Surprise 24hr Dubai

So, long story short, I'm writing this from a hotel room in Dubai. After travelling for over 30hours I landed in Dubai 45minutes late and got told I wasn't going to be able to make my connection. Luckily Emirates were pretty good and put me on the next flight to Newcastle - downside was the next flight wasn't for 24hours...

My lovely room!

 Emirates put me up in a lovely hotel for the night and paid for my meals there and transport to and from the airport. The only real downside was I certainly hadn't packed for Dubai's early summer heatwave, oh and I didn't have any suncream!

 Little shot of the hotel grounds - this was where I sat to have my breakfast after arriving in Dubai

 After letting Victoria know I wasn't going to be landing in Newcastle that day (sorry Paul for making you go to the airport for no reason!) I decided to make the most of having a surprise stop in Dubai, put on the most Dubai-appropriate outfit I could muster, and headed out to the Biggest Mall in the World so I could go up the TALLEST BUILDING IN THE WORLD!

Not before going to dawdle at the massive indoor aquarium again!

 Burj Khalifa

 I went for a short walk around before going up, the day was so beautiful I was constantly at war on whether to enjoy the sun, without suncream, or stay inside

 Love this part of Dubai

 Getting up the Burj Khalifa is a bit of a pain, as if you don't book weeks in advance it's expensive but I figured I wasn't expecting to be here and I don't know when I'll next get to Dubai so I just thought - why not!

 There's a bit of a walk from the reception to the lift but it's filled with lots of inspirational quotes and beautiful photos and slideshows

 The lift itself was actually kinda incredible! It zoomed up 124 floors in less than a minute and the weirdest thing was that it didn't even feel like you were moving! My ears popped four times but I still couldn't tell we were moving - so strange

 From the observation deck the view was pretty incredible!

 I love how you actually get to see Dubai, it's hard to explain the city's unique layout in worlds but I think from above it's quite clear.

 From the inside deck you can just see Dubai Marina in the distance - one of the prettiest areas of Dubai

 Of course I made sure to get a photo of me up the top. My favourite was with a handful of skyscrapers in the forefront and then the vast desert as the backdrop

After spending quite a bit of time at the top and pottering around the mall I headed out through the 'village' to the taxi rank.

All in all it's been so lovely to have this little stop off in Dubai, and I think in hindsight it's going to help with the jet lag. Although I wasn't very happy in the airport, I was just tired and wanting to get back, now I've been in Dubai I think it's pretty cool I got a 'free' holiday in Dubai out of my flights!

For now I can't wait to get back to England to see everyone, celebrate Lydia's first birthday with her and see my mum's face when I surprise her by turning up!!

Getting to Uni

-this is just a ramble, so it's not very interesting, but I wanted to put it up so I can read it when I look back on my Year Abroad- 

Getting to University from Brisbane was by far the most nightmarish trip to date (I'm sure worse will come in the future but anyway)

Starting at the beginning, I had to get up at 5am, or rather I had to get up at 5am after getting 3hours sleep because 2 girls in the room decided it was a good idea to have a silent war over the air conditioning meaning the room was either constantly freezing or roasting. Getting the train to the airport went smoothly though - I’m savouring the small things which went right

But things started to go a little sour as soon as I got to the airport really, the lift was broken so I had to try and maneuver my suitcase on the escalator where it didn’t really fit… Then there was a Korean Pop group arriving so the airport was packed! Meaning I had to detour and squeeze past the massive crowd of screaming girls and paparazzi. Then I was told my flight was delayed… by 6 hours! They checked me in though and gave me a $15 food voucher (which I thought was really nice and I made good use of)

After a quick skype the internet disappeared from my kindle, and the internet wasn't available for my laptop so I went to change some of my random currency which I've steadily accumulated into something useful… but they couldn’t exchange half of my notes because they weren't accepting dirhams for some reason(?). I did eventually get change and sat down at one of the computers but then the computer swallowed my money, so I couldn't contact anyone.

By now I was 4hrs into the supposed 6hr delay, however while I failing to access the internet the time for departure was steadily getting later and later. Which meant instead of getting into Auckland mid-afternoon I’d now be lucky to get in before midnight so I wouldn’t be able to catch my bus. And since i didn't have access to the internet, or a working phone, I couldn't ask a friend to pick me up.

After a minor breakdown when tiredness caught up me, it soon became clear that I the midnight prediction had been optimistic, and the early hours of the morning was looking increasingly likely. 

The plane did finally arrive, although it took another 2hrs to ready it. And then they decided to change the boarding gate from 21 to 75… 10 minutes before we were meant to board. The mad rush from one end of the airport to the other was the perfect end to my time at Brisbane airport. 

My seat on the Airbus was pretty good though I have to say - 3 whole seats all to myself again!

