I am back!

Well, after a length absence, and for that I do apologise, I am now back with loads to write about.

Firstly, Christmas has been and gone - hopefully you all had a really good one! Actually, returning from our Australian trip at the beginning of December meant I was not wound up in the pre Christmas frenzy. It actually took us at least a full week plus to get back to normal sleep patterns etc. What a long journey that was.

I will be writing about the Australian adventure, the travelling etc but will be breaking it up into modules as we went for 3 weeks.

So, Terry and I got ourselves to Gatwick to catch the Emirates flight to Dubai, our first transit stop, which was due to leave around 8pm. We had had a full day getting packed and all the last minutes things that always need doing. Taking off at the time of the evening meant that after a drink, a meal, it would be more natural to sleep a couple of hours or so before our descent. Unfortunately, the seats were pretty cramped but we did catnap. So, at the end of the 6.5 hours we landed in Dubai. I did not bother changing my watch although I knew it was about 7am.

We were huddled off the aircraft into the waiting buses to transport us to the terminal where we were to contect with the flight travelling direct to Sydney.... only 13.5 hours!!!!! It was exciting to look around at Dubai as it had been around 25 years since we had spent any time in the Middle East. We both used to live and work in various countries in the Middle East.

The terminal was incredible! Huge and jam packed full of passengers of every nationality imaginable. Many had been waiting for their flights for considerable times so were laid out on the floor, children crying, fractious parents and others trying to spot the bargain on the gold counter.... there were none!

Soon it was time for the tannoy to announce the departure of our flight to Sydney. Looking around there appeared to be many couples, like ourselves, going out there to visit family.

As we got on the bus we knew this was getting closer to our adventure which was due to start on our first visit to Australia. Next time I will continue with the story of our fabulous journey. Meanwhile here is a picture of our take off from Dubai International Airport.