Jono Comes to Dubai

Having visited Jono in London last month, I was very excited that he was so close to Dubai - well he was half the distance closer to me than Brisbane is, so that was worth getting peppy about!

He was headed home after two weeks in London, so I decided to wreak havoc on his travel plans and insisted that he ditch his ticket via Kuala Lumpur with Malaysian and get on the next Emirates flight to Dubai, stay nine days with me and then fly together to Brissie for the second half of my leave.

The roster gods smiled on me this past month, and I was lucky enough to get some days off and only short flights before my leave and then 5 more days off after! So with Jono's travel plans all organised, we waited anxiously for the two weeks to pass and then all of a sudden I was picking Jono up from the airport! I was so excited I could squeal - eeeiiiihhhh!!!! I introduced him to Ash, settled him into his new home for the next nine days and then dragged him out for dinner at one of my favourite little places down the road. The next day we borrowed a mate's MASSIVE range rover and drove out into the desert to do some quad biking and it was the most fun I've had in ages! It must have been 40 degrees outside and a little windy, but we got all kitted out in our helmets and cheap nike gloves (15 dizzas a pop impulse purchases) and roared off into the sunset. Nah, just kidding, the boys roared off but Ash and I putted around for a little while getting our bearings and then were ripping it up. Ash's friend Georgie was staying with us for a few days as well, so with 5 of us (also a friend of Dan's) tearing around, we had a great time. We payed for half an hour, but seemed to get about 45 minutes out of it - more roaring time!

I'm not ashamed to say I got bogged.....a few times. Well not bogged, because that would imply wetness to get stuck in, but I got wedged a few times on the side of a sand dune and must have looked hilarious clinging to my bike with all my might!

Other outings included another trip to the Aquarium (which delivered not one, but TWO cold sticky date puddings to Jena), the Burj, a desert safari, numerous restaurants and heaps of shopping. Not to mention the great dinner we had at Sevilles on our last night and drank so much sangria it was no surprise I packed completely inappropriately for Brisbane and wound up with about two dozen singlets and 6 pairs of shoes I didn't put on once during the two weeks I was home!!!

We walked outside to wait for our four wheeler and were slightly dismayed to find there was a sand storm going on out there! It was very hot, very windy and VERY sandy! Before we'd even left we had sand in our ears, our eyes and our hair. Lucky I wasn't wearing lip gloss, or I'd have had an impromptu exfoliation. Our fellow passengers were four of the most ancient Kenyan people I've ever seen and after the first five minutes of dune bashing, they were like "ok, enough fast driving". Ha ha, AS IF. The driver turned to look at them, amused, and said "safari has not started yet"! Well, the two ladies spent the whole time with their eyes squeezed tightly shut and one of the men had his hand clamped on Jon's knee - as if that would steady him.



After a quick, jolting ride on camels that smelt like poo, we went inside to have a seat.....in the sand storm. Some yummy little treats were passed around by the drivers, who are the organisers of the safari and we had a cup of tea and then tried on the traditional Arabic clothes - white "dish dash" dress for the blokes and the black abaya for the ladies. Jon was very compelling dressed as an Arab, with a brooding stare and closed mouth. When it came to my turn to try on the abaya I noticed one of the drivers looking at me rather strangely. In the last month, I have dyed my hair very dark, almost black, and am often asked by passengers exactly where I'm from - I've had Italian, Spanish (my favourite!), Greek, Lebanese, and nondescript middle eastern. This always amuses me, as I'm so WHITE & FRECKLY, but anyway. When he was helping me with the head dress, he asked where I was from. I answered Australian and he looked confused. He said "dark eyes, dark hair, white skin......verrrrrry beautiful!" Apparently when covered, my eyes look like a local woman. Jon thought this was hilarious, as the guy kept saying it and in the end said "your wife?" to Jon, who stammered out "y-y-yes", worried we'd be thrown in jail if it came out that we weren't married. He kept murmuring it, and then said "verrrry lucky man". We were almost wetting ourselves laughing and had to leave before it got really uncomfortable.



Finally it was time to eat. We gorged ourselves on hommous, tabbouleh, kebabs, arabic bread, chicken and all sorts of yummy food. Belly dancing followed soon after, so with our last minute, still wet tattoos, we joined the crowd watching the dancer. She was beautiful, with jangling coins sewn onto her costume and she jingled and jangled in such fluid movement it was hard to take our eyes off her. We both noticed a burning sensation where our tattoos were, Jon's big don't-mess-with-me scorpion and my pretty flowery design. After watching Jon get dragged up to dance and filming the whole scene, I decided the pain was too much to bear and rushed to the toilet to wipe the henna off. It smelt like paint thinner, so no doubt it was dodgy stuff. I looked like I had sepsis - all the skin around the henna was bright red and angry. By the time I had washed it all off and returned to the dancing, I'd missed the bit where all the ladies were dragged up to dance. Such a shame! I'm not one for public dancing especially if I know I'm NOT able to do the moves. I swore the reason for my absence was the tattoo, but Jon thinks it was because I didn't want to dance.....I still deny it!

