Friday 25 January 2008

Melbourne Aukland!!

Me and first officer....we thought he looked like Loche..off Lost
Purser and 2 SFS's
View of Aukland



Cant remember their names! indian, canadian and brit!

Park in Melbourne
Room in Auckland


Auckland Bridge

Parliment of Victoria....Melbourne



So, i have new flatmates! two girls from the UK who are lovely, havent had much chance to hang out with them as they are new abinitioso in training, but i went out with Hannah on thursday for a night out and had a great time...very hungover the next day!
20th Jan......my trip to melbourne (Australia) got there after a 13 hour flight at 630 am local time....7 hours ahead of Dubai....so my body clock was a little messed up!! We got to sleep on the flight for about 3 and half hours in the crew rest compartment (CRC), which is underneath, with beds. Got to wear my lovely blue emirates PJs!
When i got to the hotel (Hilton) i went to sleep for about 4 hours and woke at 2pm, and went out at 3pm.....i ws on my own as most people on the flight were seeing family or friends, i didnt really mind though, it was nice doing whatever i wanted to do!
I walked through the park and into the city centre, lots of high rise buildings, trams, etc. I looked round some shops and stopped off at starbucks for a coffee fix, popped into a souviner shop and got myself a cute kuala bear and boomerang! Then i found a sushi place and sat and ate my favourite food!
I headed back to the hotel about 6pm, it was so relaxing just walking through the park and taking it all in. Went to bed about 9pm as we had a 6am pick up for our Aukland flight.

Got to Aukland about lunch time, i went straight out....alone again, i was going with another girl but she seemed to just want to sleep all the time! i thought, im not coming all this way to sleep!!
So i started walking into the centre and went staight to the Sky Tower, a tall building with great views of Auckland. You can do a Sky jump from the top, like a bungy, i was going to do it and signed the forms and then realised i left my purse at the hotel!! so i booked to do it the next morning. So while i was there i went to the viewing area at the top and took some pics and had a coffee in the cafe at the top. I had a nap back at the hotel before getting ready for dinner. The hotel was lovely, the rooms were like apartments! i had a kitchen area, living room, bathroom and bedroom, not forgetting the 2 tvs which had me hooked watching the auzzie top 10 shark attacks on discouvery!! yep im a geek!
That night a few of us met up for dinner in a nearby restaurant, had a very irish feel to it, we had their famous mussels and a few glasses of wine.....new zealands sauvignon blanc.
I went to bed about midnight and woke up at 320am and couldnt get back to sleep!! my body clock was so messed up! anyway i went down for breakfast and for a walk about 8am and finally got back to sleep at 10am and slept till 3pm to get ready for our pick up......so i never did the jump. Anyway i would prefer to have done it with someone, so i could share the experience with!
We were back in Melbourne around 9pm, i called my friend Becs room to chat with her, she was there too, she was doing the aukland early the next morining, so she couldnt go out. I just went down the supermarket and got a magazine and ordered myself a hot chocolate to try and sleep!!
Thankfully i had a great night sleep, so i was up at 9am for breakfast in the hotel, then went for a walk down bridge road where there are lots of boutiques, so just had a browse, then i went for a walk to the park again and to the city, got some sushi to take back to the hotel with me and got some make up too. I just relaxed in the jacuzi and sauna in the afternoon, though i was trying to have some peace but some american guy wouldnt stop yapping away to me! he was from LA and a commentator for the bbc coverage of Tennis in melbourne. Anyway i knew it was time to leave when he said.....'wow, what colour are your eyes?'.....Hazel......'They are just beautifull'......cheese!
The flight back that evening was good, just half full and everyone just wanted to sleep. Was a 14 hour flight and we got 4 and half hours rest. Back in Dubai now and mum is arriving tomorrow morning!!! im so excited!! I have lots planned, afternoon tea at the Burj, desert safari, nice restaurants, shopping etc!! I get my rosta tomorrow and get paid too, so its a good day!!

Venice









On 14th i did have a Manchester layover, but someone wanted to swap with me for a Venice layover on 13th!! somehwere i have always wanted to go!