Getting through customs took an age, there weren't very many people on (it was 3am so I wasn't surprised) but there were a lot of people to get through. It also took me 4 attempts to fill in my form as well - I was so tired I just kept making silly mistakes!

Anyway I got through fine (although I forgot I had Banteel dates so I had to declare them which was a bit of a pain). Then I found out I had just missed the bus was going to catch into Auckland, typical. Only as soon as I sat down, consoling myself about the hours wait, the bus rolls up! The joys of everything being late in NZ!

Once I got to the hostel I had the fun of trying to navigate the lift. The buttons didn't correspond to the right floors, so you could press level 2 and end up on 3 or you could press 4 and end up on the ground. When I did eventually find the right level everyone was awake and playing tennis in the corridor. Then I noticed receptionist hadn't written the number of my room very clearly so I had to just go around and try all the different doors and see if any worked!

And then my room was the only one where everyone was asleep so I felt really bad coming in dragging my suitcase! Oh and the guy in the bed beneath me came in at 5am and decided that was a good time to try and have a conversation with me… not quite sure what made him think that…

And the final little drama, i asked at the hostel desk where i could get a bus, she told me every single bus leaves auckland from the ferry stop. So I got the joy of pushing my suitcase down Queens Street (the busiest street in Auckland) for 15 minutes only to be told they don't actually leave from here, no they leave from the other end of the street. Another wonderful 20 minutes passed as I walked to the other end of Queenstreet… Once I booked my bus I then got the truly lovely news that the bus stop was behind the Skytower. The Skytower is on top of quite a steep hill. So then I had to push my suitcase up the giant hill. And I have to tell you, if you've never pushed a 26kg suitcase with a 9kg backpack up a hill in the middle of the a city centre, at lunch time when the streets are packed you haven't lived. I suggest everyone gives it go, oh and try it when you've had no sleep, it's especially fun then, even more so when you're in a maxi skirt which keeps getting tangled. 

The woman spelt my name wrong on the bus list… I'm now R Hashwood. Then there were road works so the bus arrived into Hamilton 2hours late. Then the ATM wouldn't accept any of my cards, I tried all three, so I had to ask a taxi driver to take me to an ATM on the way as by now schools were out so there were hundreds of children at the transport centre and there was no way I could get through them with my suitcase. 

When I eventually got to Orchard Park the office had closed at 1:15 and I don't have a phone yet so I couldn't ring the number to get someone so I had to walk around to try to find someone - luckily a girl let me borrow her phone and stayed chatting to me until someone came to let me into my room.

All in all, not been the best 48hours, but I'm in my room, I'm in one piece and it could definitely have been worse.

P.S Then when I did a wash the machine left my clothes all soapy :( 

Flying to Brisbane..

I hate catching taxis - I just feel so silly sticking my arm out, luckily I caught a taxi super quickly this morning so the torture only lasted a few minutes. I figured catching a taxi would just be much easier than attempting the MRT with a suitcase (it gets incredibly crowded at peak times and can be a little rocky)

I was a little early at the airport so I decided to weigh my suitcase before getting in line. Somehow, no idea how, my suitcase has gained another 5kg?! I mean yes, I bought some shoes on orchard road, and some other bits and piece... but I don’t not 5kg worth surely? Anyway I pushed my, rather heavy, suitcase to the front of the line where I got chatting to a lovely couple from Brisbane who have travelled all over from the sounds of it and funnily enough one of the professors at Waikato went to school with the woman and they’ve stayed friends.

Despite my worrying I didn't have to pay any extra for my luggage - lovely surprise!

I’ve been really very lucky with my flights, and the one to Brisbane was no different – it was another light load. I was on the left hand side and got all three seats to myself! Another great surprise! So once again, I kicked off my shoes, wrapped myself in the 3 blankets, and settled in to watch a film. It was also a bit of a relief to have edible food on the plane again rather than the stuff I got on the flight through India.

Then it was just immigration, for some reason I had to get my passport stamped, which is a little strange as last time I entered OZ I didn’t need one? I’m assuming it’s because I flew in from Singapore whereas last time it was from NZ… Regardless I got another stamp in passport!

My flight had been delayed a fair bit in Singapore, and then we had turbulence pretty much the entire way to Brisbane so instead of getting in just before 1am we ended up arriving closer to 3am. The YHA’s reception is open 24hrs so it wasn’t too much of a problem, I did feel bad going into the room though when there were 3 other people asleep… I don’t think I made too much noise. I have a top bunk, but I can’t complain, the room is nice enough, and the girls I’m sharing with seem nice.

Also I should just mention when I got off the plane Brisbane was warm! Warm! In the middle of the night! Apparently it’s going to be low 40s tomorrow… all I think is at least it won’t be humid like Singapore!