Carrying on from my trip to Johannesburg, we had an unforgettable steak night in my apartment. Along with the pretty flowers I dragged home from Joburg, I also had bacon and some massive juicy steaks too! The highlight of any Joburg flight is the steak we gorge on for dinner, so I thought if I can't take Jono to Joburg, I'd bring Joburg to Jono! We whipped up a delish salad (full of green stuff Mum!), dug out some yummy honey mustard and smoked the apartment out with steak smell! It was absolutely gorgeous, we sad at the table, stuffing our faces, mumbling around mouthfuls how good it was....and then sat on the couch for the next few hours with big full bellies.

During the week Jon was here we had numerous feasts on hommous and halloumi from the Lebanese restaurant downstairs. They make THE BEST grilled halloumi in Dubai and I swear I put on about 4kg in that week alone from halloumi intake! We also visited Sidra, the Lebanese restaurant where Jena and I almost bought the cat home from and ordered and ate up a storm! We completely demolished the food and Jon was raving about it for days, that's how good it is.



It was fantastic to have someone from home staying with me in Dubai. And not just anyone - JONO!! I'm sure to our friends at home, our lives here sound rather outrageous and strange, so for one of my nearest and dearest to experience Dubai with me was very special. I was able to explain all the things I've been rambling about for the last two years and introduce Jon to the girls and drag him to the major landmarks.



Top cap off the first half our our holiday, we celebrated with a few too many jugs of sangria at Sevilles. There were photos galore and then a session of "who's hands do mine fit into?" downstairs at Planet Hollywood in the hand moulds. Needless to say, I was pretty written off and sporting a rather seedy hangover the next day - a wonderful start to the second half of our holiday!!!

A week goes by.....

Right, so since my trip to London to see Jono, where I was in charge of the galley both ways (which made my trip much more pleasant, believe me!) lots has happened. In fact, this past fortnight has been jam packed with adventures!

My next trip was Johannesburg and what a trip it was. Renowned for being boozehounds from hell, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they all slept and didn't bother us much at all, leaving us free to guzzle the excess strawberries in the bulk food cart! I think their sedateness had something to do with the absolutely revolting take off time of 4.45am. No one human, or evidently a boozehound from hell can be bothered to cause drama at such an ungodly hour.

We finally landed in Joburg and found that the airport has been refurbished. Kind of. The luggage collection area is THE most disorganised part of any airport in the whole wide world that I've had the displeasure of standing in. We had to pretty much shove our way through the throng of trolleys, people, strewn aside bags and then were acosted by a customs lady with a sniffer dog who looked just as unsure of her job as were looked picking our way through the mess to our bags. The dog sniffed out some cheese in one of the crew's suitcases so we had to wait until that was removed and 'declared' and confiscated and then we were good to go.



I was saddened to hear recently that our hotel has been changed in Joburg and we're no longer at the Hilton, but at the Casino. The Hilton was right across from a restaurant called The Bull Run and it was there that I tasted the BEST steak of my life. I routinely order the same thing, so was confused as to what my belly would recieve for dinner that night. I needn't have worried. The casino hotel was GORGEOUS, made of massive big old blocks of stone and looked like a castle. It had a theatre attached to it, which shows The Lion King on stage every day EXCEPT for Monday - no guesses for what day I was there. There were restaurants galore inside and we found The Meat Company (Bull Run equivalent) and set about quickly ordering a feast fit for a king.



I launched an assault on the supermarket across the road and loaded up on so much food that I way over-spent my allowance and had to credit card half of it! I stocked up on spicy meat rubs of all flavours, fresh bread, flowers, salad dressings, lollies, chips, vanilla fudge and all sorts of goodies. I staggered back to the hotel and set about trying to pack my loot into my inadequately sized suitcase. In the daylight, I must admit my room looked rather odd - the bathroom is IN the bedroom, at the end of the bed and the phone was shaped like a bright red pair of lips! Ultra modern and absolutely not my idea of a nicely designed room. It was like staying in a shoebox compelte with a built in shower!



I was also pondering how to transport my pretty pink and purple flowers back to Dubai without either killing or squashing them. We're not allowed to carry extra bags with our uniforms, so I conned one of the guys into letting me strategically place the flowers inside his service jacket holder and we were good to go. The flowers ended up in the chiller in a teapot of water and were looking very peppy by the time we landed!!

