Sunday 18th April, Dubai.

Home has become the Premium Hotel..'on Emirates' and our family is now huge!! Eveyone here is a transient traveller and it has become a very social, multicultural mecca. We have realised that Paul, Premiumm's Manager, is far more organised than the Emirates people. Their two representatives sent to The Premium were totally confused as to what their task actually was! Paul is a step ahead of them and has collated all our information so that he has everyone's flight destination at his fingertips. There is a board in the foyer being updated almost every hour with relevant information. The Hotel has put on extra shutlle buses to the popular destinations so that his guests don't have to rely on the Metro rail to get around. Emirates have agreed to give us another 24hrs 'on them'...so I am very glad I managed to get the voucher from them!

After enjoying a filling breakfast........all cooked food as well as continental selections were offered....Hollie and I returned to the airport to discover the bag collection area overflowing with very irrate travellers desperately trying to get their bags....I gave them my luggage number....for the 10th time and decided that I needed to get out of the airport which had become like a prison for me!

I headed off alone to see some of the real Dubai. The Metro rail leaves from the airport and is very similar to using Melbourne's rail ticketing system so I bought a ticket feeling that I was in control so far! Arriving at the Dubai Mall stop I learned that, to get the shuttle bus to the Mall, I should have bought a siver ticket instead of the red one I had. People have been very friendly and helpful outside the airport and the rail lady showed me how to find my way to the Mall on foot. It was a beautiful blue-sky day and I enjoyed a much needed walk.... talking to travellers doing the same as me and taking pics of the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa....pretty impressive. I will put some pics on soon...I hope!....I managed to find the scenic route to the
area of the fountain..."follow the cars, Fran...not... "go into the carpark under the Mal, Fran!".....Oh well...I certainly got to see heaps more than other people did!
Gucci......Armani......Gold Souk.....Bloomingdales.....my head was spinning with the glamour and diversity of it all.....but all I wanted was to buy some cheap t-shirts and some Haviannias.....fun...fun...fun.....people..people... people....an Aussie style supermarket- a wholemeal bread roll and banana.....too excited to stop and eat! By the time I had actually found some T's and light shoes it was 6pm when the Water Fountain show begins. I was getting confident with my sense of directions by then and made my way outside to be treated to a wonderful water display together with hundreds of other curious tourists and travellers....the backdrop being Burj Khalifa and traditional Arabic buildings...such a contrast! My new little camera's HD video is great ....not sure if the operator is so great at using it though!

 On dusk, I made my way back on the Metro...people just wandered along the roads...the color of the buildings is mainly sandstone and thecontrasting color you experience is a mauve/blue....workmen's overalls.....walls lining the roads.... many other obscure items which were quite blatant against the bland neutral sandstone!
Stopover at airport = still NO BAG!Home in time for a yummy dinner and a couple of vinnos!...The mood is one of being

on holidays and friendship amongst the family!!...I worry about the people still at the airport with no support and nowhere to go!