Geneva

The other day I was lucky enough to score a flight to Geneva (apparently its really hard to get onto it as crew with Emirates because its so pretty and you get an awesome allowance)

We arrived in the afternoon and because most of us were so tired we decided to have a quick cat nap before heading into town to check it all out. 

The hotel provided free bus tickets and about 15 minutes later we were in the center of the town walking towards the most well known place in Geneva, that being the lake. 

The weather was beautiful! The lake was packed with locals swimming, having BBQ's, drinking, etc. It kind of reminded me of home to be honest. 

The bus ticket we got also allowed us to go on a free boat ride. So we decided to catch it to the other side of the lake to check what was going on over there. 

Where we got off there was a huge stage and it looked as if they were setting up for a concert. Unfortunately we were a day to early for it so we kept on walking, ate a few ice creams, grabbed a beer at one of the cafes by the water, and then eventually found ourselves at the famous fountain. It was huge up close!

Because Geneva is so expensive we decided to save our money so we popped into McDonalds for dinner (shocking I know) before heading back to the hotel to get some rest. 

Geneva was so beautiful and it makes total sense now why it is so hard to get flights there as crew. 

Next time if I go I will be sure to take my bathers as it was so hard watching everyone swim in the lake and not jump in myself.

The week that was

These last five days have been crazy busy!

First off I went to an iftar night at Marina which included all you can eat and drink, swimming in the pool, free sheisha and ended with a few drinks in the bar downstairs.

The second night was our housewarming which was quite the success. 

We had around 16 people show up, so we were quite impressed with the outcome. 

The next day I went to an all you can eat sushi. It was good to have proper sushi again (one thing I miss from home)

We then had our graduation!!

It went quite well, our day started at 7am and we just went over everything we learnt at training college and spoke about our experiences onboard. Then we practiced getting our awards and then we acutally got our awards. 

They then gave out Noujoum awards which are for people who have done something special. Two of my friends got one so that was really exciting!

Our friend Brendon came to watch us so it was nice to have someone there to congratulate us and take photos of us getting our certificate. 

That night we all decided to go out and celebrate so we went to one of the pubs that is open during Ramadan and stayed there until it shut at one. We then decided to go to a house party and after the sun came up we decided to go swimming at another friends house, so it was a pretty full on night. 

It has been such a great week! Felt almost as if we were on holidays, so going back to work tomorrow is going to feel slightly odd.

Next up, Geneva!!

Mauritius

I was so excited when I found out I was going to Mauritius as I had heard the hotel we stay at offers boat cruises with all you can eat and drink and mulitple watersports, etc. 

So I was slightly disappointed when I found out that because our layover was only 24 hours this meant we weren't able to do everything.. 

We arrived latish at night and decided that we would all meet in the lobby downstairs for a drink before heading off to find some food. 

We decided to eat along the water front and we found a restaurant which had live music and was filled with locals. It was so lovely! All the locals danced for hours but we found it was still quiet enough to have a conversation with the others at our table. 

After that some of us caught a water taxi across the canal to the sister hotel of where were staying as there looked to be an outdoor club. The place was really random but it was so pretty and it was good to say that I went on at least one boat in Mauritius haha.

The next day I slept in and then went wandering around the city. I visited a local fruit market and watched buskers down near the waterfront, before heading back and getting ready to fly home. 

I think next time I will bid for this flight in summer and for the longer layover.

6 months

The 6th of Feburary marked our 6 months in Dubai.

It hasn't all been smooth sailing, but I am hoping now that we are out of probation with work that it is going to be a little easier. 

Here we are having a celebratory drink!

New place

After a few visits from the maintenance man, a trip to Ikea and a lot of cleaning, this is our new place. 

Still a couple more things to get, especially in the dining room, but apart from that it is pretty much complete. 

The move

Moving day was long and hot. Of course I had to move on the one day we had a sand storm and temperatures soared well into the 40's, but it proved to be fun despite this. 

I managed to move all my stuff in two taxi rides with the help of Monique. 