When I arrived home, I met Patsy, Ash's Mum who'd come to help us celebrate Ash's 28th birthday. I hadn't met Patsy before, so off we went to the hairdresser and did a spot of shopping for an outfit to wear to Ash's birthday brunch a few days later.

Our new hairdresser is RAVE WORTHY, so I'll rave about them. Salon Ink is located near the Rashid Hospital and is fantastic. Run by two Aussie girls, Kelly and Sharon, they know exactly what they're on about and they have "the vision". Patsy walked out with a gorgeous all over colour and foils in a few different colours, and I with shiny black hair full of goregous bouncy curls. Jennifer, who also works there does an awesome head massage and it's well worth going just to get your hair washed to get that massage!

The salon is massive, full of natural light and black leather chairs. They use schwartzkopf products and the service was excellent! It was so refreshing to go into a salon and tell them what you want and rest asured that you'd come out looking like what you had in mind, rather than be fearful that all your hair would be hacked off and you'd come out looking like that strange organge/blue haired girl from Notting Hill.

My next assignment:
seek out and buy the Babyliss Pro Ceramic Curling Wand (1/4 inch barrel) Kelly used on my hair!!

Cockney Poser Geezer In'it

The weather forecast for London while I was there two days ago? CRAP - cold, rainy and windy.

The weather today while I wasn't in London? GORGEOUS - summer sunshine that prompted walks among the flowers.

I am jealous.

Jon - of mangoes taste like sunshine fame - is in London after a 6 week stint in an American summer camp in upstate New York and I swapped a Munich for our most disastrous London flight, the dreaded EK 001 to see him.

Jon was born in England, and spent the first twelve years of his life in a gorgeous little place called Epsom, in the county of Surrey (did I get that right Jon?) before moving to sunny Australia and tasting his first mango. His last trip back to London was 6 years ago, so it was very special that he took me to see his old stomping ground while I was there. Who ever would have thought that someone from his Australian life would be in London at the same time as him and get to step into his English life??

He met me in the hotel and we set off for a trip down memory lane. I'm glad I took Flip's advice
and packed my thick white coat in preparation for the hideous weather that awaited me. Last month I had on a light jumper and was hot, but it can all change in the blink of an eye in London - much like my beloved Melbourne.

Jon had told me that to get there, we had to catch the tube to Waterloo and then get an overland train out to Epsom. Well, my navigationally challenged brain malfunctioned and I thought he'd said we had to go to Liverpool to catch the overland, which spawned a serious of irrational and rather confusing emails to Jon about how Flip said that Liverpool was north and that it was going to be one looong trip if we had to go that way. He laughed at my stupidity and wondered aloud how I manage to navigate the train systems of the world ALONE without getting completely lost. Pot luck I imagine!



We arrived in Epsom and wandered the streets until we came across Jon's old street and then his house. His dad built the stone fence when he was a youngster and he showed me where he and his brother and sister used to ride their bikes and where their friends lived. I think we stood outside his house for so long that we freaked out the current owner, as he kept peering out of the garage suspiciously at us.



I came across my first real life holly tree and was so excited! Not being Christmas time, there were no red berries, but it's prickly leaves were so beautiful. There were gorgeous country style gardens in the yards we passed and little cottage-like houses that made me wish I could live in a cute little English house on a cute little English street in a cute little English suburb.



We went to meet some of Jon' s family friends who still live in the street, and their children, who used to play with Jon when he was younger. We had a very English cup of tea and had a chat for a few hours and then headed back to the city. If possible, it was even colder and rainier and windier, but it was a lovely outing and well worth it.

We snacked on some pastries from the train station and I've just figured out that's why we probably felt rather sick the next day. Pastries with meat in them are best not consumed from a train station at 11pm!

We said our goodbyes as the crew were heading out to the bus and will see each other again when Jon stops in Dubai for a 9 day holiday on his way home to Brissie. I'm already making a list of all the things we can do while he's here, and I think a stint at both The Aquarium and our new little place Al Nasr LeisureLand are in order!

Al Nasr LeisureLand

I rolled out of bed today at about 11am and was invited by my mate Chiara to go ice skating. Now, the last time I saw Chiara, she was fresh off the ice with Jena and we met for dinner and they both couldn't stop raving about skating. I accepted her offer immediately and we set out for the rink which is located in Al Nasr Leisureland.