We got there about 1pm, we went straight out, the hotel was a little way from the centre so we had to get a bus and then as its all canels we took a boat into the centre.


It was very cold and raining which made it hard for me to take any decent pictures!!


We had a quick walk towards the cathedral and were so cold and getting wet that we had to go inside so went into an italian restaurant. I had some lovely wine with spagetti bolognaise with meatballs! yum!


After dinnerwe walked round for a while looking at the different shops all sellng lovely masks for the masque parade, so i had to get one!!


Soon it was time to make our way back to the hotel and crash out!


In the morning i went to the hotel breakfast, a lovely buffet, and i justchilled out reading my book.


I really want to see more of Venice and in the summer months next time, so hopefully i will get another layover there or even use my discounts to have a trip over with Gav.

Birmingham







I had a Gatwick layover on 10th but managed to swap it for a Birmingham which was great! I got there at lunch time and mum came to get me at the hotel, we went straight to Beckys house so i could pick up Chloe to look after her for the day.
I had such a great day, mum was off work as she was ill, still getting over her cold. I was playing with Choe all day and then i took her to my Dads house to see him for an hour or so before going back to mums where Rob and Bex came round.
It was dead nice being at home with everyone.....minus Gav though!
I put Chloe to bed as she was staying round mums and she is just so cute!! i read her a story and she was chattering away. Then me, mum, rob, bex went to the Paddox for a meal and couple of drinks where Jane and Nik met us, had a good laugh, really nice evening.
Woke up the next day about 730am, sooo tired!! chloe came in the room, hiya! i really didnt want to get out of bed but as soon as i saw her i wanted to spend more time with her.
Mum took me back to the hotel about 10am, it wasnt so hard saying goodbye this time as i knew i would see her on 26th Jan when she is in Dubai.


Johannesburg




















So Johannesburg on 5th Jan was great.....if a little scarey!!
We got there about 10pm local time and on the bus the captin kindly told us that every 5 minutes a woman is raped in joburg! we were like oh thanks for that!! he was like yeah they break into their homes and rape them and kill them!!

Anyway we get to the hotel and its in th middle of nowhere, the rooms are like lodges, all scattered round and all on ground floor, so we all make our way to our rooms, all a bit scared! i walked in and did my usual check round the room, then checked the window....it was not double glazed and had only a little latch locking it! so i freak out thinking about the story the captin told us about, thinking that someone can easily just break in and do anything to me! the other girls were all the same, some slept in the same room as each other they were that scared, but i just kept waking up all night, checking the window!
The net morning i just wanted to get out and wanted to go to the lion park and two other girls wanted to too, so off we went with the hotel tour.
Im so glad i went, it was great seeing all the lions, we drove through to see them, even saw the cheeters being fed an then we got out and got to stroke the cubs, got to feed the giraffes! their tongues are soooo long!! i held out my hand with the food and it wrapped its tongue round my hand and ate it!
Anyway after that we went to a mall for lunch and back for some shut eye before our flight that night. I dont mind going to joburg again, but only if its the other flight whereyou stay at the nicer hotels at the airport!

Kuala Lumpur

KL Tower
Me! outside the plane
View from room



Hey!
Im sorry i haventupdated this for a while, been a bit busy but going to update u now!!
Ok so, Kuala Lumpur on 1st Jan! It was an early morning departure...about 9am, so since us crew cant drink 12 hours before a flight i couldnt really celebrate new year! i had a couple of glasses of wine and that was about it!
Anyway, we got there around 11pmish and went to the hotel bar straight away for last orders, then as soon as the bar closed we went to find another bar....to celebrate the new year! so we found Hard Rock Cafe and had a drink in there before heading back to the hotel for some shut eye!
I woke around 1pm, was so tired!! so i booked myslef into the spa at the hotel for an all over body massage! it was sooooo nice! really relaxing!
Then i went for a walk into the centre, just tosee the KL twin towers......very tall!
I went round the mall inside and then headed back to the hotel, im sure KL has more to offer but on such short time i only had the chance to see the city.....which is mainly tall buildings, shops etc.