Melbourne, Auckland

The direct flight to Melbourne was a lot more pleasant than I expected it to be. It is mostly full of Australians who are returning home after a holiday in Europe. First stop was a few hours in bed after the 14 hour flight. I then met my Uncle and he took me down to Geelong where my Auntie lives to have dinner. We had a really good night and I'm glad I got to see them both again. The next day we did a quick 2 hour hop over the Tasman Sea to New Zealand. I was really surprised by how many Koreans lived there. I went for a walk around the main shopping area in Auckland before catching a ferry over the harbour to a suburb that faces the city. The view is really nice at night when all the buildings are lit up. We had dinner in a small cafe and then went back to the hotel to sleep. Back in Melbourne the next day I went to the restaurant my Uncle works at and had lunch before flying back to Dubai that night.
Melbourne city.
The world famous Melbourne Cricket Ground which is across the road from the hotel.
The bay near Geelong.
We stay in one bedroom apartments which are in this building in Auckland.
Justine was doing the same trip as me but a day earlier. I managed to catch up with her for an hour after arriving in Auckland before she had to leave to go back to Melbourne.

The ferry that we took over to the suburb facing the city.
In the cafe I had lamb soup for dinner. It was great!
The view of Auckland city at night.
GPO, the restaurant where my Uncle works.
Uncle Glen in his kitchen at the restaurant.

August 07 Roster (Updated 10/08)

My roster for August:

04AUG DUBAI - DHAKA (BANGLADESH)
05AUG DHAKA - DUBAI
07AUG DUBAI - HAMBURG
08AUG HAMBURG - NEW YORK
09AUG NEW YORK - HAMBURG
11AUG HAMBURG - DUBAI
16AUG DUBAI - NEW YORK
17AUG NEW YORK - DUBAI (ARR 18AUG)
24AUG DUBAI - CASABLANCA (MOROCCO)
25AUG CASABLANCA - DUBAI (ARR 26AUG)
29AUG DUBAI - LONDON HEATHROW
30AUG LONDON HEATHROW - DUBAI (ARR 31AUG)

Hong Kong

Hong Kong was amazing. I've wanted to go there ever since I joined Emirates. The flight was really easy and the hotel was really nice. We arrived at night time so four of us decided to go out for some dinner. We went in a local place and had noodles and some meat. The next day we got up early to go and see the view from Victoria Peak. After negotiating the underground and finding the correct bus we made it to the top where we had McDonalds for breakfast. We took the famous peak tram to get down the mountain and back to the hotel where I had a little sleep before it was time to fly back to Dubai.
A Hong Kong street. L-R Cristina (Spain), Antonio (Paraguay) and Me.
The night market.
In the local restaurant. L-R Jaclyn (Philippines), Me, Cristina and Antonio.
The menu.
The noodles were tricky to eat!

The street just outside of Central station.
The view from the bus as we drove up Victoria Peak.
The view of Hong Kong city and Kowloon from the top of the Peak.
The ferry we caught from Hong Kong island to the mainland.
The economy crew on the way back to Dubai. L-R Jaclyn, Jie (Hong Kong), Antonio, Pui (Hong Kong), Me and Sarah (Belgium).

Anyone For Sushi?

I love the Japanese. They are by far the best passengers I've had yet. The long flight to Osaka was so nice because they listen to you, bring only a small bag onboard with only the bare essentials, are very polite and do not ask for anything. They even fold the end of the toilet paper into a triangle before they leave the lavatory! As the flight is over 11 hours from Dubai we also get to go downstairs into the crew rest compartment and sleep for 2 1/2 hours. This means that you're feeling fresh for the whole flight. Once we were in Japan we decided that we would take the train from Osaka to Kyoto to see all the old temples. Everything runs like clockwork in Japan and the train wasn't even a second late. I had some authentic sushi for lunch before heading back to the city to get a few hours sleep before the return flight. I'm now trying to recover from all that bowing!
Osaka from my room.
Looking the other way.

Japanese TV is strange!
An Osaka street at 6am.
People everywhere!
View from the train on the way to Kyoto.
A village we passed on the train.

The Golden Temple near Kyoto. It's worth US$7 million!
The local restaurant we had lunch in.
Lunch.
A Kyoto street.
More temples.

Me in front of a temple.
The temple's water spring.
Drinking from the spring.
The onboard sushi selection from Business Class.

Yes, I can use chopsticks!

My First Inaugural!

I was selected to be on the crew of Emirates' first flight on their newest route to Venice. We had a special briefing in Dubai to tell us which VIPs would be onboard and what to expect upon our arrival in Venice. When we got on the aircraft we were surprise to find that nearly everything was new. They had even put down new carpet that morning! The flight was great and myself and the other crew had a fun time looking after all the VIPs and other passengers. The hotel we stay at was really nice although it was 15 minutes away from the actual city. The whole crew met downstairs 30 minutes after we had arrived and we caught the bus into the city. Once there, we walked through all the little alleys and over hundreds of bridges. After having dinner in a pizzeria we walked to St Mark's Square and saw the Bridge of Sighs. The architecture in Venice is amazing and every building is different. Once we'd taken enough photos to fill 15 cameras we caught a boat back to the hotel. The return flight was only half full so the crew spent most of the time eating the Hagen Dazs icecream we had onboard! I have since received a letter from the Vice President of Cabin Crew thanking me for my work on the trip. It's so nice to be appreciated!
The crew on one of the many bridges we crossed that day.
St Mark's Square.
The view from St Mark's.
Can you spot the crew?
The inaugral Venice crew, L-R Back Row: Sara (Iran), Me, Valentina (Italy), Tracy (India), Sonja (Italy), Valerio (Italy), Alessandro (Italy), Marie-Claire (Scotland), Kirsten (Australia), Sally (Lebanon), Patrick (Lebanon). Front Row: First Officer Saeed Al-Maktoum (United Arab Emirates), Captain Flaminio Poltronieri (Italy), Feraz (England).

The view of the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge.
Me in front of the Basilica in St Mark's Square.
The Bridge of Sighs.