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Yes gang this blog is written in fantastic Perth, we are finally home!!!
Our Sunday in Dubai included some last minute shopping for handbags which allowed me to use my bargaining skills with the guy leading us two blocks to his little shop loaded with bags, Kerry selected 2 and the fun started. He asked for 390 Dirham for 1 or 590 for 2 and i countered with 170 for the two. Eventually after 2 walk aways he settled at 200 for two...bargain.
The afternoon was our 4x4 "desert" tour, including 40 minutes dune bashing, visit to Camel farm, camel ride, sand boarding and bbq. The dunes were great fun and the camel ride an experiance with great food to follow then a belly dance show including audience participation where i demonstrated my great belly, if not my skills!!
The "Desert" itself had high voltage power lines and views of the freeway from the top of the sand dune, so i am not sure how authentic it all was but it was still a good afternoon and evening. Our vehicle a luxury landcruiser designed for 6 passengers but we only had 3 plus a camera man, so we were quite comfortable. Our fellow passenger was a women from Sydney but originally Sussex who reminded us so much of my mum it was a little scarey. She asked the driver to look after her because she was old!!!..sound familiar, then she started that nervous humming as we tackled some of the dunes...it made for a fun arvo with plenty of laughs.
Back to the hotel we did our final packing and settled down to bed for a reasonable wake up time of 6.45 since we had already checked in on line so only needed to get to the airport by 9.15 (or so we thought).
The shuttle was booked for 8am so we were in the lobby by 7.50, the vehicle arrived 805 but already had 2 people and we had 3 to add so there wasent any room and they went into panic mode ordering another vehicle. It eventually arrived 830 and we were not happy and made sure the driver realised we were now late, he reacted by getting us to the airport in 15 minutes (usually a 20 - 30 minute drive).
We were slightly happier now as we reckoned if we got there before 9 we could still do some dutyfree shopping (our next mistake), we walked into a packed departure lounge but felt relaxed since we had checked in online and just needed baggage drop, we went to the appropriate counter with no passengers lined up only to find the reaon for no que was there was no staff manning the counter. When we asked why we were directed to the long normal que with an explanation that because terminal 3 was now opened, terminal 1 only had half staffing so they closed the online counter. We were not happy and mentioned this to two other staff including the supervisor that we had arrived only 2 hours before the flight (as instructed) but should really have been 3 hours to avoid a rush. They just stayed with the party line of only half staff available.
We eventually got through check in by 930 for a boarding time of 1000, so we hit the duty free but Kerry had lost the incentive to make decisions so we didnt buy anything, just headed for the gate to sit and wait for our flight.
The departure gate was realy full but we didnt have to wait too long for our boarding call and spent the time watching a very unusual activity to do withe people who HAD brought duty free.
They were annoucing that ALL items containing fluids had to be in a clear plastic bag, so they were removing all perfumes from the packaging and placing the bottles in clear bags. We were glad we hadnt brought any perfumes as they would have been gifts and to be unpacked would have detracted. The same spplied to acholhol which was removed from boxes and repacked into new special boxes.
We boarded the flight and sat with all our stuff packed in overhead lockers, a full flight, then they asked for people who had brought duty free on board to go to the front door of the plane. Apparently what happened was when they boarded they had to leave their d/free at the front door, then when called they had to go down and collect the small packages and identify the larger bottles which were then placced in the baggage hold. What a totally mess!!! We were REALLY glad we hadnt brought duty free now.
When the flight took off we were 10-20 minute late (no wonder with this fiasco) but we had a strong tail wind and picked up that time plus some more. It was a little bumpy at times and did interupt meal service once and saw a few sick bags appear.
When we arrived we did manage to hit our local duty free and spend a few dollars as we had some extra time, we went through customs really easily without any xray of luggage even, so a bad start ended with a good finish.
When we got through the doors, Nea surprised us by running up to give Kerry a long and tearful hug, before i pointed out that Brad was holding Sophie the other side of the lounge, so then it was Kerry's turn to run across the lounge and hug her other precious little girl, really happy and excited we walked out to Brad's car to find Mischa in the back seat, so again Kerry had to give another little girl a hug. It was a really great welcome home.
Got home about 4 but stayed up talking to the kids till a great bbq breaky at 730 with our 3 special kids. Finally got too bed about 9 for a few hours nap.
Family tea last night was a good time to catch up with Bec and Gerrard but ended fairly early as we were all pretty shattered.
Today is a quite unpack day as i get ready to return to work tomorrow to start saving for the next trip.
Well thats about it, we do have some more photos to load up and i will do 1 final blog as promised to tell you about entertainemnt on the ship (including Kareoke) but this is purely optional for those die hard readers.
Thanks to you all for showing an interest in our travels, its been great to know we have people all over the world sharing our adventures.
Till next adventure,
Martin and Kerry
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