Saturday, March 31, 2007

Bolton

My brother flew home from Dubai on my first flight back after leave. He drank so much Bailey's that we we ran out in economy! When we got home we went out for a meal with my friend Paul who is coming to Dubai in 2 weeks to visit, along with my mum. I stayed the night at our house in Bolton, which is about an hour's drive from Manchester airport. I am going back again for a week on 12 April for a week. Really looking forward to my best friend's birthday party.
Our house in Bolton.
My cat Molly. She still remembers who I am. :-)
The main road near our house.
Our street is on the left.
The row of shops near the house.
My brother Jaegen's car.

Jaegen driving. You can see that he's talking to me and not paying attention to the road. Maybe that's why he had a 'small bump' recently!
One of the streets in Bolton town centre.
The office where I worked in my first job as a travel agent.

My Australian Holiday

Just back from a fantastic 12 days in Perth with my brother. Managed to see most of the family and had a really good time. We hired a car for 5 of the days we were there. It's the first time I've driven in 5 months and it felt great! A big thank you to our Uncle Graham for picking us up and dropping us back at the airport, Aunty Maria who we changed plans with 4 times before staying with her for 2 nights and Aunty Judith who let us stay at short notice and took us out for a meal. Also thank you to our Nanna in Pinjarra for making us great pancakes as usual!
The first sighting of the Australian coast as we approached Perth.
The northern suburbs of Perth.
Landing at Perth airport.
The ferry over to Rottnest Island where we stayed with our Dad for 3 days.
L-R Michael (Dad), Liam (Brother), Debbie (Stepmum), Jaegen and me.
The Rottnest Island lighthouse. From where we saw...Great views of the whole island. You can see the airport, the settlement and the city of Perth (in the background) in this picture.
These animals that look like rats are called Quokkas. The island is full of them and they all come out at night.
My dad is a policeman on the island. This is his police jeep.
This beach is only accessible by jeep and the police are the only people on the island that have them. It was great as we had the whole beach to ourselves!
My hire car. It was a Nissan Tiida.
My friend Pierre was on a trip to Perth while we were there so we took him to a wildlife park to see Kangeroos. You can see him stood in the corner of the picture. Jaegen is in the centre of the Kangeroos.
Jaegen feeding a Kangeroo.
The bridge in Mandurah. We grew up in a small town nearby called Pinjarra.
L-R Nanna Sadie, Jaegen, Poppy and me.
The jetty in Busselton. We went down to Busselton to visit an old friend of mums. It is about a 3 hour drive south from Perth.
Jaegen and his favourite shop in Busselton.
Zippy's. The hairdressing salon that mum's friend Derren owns.

L-R Samantha (Cousin), Judith (Aunty), Jaegen, David (Cousin) and me.

My Brother's Visit To Dubai

On the 10th of March my brother came to visit me in Dubai. We did the Big Bus tour, Dubai Museum, Wild Wadi (the water park) and a desert safari. Below are the pictures.
My brother Jaegen and I on the top deck of the Big Bus.
Our tour guide on the Big Bus.
A view of the Sheikh Zayed Road area from the bus.
The entrance to Dubai's Gold Souk (market).
Us outside the Dubai Museum.
Me and a stuffed camel!
Jaegen and a fake lady selling fake fish.
You would think it would be quite easy to take a picture like this wouldn't you? Check out my brother's attempt of one of me below...
Bad isn't it! This is supposed to be a picture of me holding up one of the towers at the old Dubai Fort.
An Abra (water taxi) on the creek. It costs 1 Dirham (approx 15p or 33c Australian) to go from one side to the other.
The jeeps that we went on our desert safari in.
Going down a dune.
Another view.

Monday, March 26, 2007

April 07 Roster (Updated 25/04)

My roster for April:

01APR DUBAI - SHANGHAI
02APR SHANGHAI - DUBAI (ARR 03APR)
06APR DUBAI - ALEXANDRIA (EGYPT) - DUBAI
08APR DUBAI - BEIRUT (LEBANON) - DUBAI
10APR DUBAI - MALÉ (MALDIVES) - COLOMBO (SRI LANKA)
11APR COLOMBO - DUBAI
12APR LEAVE
13APR LEAVE
14APR LEAVE
15APR LEAVE
16APR LEAVE
17APR LEAVE
23APR DUBAI - PERTH
24APR PERTH - DUBAI (ARR 25APR)
29APR DUBAI - NAIROBI
30APR NAIROBI - DUBAI

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

My Small Bite Of The Big Apple

31 hours is just not enough time to explore the many sights of this amazing city. The evening of our arrival was spent catching up on sleep after the 14 hour non-stop flight to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport from Dubai. A double Bailey's was also taken to help ease the pain! It was up bright and early the next day to join 2 crew members from the flight for a great American diner breakfast and a whistlestop bus and ferry tour of NYC. The New Yorkers have gone security mad after that awful day in 2001. I had to pass through a metal detector to go up the Empire State Building and also to catch a ferry. I was nearly fully undressed at the airport trying to get through security there! Life in New York is way to fast for my liking. I found the New Yorkers very rude compared to the other Americans I have met on previous LA and Chicago trips. I must say that it's worth putting up with it all just to see the city. Hopefully another trip to the US will feature on April's roster!

My first glimpse of the Big Apple. Our hotel is in central Manhattan!

Ever wondered what a hotel lobby full of cabin crew suitcases looked like? Well now you know.

Claudia (England) and Ivan (Bulgaria) with our breakfast at the diner in Times Square.

The Empire State Building.

The entrance to the Empire State Building. Now I think it's time for a few 'views from the top'.
You can just about make out the Statue of Liberty in this one.
You can see Central Park in the background if you look closely.
And the Chrysler Building in this one.

The United Nations Head Office. The NYC Police hold Roll Call on the streets of Manhattan. Now a regular sight to help deter would-be terrorists. The Rockerfeller Center Ice Rink. As seen in many movies! They also put the New York Christmas tree up here. Times Square. The Triangle Building.
Ground Zero. Not really much to look at but it still makes you feel bad seeing it. Macy's. The world's biggest department store.
Madisson Square Garden. It's not square! Real New York City taxis! New York City Hall.
The Circle Line ferry which took us to... The Statue of Liberty. A lot smaller than she looks on TV! A view of New York from the Circle Line.