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.

January......2008!

Well my rosta this month was pretty good, no turnarounds, i have a Kuala Lumpur on 1st Jan, Johannasburg on 5th, gatwick 10th (which i have now swapped for a Birmingham!!) a manchester on 14th (which i swapped for a Venice!!! on 13th! to my excitment!) then i have about 5 days in dubai and on 20th i have a melbourne/Auckland/melbourne layover getting back on 25th and then i have days off for the rest of the month.......and mum is coming yey!!!
I have already booked us in for afternoon tea at the Burj and mum is so excited! we are going to do a desert safari too!
Im so excited about my birmingham too, im staying at mums this time and im looking after chloe in the afternoon, cant wait!
So im very happy with this months rosta!!

Christmas time!!

So 21st came and i was due to do a Bahrain turnaround that afternoon getting back at 8pm, just in time for me to have a bath and relax before gav arrived after midnight......i get a call while im getting ready to say my flight has been changed to a Beruit!! grrr, its a little longer and ggot me back just after 1am, so im stressing a little thinking i wont be here when gav arrives! Luckily we both land 5 minutes apart and i get back to the apartment before him!
The next morning we spend the day chilling out in the apartment catching up with each other as i had another turnaround that evening to Kuwait. So gav caught up with his mates watching the football that evening and i was back by about 2am the next morning. That day we went to the mall of Emirates and did a bit of shopping, i got some gorgeous silver shoes from French Connection with some of my christmas money! We had some lunch in apres which overlooks the ski dubai and later we went to watch some football, ended up in fibbermageez (an irish bar down the road) and came back home to play a drunken game of buzz! Next day we went to Deira city centre mall and festival city and also picked up our food shopping and turkey!! we didnt get back till after 730 and were planning to go out but were tired and instead just watched some dvds and had a takeaway.
Next morning......Christmas day!!!! I opened my bedroom curtains to see sheik zayed road....as busy as usual??!! im thinking thats not right! its christmas dayyyy!! we realise we forgot a couple of things for the turkey and head to spinnys in mercato mall near me...after opening our pressies of course! theres quite a few people doing there shopping??? what is going on.....christmas day!!! its just not the same in Dubai!!
I enjoyed it because Gav was here but i really missed being with the family and being in the UK! especially after talking with my dad, rob bex and chloe on webcam!! i had a few tears on the phone to my mum too!
Anyway we spend the day watching some dvds, cooking the turkey, drinking mulled wine and playing a few christmas songs much to gavs dissapproval! After our turkey which was very nice! we went accross the road to my friends apartment (Bec) to have a couple of drinks with her before heading out to Irish Village for a couple of drinks.
Boxing day we went to the madanat area for a walk round, and then we tried to get in last minute for afternoon tea at the burj but they were booked up till mid jan! so we went to Le meridien and sat on the beach having a couple of drinks before coming back home to chill out. That night we went out to watch the football and then gav took me to a really nice bar called buda bar, very unusual and very nice. We ended up at the le meridiens bar risti.
The next day we did plan on going to the beach but ended up not doing much, just enjoying being together. We had a lovely meal at the Shang ri la hotel up the road, in their chinese restaurant. I get 50% off there so it was great! we shared a whole duck for our main course and ive never had better, it was sooo nice!
The next day we had lunch out and spent the day in the apartment as i had a lovely Dhaka layover (Bangladesh!) It was awfull! i just wanted to be at home with gav. I never want to do the flight again, the only good thing was that i picked up some bargain dvds at the hotel dvd shop! Lost season 3, excellent copy for 2 pounds!! Heros season 1 and a couple of movies. The time i was there was spent sleeping and having a bit of room service. On the bus on the way to the hotel, we were stopping at traffic lights and there were women and children knocking on the windows beging for money, it was horrible.
Anyway the next day i was back in Dubai about 3pm and Gav was leaving for the airport about 10pm, so we had take out and spent some time together before we had to say goodbye (Again!!)

Colombo - Sri Lanka layover

Sorry i havent updated this for a while!
So my colombo layover on ....think it was 18th December was ok. The hotel we stay at is near the airport so not near the tourist area, i could have gone there but since it was just a 22 hour layover there wasnt much time, so if i get a 2 day layover there i will be able to explore more!
When we arrived it was about lunch time and there was alot of guards with guns at the airport...scarey!
I was so tired as i had been flying through the night and only had a few hours sleep before the flight but me and a couple of other girls forced ourselves to go out and see something! We went on a shopping tour organised by the hotel, its so cheap there and you can pick up some lovely things. I got myself some unusual coasters and placemats (figured i can use them when me and gav get a house together) and these coconut candles (half coconuts filled with candle wax). I picked up some cheap dvds too, one tree hill season 4.....so happy about that one!!
After shopping we went back to the hotel and i oredered room service, soup and a roll! and i crashed out b4 our early flight the next morning. As we just went shopping i didnt get any pics :(

My few days off.....

Night out for Lucy leaving.....me and sharon and one of lucy's friends

me!
Shaz

My en suite bathroom
My new room!

Me at the Burj al arab......flashing a little bra!

The past few days i have had off, got my US visa sorted so i can now start bidding for US flights!

I moved into the A bedroom which Lucy was in, its a bit bigger and with ensuite and also private balcony...nice. Went out on Sunday night with Sharon to the Madanat area by the Burj al arab for Sushi and a drink at one of the bars and then we got a taxi back to Rotana hotel which is just up from our building to have a few drinks n Longs Bar.

Ive just been sorting the apartment out apart from that! i sunbathed by the pool for a while yesterday. I had my hair done on Tuesday too. Today i went to Mall of Emirates to buy christmas pressies and cards, im such an idiot, i was looking at cards for my mum and was thinking about what to write inside, like sorry i cant be there....when it hit me that im not going to be with everyone, its my first christmas away from home! anyway i started to feel my eyes welling up and a few tears roll down my face! luckily no one saw!

Sharon left on Wednesday soim now all alone in the apartment! its nice in some ways but quite lonely in another! Im hoping i get nice flatmates, i had a girl come to look t the place this morning and she seemed lovely, so i may sign the form to let her move in....will have a think about it....trying to drag it out a little so me and gav have the place to ourselves at christmas.

Tonight im packing for Birmingham......wahoooo!!! going to relax a bit, have a hot bath and a glass of wine! My friend Bec is coming over n an hour or so and we are going somewhere for a bite to eat and to catch up as i havent seen her since my last week of service!

Anyway, i will see you all tomorrow or Saturday!

Bye xxx