Dubai Visitors

My friends Jo and Paul have just been for a visit. I used to live with them in Castle Donington (near Nottingham) for 6 months before I moved to Dubai. While they were here I managed to do a few things for the first time. Riding on an abra (water taxi), using my building's jacuzzi & steam room and having brunch at the JW Marriott were just a few of them. I had a great time and I'm sure they did too.
Riding on the abra across Dubai creek.
The view up the creek.
On the double rings at Wild Wadi waterpark with Kevin.
Jo and I infront of the jeep we had on the desert safari.
Me, Paul and Jo in the desert.

Jo and Paul running from a jeep that was coming straight towards them!
The group of jeeps.
Me on a quadbike.
Us in local dress.
Jo's henna tattoo.

Around The World In 80 Hours

Over the last 4 days I have been in the USA, Australia, South Africa and the UAE. It began in New York and it ended there too. I was working on the 2 New York trips and in between I made a visit to Perth to see my Nanna for her birthday and also to see my Dad's new house, then I flew over to Johannesburg to have lunch with my friend Justine and her family.
Outside my favourite store in New York, Abercrombie & Fitch, with Thanlwin (Myanmar) and Georgina (England).
The Apple store.
A few photos from Central Park.

Nanna & Grandad under the road bridge in Pinjarra, the town where I grew up.
Dad's new house in Boddington.
Dad is the police sergeant who runs this police station.

My stepmum, brother and Dad next to his police vehicles.
Justine making breakfast in her kitchen.
Justine's family with myself and our friend Nick (New Zealand).

With Adam (Australia) and Kristen (Australia) on my second New York trip of the month.

"Newcastle Like"

I managed to swap onto this Newcastle trip from a Johannesburg one. As this route was only launched on the 1st of September the flights both ways were still only half full. Our day started out by visiting the Metrocentre (billed as Europe's largest shopping centre but personally I don't think so) which is just across the road from our hotel. We shopped for an hour before going back to the hotel to watch a bit of TV (British TV is the best in the world!). In the evening we went into central Newcastle to have a meal and visit some pubs. Due to the fact that it was a very early start that day I was feeling tired so went back to the hotel sooner than I normally would. The return flight was as nice as the outbound one. Now I've got four days off to prepare for my next New York trip.
The hotel where we stay.

The view from my window.
The funpark which is inside the Metrocentre. They even have a rollercoaster in there!
You can just make out the Tyne bridge behind me.
Georgina (England) and Claire (England) were both really excited about the name of this pub!
The pub food we had was great. L-R Captain Paul (England), Georgina, Claire and Me.

October 07 Roster (Updated 30/09)

My roster for October:

02OCT DUBAI - NEWCASTLE
03OCT NEWCASTLE - DUBAI (ARR 04OCT)
08OCT DUBAI - NEW YORK
09OCT NEW YORK - DUBAI (ARR 10OCT)
17OCT DUBAI - NEW YORK
18OCT NEW YORK - DUBAI (ARR 19OCT)
24OCT DUBAI - ACCRA (GHANA)
25OCT ACCRA - ABIDJAN (CÔTE D'IVOIRE) - ACCRA
26OCT ACCRA - DUBAI (27OCT)
29OCT DUBAI - LONDON HEATHROW
30OCT LONDON HEATHROW - DUBAI

Najm (Star In Arabic)

I received a call from my manager's secretary yesterday asking me to come in to see my manager but she wouldn't tell me why. I went to the office today and was given this award!

Orlando Holiday

I have just returned from one of the best holidays I've had. In July I was on a London trip when I met up with some of my friends from bmi. They were talking about the holiday and said I could come if I wanted to. As soon as I returned to Dubai I booked the flights using my frequent flyer miles. The best part was that I had enough in my account to fly in First Class! I flew out to Orlando on the 7th of September via Frankfurt and New York. I had timed my arrival in Orlando so that we would all be landing at the airport at the same time. Everything went to plan and I met them all at the carousel whilst they were waiting to collect their bags. The reason for our visit was so that we could see all of the theme parks there. We went to Disney's Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios, Busch Gardens, Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Waterpark, Universal's Islands Of Adventure, Disneyworld and Seaworld. All the parks were great but I enjoyed Islands Of Adventure the most. We ate out nearly every day. My favourite meals were the diner breakfasts. After 12 days of fun it was time to fly back to Dubai. I left 2 hours before my friends and travelled back via Washington and Frankfurt to Dubai. It was a great holiday and one I won't be forgetting for a long time.
The view from my Business Class seat on Singapore Airlines between Frankfurt and New York. I was sat on the upper deck of a Boeing 747-400.
Our villa and hire car.
My bedroom in the villa.
The villa even had it's own pool!
The group I went to Orlando with. L-R Scott, Kate, Alex, Nat, Chris and Me.

Us infront of Mount Everest at Animal Kingdom.
The guys infront of the entrance.
I have my own department store in the USA!
The globe outside Universal Studios.
Us having a diner breakfast. This one was in an IHOP (International House Of Pancakes). The pancakes were good but nowhere near as nice as the ones that my Nanna makes!

Me and Kate under some of the signs in Universal Studios.
Mini Golf was great in Orlando. This one was pirate themed. I came 4th!
Having dinner in TGI Friday's.
The Disney sign.
The Disney castle.

Shamu the whale at Seaworld.
Planet Hollywood in Downtown Disney. We had the best meal of the holiday there.
SheiKra at Busch Gardens. The only ride that I was scared of, I still went on it though. Never again!
Kate and I loved the back seat of the minivan. It reclined into a bed. This was taken when we were both fast asleep on the way back from Busch Gardens in Tampa.
We ordered Chinese on our second last night. It was great.

The beach on our last day. The water was nice and warm.This photo was taken before we went out for our last meal.
Somewhere over Washington on my way back home.
The Lufthansa First Class Terminal in Frankfurt. It was amazing!
My First Class seat on Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Dubai.

Glasgow

I have been to Glasgow many times before with my last airline so I wasn't expecting to see anything new. The flight was pretty much the same as the ones to Manchester or Birmingham are, lots of callbells and lots of people drinking. I had a nice crew which made the flight fun. I met my friend Kevin in Glasgow and we spend the evening at a friend's house. The next morning I got up late so I only had time for a quick trip into Glasgow for breakfast and then back to the hotel for the return flight. When we arrived back at the airport it was a nice surprise to find that the aircraft had been changed for a smaller one. This meant that we had 100 less passengers! :-)
The motorway on the way to the hotel.
More motorway.
A museum we passed on the bus.
A busy Glasgow street heading for the centre of the city.
Glasgow's Central Station.