Firstly, I am SOOO sorry NOT to have posted whilst in Dubai, but there was a few reasons... Namely, we were flat out busy, and the inability to upload photos because the UAE do not like you uploading photos (or perhaps, don't want UAE locals looking at pictures of the outside world??)! Anyway, NOW that I have uploaded some of the photo's, I will include some in this post and re-cap, the last couple of days of the trip and what I have been doing since I got home!
After the final day of the cruise, we got into the city of Rome. However, I had realised on the way there, I had left my silver chain ON the ship! I managed to get in contact (after MANY phone calls and distressing hours) with the ships handling company, and she said to call back in around 45 mins as she would go to the ship and make enquiries. An hour later, I was in an excellent mood as when I called, they had it (and some other incidental items I could care less about...). It would cost me 100 Euro for a cab to deliver it OR I was on the next available train out to collect for around 20 Euro! Needless to say what I did!
By the time I got back into Rome, it was now well after 6pm and the 'Grey Brigade' had done a lot of walking and site seeing. They had been in the cafe/restaurant opposite the hotel (for coffee) for some time, and mum was very happy to see me. That night, whilst they went to bed (exhausted) I went out for a walk around Rome at night, only to find myself out in the rain without a brolly! Oh well...
The following day, after checking out but leaving bags in the hotels luggage room, we hit Rome for the last time. We caught the Metro out to the Colosseum where, when we arrived, were greeted again by a tour guide spookier! This again, was well worth the money, however, the group was quite a bit larger than the one we did in the Vatican City! So it took us a good 2 hours (maybe 3) to walk around both outside AND then into the Colosseum itself! The tour then, with another guide, took in the Roman Forum next door. This was also another good 2 hours worth of tour!
We then headed back to the hotel to meet our transfer to the airport. This was a very interesting ride as a) it was in the evening peak hour rush, and b) we took a most senic route! At one point, we thought we were being taken into a car wrecking yard, as the laneway we were on, looked like that was the destination! But instead, at the very last second, it took a left turn, and that took us back onto the motorway! Phew!!! As I had already 'checked us in' we cleared immigration in no time at all, and we then just had to wait for the plane. Dinner was Pizza and a drink...
The flight time was to take 5.30 hours, but just after we took off, there was some quite sever turbulence for our ride, an Airbus A330-200. The flight deck told us that initially we would climb to 35,000ft and then to a final altitude of 41,000, but he got up there pretty quickly and being in that airspace, we had a much quicker flight time of just 4.10 hours! NICE!
We ended up getting the hotels limousine service to the hotel, which was money well spent... Upon check in, I quickly discovered that this hotel was something special! It was SOOO Divine! Here is a pic from our room!
We had a 'special' afternoon adventure, that the Grey Brigade knew nothing about. It was a 4wd Dunes Adventure that was just fantastic! Mum, well she doesn't like drives along cliff edges and has an aversion to heights (so SHE took a window seat, good one mum) and as soo as we hit the dunes, she turned green and the language was, well, 'colourful' shall we say! BUT, at the end of it all, she had a great time. The night continued with a traditional 'Bedouin Feast' and a Belly Dancer! A great night was had by all!
By the time we got back to the hotel, the 'Greys' were tired and packed for the early morning departure and hit the sack quickly. ME on the other hand, didn't want any jetlag when I got home, so I stayed up until around 2am and organised the airport transfer and stuff. 5am was our wake-up call, 5.25 was the baggage collection time and 5.30am was our departure time. All went according to plan! We arrived at the airport in almost no time at all and dropped our bags, cleared immigration and headed into the shopping mall. Hang on, its NOT a shopping mall, but an airport, with shops! It has been reported to do around $1,000,000USD a day in sales! We quickly found a coffee shop (with seats for us all) and had breakfast. Boarding commenced and dang it, we had a bus trip to a VERY remote stand! The flights home were pretty cool, with the second leg only about 1/2 full, which allowed us to spread out and get some sleep (for me, as I was tired as per the plan) and I got a row of 4 seats to sleep.
Since getting home, I have one ALL of the washing from the trip, got my tyre fixed as it was going flat before I left, and done some shopping. Answered some emails and made some URGENT calls (mainly to my energy supplier as the day after I left a bill arrived and whilst I was away, a reminder and a disconnection notice. But it was all sorted, and I still have power! I also emptied, cleaned and refilled the spa. So I have been somewhat BUSY!!!
I will TOMORROW, do a couple of 'photo posts' that will be of the places we went to, where I was unable to upload the photos... I promise!!
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