Before all your imaginations run wild with images of state of the art theme parks, think created in the late 70s and firmly stuck there! There are dodgem car rides, the most ancient roller coaster you're EVER likely to see, a gym, a bowling alley and a very old school cafeteria and toy stand. We were going to have a ride on the roller coaster, but were informed something was wrong with it's tracks and it wasn't running today. I was silently relieved, as suffering bodily injury wasn't really on my to-do list today!

Slightly dingy, the rink boasts an Olympic sized floor, complete with ice hockey markings. We were told rather rudely by a Russian instructor to "move out of zee circles pleaze", as we were clearly interrupting the progress of the next world class skater. She was wearing a Tinkerbell skirt with stockings for goodness sake!

There was an interesting collection of people on the ice - from fearless children to fully abaya-clad women. After a few minutes we were all fairly confident and were gliding around without too much trouble. We're even thinking of investing our hard earned dizzas into some lessons, so we'll be whizzing around the rink like the stars of our very own Blades of Glory.

All in a day's down-time really!

Front Row with the Fish

Now that I'm in business class, the endless streams of days off in Dubai are over. We're worked to the bone, usually only get our minimum 8 days off a month and spend those days sleeping, madly catching up with friends and facebooking. Needless to say, I've not had much spare time this month, but have managed to fit some exciting outings into my week around the hours of time spent on the couch logged in to facebook.



A few months ago, Ash and I bought a book about eating out in Dubai, listing all the great restaurants. A few weeks ago, she took our friend Nat to The Aquarium, which is located on the creek at the golf club and after reading her blog about it, and hearing her rave reviews I decided to take my beautiful friends Ange and Katja there last night.



I arrived shortly before the girls and was seated on a gorgeous white leather lounge with a beautiful view of the creek. The restaurant gets its name from the massive floor-to-ceiling fish tank/aquarium that sits smack in the middle of the room. It has a gigantic piece of coral in it and is home to what looked like hundreds of the prettiest fish of all colours. There were angel fish, pink fish, zebra fish, yellow fish, black fish and more!



We were seated right next to the tank and spent the evening eyeballing the fish and taking so many pictures of them frolicking that our memory sticks were full!



The food was delicious, the wine was chilled to perfection and while my sticky date pudding was COLD, it was still yummy. There was a huge open plan kitchen with so many chefs doing nothing it made us wonder what took our meals so long! I guess restaurants just like to make us wait. Suspense or something - the hungrier you are by the time you get your food, the more dessert and coffee you're more likely to order perhaps? With its dimly lit tables, quiet ambiance and very relaxing fish tank, we were all feeling rather dozy after our dinner & drinks and decided an early night was in order.

From Russia With Love

Where in the world can you buy authentic Russian vodka for less than the price of a punnet of strawberries?

Moscow of course!

I’ve been working hard to get a Moscow for the past year and a half but can’t seem to score one on my roster and can never persuade anyone to swap with me. Now that I’m working in business class, it’s even harder to swap, because duty free commission is highly coveted. Imagine my surprise when one popped up on my roster! I was even more surprised when we were in briefing picking positions and I ended up scoring duty free! On BOTH sectors! Woo hoo I said – we had a total of 21 passengers there, and only 11 on the way back. I didn’t make the millions I had hoped to, but a few hundred $$$ commission is better than nothing.

I’d hoped for a trip in winter, so I could see some snow, as I’ve never had a trip with work where I’ve seen snow. However, I wouldn’t wish a Moscow in the dead of winter on my worst enemy – it gets as ridiculously cold as something like –30 degrees! As if I’d sign up for that, and AS IF anyone could give that away in winter!

The bus ride from the airport to the hotel is always a minimum of 1 hour and depending on traffic, can stretch out to 2 hours. We were all warned to go to the loo before disembarking, and after having our passports stamped rather violently we set off. The landscape was quite pretty, very green and deeply wooded. It reminded me of Dusseldorf, with all the forestry. We drove past a river where people were sun baking and swimming and also past a massive public apple orchard. Apple trees covered in ripe green apples stretched for miles! I was tempted to jump ship and run through the rows of trees like the couple in the tv adds for Victorian vineyards!

It was a muggy 33 degrees and the hotel felt like it’s central heating was on! We scoffed down some of the packets of gummy bears on the counter in the foyer, did a quick outfit change in a our rooms and came down to catch the free shuttle bus into town to visit the red square. The 11 seater bus was full, so we occupied ourselves for an hour at the beautiful outdoor restaurant drinking beer and eating fries.

Once settled on the bus, we made our way through the streets and I quickly realised that there wasn’t a word of English to be seen ANYWHERE. I had to find a money changer and was worried about signage, but there was a massive neon sign displaying dollar and euro symbols. With my US dollars changed to Russian rubles, off we set.

