberra to Sydney. On arrival at the Sydney domestic terminal we were met by our chauffeur in a Holden Caprice which whisked us round to the International terminal. We then had about a 3 hour wait for our flight to Dubai.
Our Emirates A380 flight left on time at 2110hrs for the 14hr 30min flight. What a fabulous aircraft the A380 is. We chose our seats on the upper deck which was very quiet. The A380 certainly sets the standard in quietness. At the start of the flight it was so smooth you wouldn't know you were on an aircraft, so we settled down to watch a movie. Mick chose the recent release movie Django and Lyn watched Parental Guidance. At about 0130hrs we turned our seats into beds and settled down to sleep. Unfortunately the flight turned out to be more turbulent than expected and we both slept very little so by the time we arrived in Dubai at 6am (Dubai time) we were rather tired.
Inside Dubai airport terminal
Tuesday 14th May
Our chauffeur driven car was waiting for us on our arrival at Dubai Airport and transported us to our hotel , The Arabian Courtyard Hotel & Spa.
The Hotel was quite nice and we were on the 7th floor which had quite good views. Unfortunately we could see 3 mosques from our window and Mick jokingly said that they would strike up at 5am with the call to prayer. How prophetic was that as at 4.18am, loud singing started over amplified speakers for 5 minutes and then after a pause of 20 minutes away they went again. Mick was going to ring the police as he reckoned there must be laws against making all that noise at 4am. Lyn told him not to. In the evening Mick was thrilled to see dozens of Swifts (large swallow like birds with curved wings) soaring overhead and screeching above the hotel.
Luckily we were able to check in early and Lyn was in the shower by 7am whilst Mick was planning the days activities not wanting to waste any of our time in Dubai. Lyn on the other hand wanted to go to bed after her shower, but Mick organised a trip to Abu Dhabi and Lyn was over the moon about that as we both wanted to see Ferrari World.
Anyway, Mick arranged for a hire car to take us there and back which is a 170 kilometer trip each way which took about 1hr 45min. Although the speed limit on the multi lane roads were posted at 120kph many of the drivers including ours traveled at around 140kph. The driver sat in the underground car park for 3hrs while we visited this amazing venue which is a tribute to all things Ferrari and more. It is mega big and well worth the $85 each admission fee.
Ferrari Californian
Formula Rossa - The world's fastest Roller Coaster. My God do they shoot out down this track. You should hear the screams!
Our on return to Dubai Mick set about organising the following days program and Lyn hit the shower before dinner..
Wednesday 15th May
Today we were both up bright and early after a 10hr sleep and we felt refreshed and ready to go again. Shops and tours don't open/start before 10am so after breakfast we decided to catch the Big Red Bus Tour around Dubai. It is a hop on hop off system and cost 220AED each (there are about 3.5 AED's to the dollar. The highlight of the tour was the visit to the Burj Khalifa the tallest tower in the world. Mick had bought the tickets for the "At the Top" tour the previous day which cost 260AED. Lyn was somewhat apprehensive at the sight of this building as she suffers from vertigo. Mick held her hand in the lift as it soared the 124 floors into the sky which took less than 60 seconds. There is absolutely no sense of movement in the lift at all. The look on her face said it all, but once at the top when the lift doors opened she was in awe. The movement up and down was imperceptible except for the floor numbers passing by on the display.
The entrance to the Burj Khalifa is through a massive shopping centre called The Dubai Mall it has an enormous aquarium in the middle of the mall, plus a waterfall and a ice skating rink. It was huge and we walked for miles as it was 42 degrees outside but lovely and cool inside. When we left the mall we caught the Red bus down to the Dubai Creek (river) for a 1hr cruise on a Dhow (wooden boat). By this time it was 6pm and time to head home for a cool shower and a cuppa.
We had dinner in a lovely Chinese/Thai restaurant on the 1st floor of our hotel. The food was very very nice.
After dinner we went and hit the shops around our hotel just to see what goes on after dark. We soon found ourselves being dragged into shops by young men trying to sell us all sorts of things.
The Aquarium inside the Dubai Mall, a huge shopping complex
Us on top of the Burj Khalifa - the worlds tallest tower. There are slots in the glass so you can take good photos without the reflection. Lyn freaked out about Mick dropping the camera as he was hanging it out to take the vertical down shots!
The tower itself. Very difficult to get it all into one shot due to it being nearly a kilometre tall. The observation platform is on floor 124 and you are able to encircle the building some inside and some outside.
Thursday 16th May 2013
An airport shuttle bus and an Emirates Chauffeur car arrived at the hotel to take us to the airport this morning. Chauffeur cars for business class here are Volvo Station Wagons. We chose the Chauffeur drive car.and were at the airport in 15 minutes. The Dubai airport is amazing. We cannot imagine Australia building anything like that. In an extension to the terminal they have built 20 A380 bays so that 20 A380's can be parked at once. The business lounge is amazing. We had barely sat down when an immaculately dressed waitress came and asked us what we wanted. You name it, they've got it. And there are support people everywhere. Cleaners, collect rubbish before it hits the ground. Dubai is immaculately clean. No rubbish anywhere. No flies either. Australians are disgusting in their cleanliness compared to this place. Apparently Dubai is one of the safest cities in the world despite the wide range of nationalities here. All the drivers we have had have been either Indian or Pakistani whose families are still in their countries and they see them once a year.
Below, inside Dubai Airport.
Our A380 left Dubai on time and we had a very smooth flight all the way to London Heathrow. Lyn was not well on the flight and had a high fever accompanied with shivering. We arrived slightly early at 1810. We then spent a while getting through customs and answering all manner of questions then we were picked out for further questioning. They asked us if we intended working whilst there. They must be joking. There is no work anyway as it has all been taken by Eastern Europeans. I expect the population will vote to exit the EU when they hold a referendum.
Anyway there was quite a queue waiting for the Chauffeur car service so we had to wait about 30 minutes to get our transport which was a Mercedes people mover called a Viano.
We left the airport and very soon we were on the M25 circling London on the northern side. Of course it started pouring with rain (after all this is England) and the temperature was 12c. Anyway the driver took us to the wrong Premier Inn despite us telling him that it was opposite the Dagenham motor works so the trip took longer than expected. It took over an hour to arrive at the correct Premier Inn. I said to the driver that I had provided concise details of where we needed to go and all he had to do was enter the postcode into his GPS. He said that he doesn't very often use his GPS which kind of defeats the purpose of providing concise details to the Emirates booking system. In the UK they use commercial car hire companies unlike Dubai which has an Emirates car fleet.
The Premier Inn was a brand new facility and was very nice. They provided 30 minutes free WiFi a day so we had to type fast until we can get our "dongle".
Unfortunately Lyn had come down with a bad cold and wasn't feeling the best. We hoped it would clear up quickly as we have a busy schedule.
A380's as far as the eye can see
Air brakes. These things take some stopping
We spent 14 hours on this aircraft
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