For the last taxi ride we managed to squeeze majority of my belongings in but forgot about leaving space to sit. So the photo above shows Monique squished in the back amongst all my stuff. 

That afternoon we decided to go and see what was around us, shop wise. 

We have a great selection of grocery stores at the bottom of our building. 

We decided to celebrate our first night in our house, so we bought a sheisha pipe, and ordered in some pizza. 

It's so nice to finally live with a friend!

Moving!!

The day has finally arrived. 

I am moving!!!!!

It's going to be a longggggggg day.

Photos of the new place to come. 

Copenhagen and Malmo

The night before my trip to Copenhagen I double checked my roster and to my surprise Emirates had extended my stay there to 48 hours. 

When we got there, all of us except for one decided to go and walk around the town and grab some food. 

We decided to go to the most famous street in Copenhagen for food, but unfortunately the restaurant we chose, although nice food, had horrible waiters that treated us like dirt.

After that we broke off into smaller groups as everyone wanted to do different things, and we headed off to buy some more beer for the road before having a walk around town before calling it a night. 

The next morning, because most of the crew had left, Uros (who was also staying 48 hours) and I decided to catch a train across the water to Malmo, Sweden. 

It was such a nice little town, and whilst we were there we checked out their tallest building (which you can see in the first photo), got some ice cream on the boardwalk, went to the castle, grabbed some lunch in the square, and then headed home. 

It only took 30 minutes on the train, and I still can't believe that in 30 minutes you can hop from one country to the other. Mind blown!

Having a layover that last longer then 24 hours really makes you think that you are on holidays. 

Heres hoping I get more of those. 

Parents in town

The other day my parents came to visit. 

They had a couple of days off so decided to pop over and see me in between my flights. 

It was really good to see them again. 

I have been a bit homesick this last month so this cheered me up a lot. 

While they were here we took a road trip down to Abu Dhabi, which was something I have been wanting to do since I got here. Whilst there we visited the Mosque (which we couldn't go inside due to it being Ramadan), The Palace, the main beach, before stopping off at the Park Hyatt for lunch. 

The next day Dad and I went up the Burj Khalifa (highest building in the world). 

The lift took 30 seconds to go from the ground to the 124th floor which was pretty amazing. 

The view from there was great! Although it was a little sandy so we couldn't quite see Burj Al Arab or the Palm.  The lighting at that time also wasn't ideal, so we struggled to get some good shots from up there. 

Before I knew it the three days had past and it was time to say goodbye again. 

It was hard saying goodbye, but not as hard as last time, as now I know I will be seeing them in a couple of weeks. 

Next up Copenhagen!

Dhaka

From the very beginning nothing seemed to go as planned on this trip.

To start off with the flight was an hour delayed getting into Dubai, which meant that we had to rush everything, such as setting up and boarding in order to get the plane off the ground as soon as possible. 

Then because the people traveling to Dhaka aren't experienced fliers, they didn't really know where to sit, so we had to show around 150 + passengers to their seats which was fine, but took a while.

Because of the mix up in seating a couple of passengers ended up getting into a physical flight (I happened to be the only one on the scene at the time, just my luck!), so we then had to physically restrain a couple of them and then offload them and then get the witness statements, etc. 

After 2 hours we finally took off, but because we were late into Dhaka the hotel didn't keep the complimentary buffet breakfast we normally get open. With all these bad starts to the morning we decided to forgo sleep and head out into town to visit the orphanage and the Zara outlet shop which we were all really looking so forward to seeing. 

Unfortunately we learnt that due to it being a Friday everything we wanted to go to was shut (at this stage I really felt like it was not our day).

Being the only place that seemed to be open, we then headed to New Market to get a taste of the city. 

The market was a bit of a let down but at least we got to see a bit of their culture, with the men praying in the streets, beggar children, a lady robbing a place and getting dragged to the cop shop then slapped, and heaps of other things. 

After walking around in the heat for a while we were all pretty buggered. So we headed back to the hotel to get some rest before our flight home the next day. Thankfully the flight home was rather smooth (despite two attempts of smoking in the bathrooms).  

I feel sorry for the crew who have to do this sector as a turn around.