We located the square and marveled at the architecture – the domes and turrets are absolutely stunning and everywhere we looked there was another building to ooh or aah about!

I was very excited about visiting the Red Square, as the Kremlin was the KGB’s headquarters, or so I’m lead to believe. Lenin's mausoleum is also there, right in the square - a big modern black mark on the gorgeous old square. Having a passion for criminology, espionage and all things secretive, I was delighted to do my own march on the red square. We got there at about 7.30pm and the sun was going down, which made all the gold gilt glisten in the sun. The red colour of the buildings seemed to glow, and cast long elegant shadows over us. We had a photo shoot, with all 7 of us posing, laughing and marveling at the fact that we were behind the “Iron Curtain” in Moscow. It’s certainly somewhere I never thought I’d get to.

After the sun went down and I got separated from the group and was worried I was lost, we all met up and started the long walk back to the bus stop. We picked up some souvenirs outside the square, including music boxes in the shape of the turrets, fridge magnets, postcards and military style hats covered in fantastic badges. When crossing the road, you must walk through a tunnel UNDER the road to avoid being hit by wayward traffic. During our underground stroll through one such tunnel (which smelt strongly of cat urine) I came across a lady selling paintings she’d done of the square and surrounding areas. I was drawn to a pink sparkly one, so I struck a deal with her and handed over all my remaining dollars and rubles.

Clutching our purchases, we staggered onto the bus and made our way home. One of our male crew decided to go clubbing and was getting off the bus as we were getting on. We had been warned not to go out alone but off he went. I wasn’t surprised to hear the next day that he’d been mugged and had his allowance stolen. He also scored a punch in the face. Silly boy.

After a good sleep in my room with a thoroughly depressing view, a few of the girls and I headed off in search for a grocery store. I had a bee in my bonnet and only wanted fruit for brekky, and I also wanted to grab some vodka. The concierge sent us off with very accurate directions and we found the little supermarket that sells vodka that’s cheaper than strawberries. After racking up close to a thousand rubles ($35-ish), I went to the checkout and handed over my credit card, as I only had 100 rubles left after my impulse painting purchase. Both the owner and checkout lady looked at me and my card as if we both had a serious case of leprosy and at the same time said “niente!” with such venom in their tone I almost took a step backwards!

We worked out that they didn’t have card facilites and that there was no ATM in their vicinity either. Getting frustrated that I couldn’t understand anything, I used my rusty sign language and determine that I had a 2 minute walk to an atm ahead of me. So off I went, with a crash course in Russian that involved words like “turn right” and “walk straight for two minutes”. All was good, I got my rubles and my food and set off for a short nap before my flight.

The return sector was uneventful but I did notice the a Moscow flight smells almost as bad as an Indian one. While the smell is different, there was a rank combination of sweat, body odour and something I couldn’t put my finger on. After a while it dawned on me: most of passengers were Russian and the majority of them, male and female, all smelt as though they were recovering from a hard night out. The sickly sweet smell of sweat and alcohol pouring out of the pores of 350 people permeated the cabin and made me feel rather sick.

So, in about 3 months I’ll be trying to get myself another Moscow to see some snow!

Nanna's 90th!

I've completed yet another Brissie trip, but this one was for a very special reason. My gorgeous Nanna turned 90 and there was no way I was missing that party!

I've already missed weddings, 21sts and other important events back home, so when I found out there was a party happening I set about trying to get a trip home. I thought I wasn't going to be able to get there, but while I was in Jakarta I was sent a swap for a Brissie and it all worked out.



I flew in and pretty much stayed quiet for a few days and then surprised Nanna on Sunday. The look on her face was well worth it. My aunt Sue who lives in the US also flew in as a surprise and it was a lovely family reunion.



Nanna has 8 children and all of them except one were there. The house was full of grand-kids and second and third cousins and even some relatives I'd NEVER met! I was on video camera duty and wandered around filming everyone and getting some birthday messages from Nanna. When the camera was eventually turned on me I got a little shy and didn't have much to say!

There were some beautiful speeches, and some lovely memories for Nanna. She scored a table full of flowers, and was given some lovely presents. She loves ginger and I was lucky to find some ginger tea and coffee while I was in Jakarta recently.



Having been away for so long, I have a little cousin who's about 18 months old that I met for the first time at the party. His name's Banjo and he's just as gorgeous as his older brother Jett. Here's a quirky story - Banjo's dad, my older cousin Scott turns out to be the best high school mate of my flatmate Ash's older brother Simon! Ash grew up in Darwin, as did Scotty and Simon, and I was in Brisbane.



I travelled halfway around the world and lived with my older cousin's best mate's sister? What a small world!