Travelling Day 68. To Iceland!

So I'm not really sure where to start todays post from, but I'm going to go from spending an hour going through security again in Reykjavik. On the plus side since I have an EU passport they barely glanced at me and just ushered me through

I had a bit of a nasty shock when my suitcase came out though. Complete. State.

I'm actually a little (more than just a little) mortified to be pushing/dragging it around.

So to recap: It's missing a wheel. As in the wheel just isn't there anymore. Another wheel doesn't do what it's told and makes terrible squeaky noises. The front is massive frayed from NZ. The edges are coming away from the frame after LA. The are several little tears from San Francisco.

And now, there is a massive rip in the back from Iceland!

I'm so glad it only has to survive one more trip because honestly I don't think it can make any more.

Aside from that… I found the bus booth and booked my return bus ticket and then I hopped on the bus to my hostel. I arrived at about 9am (having landed at 6am) so I couldn't check in yet but that was fine, and expected, so after rummaging round in my suitcase and getting a change of clothes I headed into Reykjavik centre to explore the city a little bit.

Canada Day 12. On the Road Again

I woke up bright and early (ish) in my room all to myself (which is seriously a novel luxury right now) and after getting my free breakfast (which led me to the conclusion that all things artificially sweetened before midday makes me nauseous) I checked out and stored my luggage in the storage room so I could head out and enjoy my last few hours in Canada!

The view from my window this morning!

I had a few 'errands' I wanted to run before leaving North America but they were all done and dusted within half an hour. But the Busker's fair was still on so I ended up spending a few hours wandering up and down the stalls and watching the crazy performers!

I did originally plan to head down to the lakefront but I was enjoying the fair too much I decided to stay and make the most of it instead!

There were ton of acts you could watch, from dancers to magicians to singers as well as a few acrobatic performances - most of them were really good too!

I also had my eye on one of these onion things! Think Onion rings but better - much better!

 I couldn't resist popping into Tim Horton's for the last time since it's such a Canadian thing to do!

So, at about 4 I went back to the hostel, picked up my suitcase and caught a taxi to the airport. Now the driver told me my airline was at Terminal 1 so that's where he left me. Quick look at the board showed no mention of my flight, a phone call at the information desk later, and I realised I was at the wrong Terminal. Cue an hours walk, a train ride, 3 escalators and 2 lifts, I was at the right Terminal!

I was at the front of the queue (eager beaver) but they weren't checking anyone in until after the 3hr recommended time slot (talking to the other people int he queue who had flown with them before, we think this is down to the orange alert for the Volcano). Once I checked in I bought a ridiculously expensive sandwich (don't even ask how much) and pottered around the pitiful duty free selection

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Now it's standard airplane etiquette that if you're sat in the aisle seat and your partner the middle, and the person allocated the window seat comes down with a big bag, you stand up and set out of the way so they can sit down… Apparently the two people on my row didn't get the memo.

And even after asking them if they could let me through, all I got was the man moving his book and jacket off my seat…

And after asked a third time, explicitly, for them to get up so I could get in, I got nothing more than a shuffling of knees… Now we were in the exit row. Which generally means more leg room so that wouldn't be a problem. But we were on a tiny flight so the leg room was perhaps an inch more than everyone else. And I knew they could stand up, and i knew they could understand because you have to be capable of them to sit in an exit row… not the best start.

And to keep this short, I proceeded to get elbowed and kicked most of the flight because the guy decided he not only wanted the entire armrest to himself but he wanted a good couple of inches on my seat too. Oh and the leg room clearly wasn't enough for him (despite him being shorter than me) so he constantly stretched out his legs into my leg space.

Needless to say what was meant to be a relaxing 6hours flight where I could sleep turned into an awful flight with absolutely no sleep.

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!!