2015 Gap Year Adventure

Hi all!

Five months after my last trip I am back and very excited to be departing on my gap year on Sunday January 4th! Uni and my teaching degree are done so it's time for a new adventure!

I start the year off with two months in South America, and then for the remainder of the year am living in England but taking trips to Dublin for St Patrick's Day, France/Luxembourg/Belgium for the Anzac centenary, Iceland, Ireland and the UK! Am also hoping to go to Oktoberfest but we will see what happens!

There will be so many adventures to post about this year so please stay tuned!!!

Love
Claire

Last day - water park and Burj Khalifa!

Hi all for the very last time on the trip! :(

Today we had a quick look in the hotel shop before getting a taxi to 'Wild Wadi', the water park of the Burj al Arab hotel. It has featured on 'The Amazing Race' a couple of times which is how I heard about it. 

We had a really fun four hours here! This morning I woke up feeling pretty crappy but I improved throughout the day. It was so hot once again that the concrete in the park burned your feet, we had to wear our shoes and leave them at the top of each slide. We were glad we had worn clothes to cover up a bit. 1) because less sunscreen 2) because they stayed wet longer than just bathers and kept us cool, and 3) because slides hurt!!! We saw lots of people with cuts and grazes and our clothes protected us. 

We went on lots of fun slides. The first one was the famous Jumeirah Sceirah (pronounced ju-mair-a scarer) which is a speed slide where the floor drops out from under you. Then we went on the Burj Surj and Tantrum Falls which involved huge funnel slides that you go down like a plug hole! We also went on a slide that circled the perimeter of the park and had lots of little slides and tunnels that linked up via small pools. You could pick which way you went and some of them even used magnetic mechanisms to slide you upwards! The wave pool was good too but the waves weren't as big as MSAC at home!!

Afterwards we walked to the Jumeirah Beach Hotel to check out the beach there. We had wondered if non guests could visit but decided to take a chance. So in we walked, dripping wet telling ourselves to just look like we knew where we were going. We got to a door to the private pool and beach and the man said "what's your room number?". Without missing a beat, I replied "604" (our room number at our actual hotel!) and off we went to explore the beach haha!! We felt like fugitives. Saw the Burj al Arab building up close and the packed out pool of the hotel. But we only walked for five minutes, and with a towel over our heads, but we still got so hot sweat was pouring off our faces. How do people live here?!?!?!? We were even in wet clothes!

Had a rest at the hotel and ate some more muesli bars and berries (that's been our Dubai diet due to Ramadan!). Then we had a swim in the hotel pool and a lie down. 

Tonight we went back to the Dubai mall and went up the Burj Khalifa. It's the tallest building, tallest structure and tallest freestanding structure in the world standing at 830m high. But don't worry Ian, the viewing platform is "only" 452m and 124 levels up haha. When empty the building weighs 500,000 tonnes, it has 57 elevators, 28,601 glass panels on its outside and 200+ levels. 12,000 workers of 80 different nationalities worked on it between 2004-2009, it can be seen from 95km away on a clear day and has winds of up to 198 km an hour at the top!

Took in the view at the top - very hazy! Lots of desert, ocean and lots of buildings. We've realised in the last two days that we keep comparing Dubai to Las Vegas. Everything is very fake and sometimes tacky. The islands are all man made, the lakes are all man made. The dinosaur bones on display in the mall were flown in from America, and it just feels like everything here is a big flashy display geared at tourists. Bit of a shame the traditional culture has been lost. 

While we were up the top of the building the fast period ended with Iftar/sunset. They handed out Ramadan packs to break the fast including water, chocolate and dates. We got one too! Had a go at another queue jumper in the process (be proud again pa and Ian). People here do not get queues. Think I got pushed in front of about six times today alone, and by number six I'd had enough. So after this girl pushed in front of us and then two men as well, I tapped her on the shoulder and said "excuse me, there's a queue here, we were here first". She looked at me and said something about no one else coming in and that it was ok. So I replied "well where I come from, it's not ok, you don't do that and it's rude". As if I hadn't been stared at enough at the top of the building by wearing a singlet and a skirt (all my longer pants are filthy or sweaty or wet or a combination and I was NOT going to wear jeans), I now got stared at even more. Seriously though. Do I have a sign on my forehead saying "push in front of me?". Rant over - sorry about that!

We came back down, watched the fountain show on the lake (man made of course!) and then had dinner at a place called 'Times of Arabia' which had a middle eastern buffet. We ate lots of delicious food including rice dishes, meat, falafel, dips and bread etc etc. Yummy! The mall was crazy busy with people breaking their fast. A stark contrast to yesterday morning!! Good to see it so full of life. 

Got a taxi back. The driver spoke hardly any English but we had a funny conversation. D = driver, C = me. 

D- you're English?

C- no, Australian

D- Sydney, Melbourne...?

C- Melbourne!

D- ohhhhhh! MCG!

C- yes MCG! We are going there on Sunday!

D- wow!

Hahaha. When he dropped us off I assured him I would say hi to the MCG for him. Unsure if he understood!!!

Now we are in for the night. Tmro morning our plane leaves at 10.10am (4.10pm Melbourne time) and we arrive about 5.30am Sunday. Going to be full on the moment I arrive, with Sophie's birthday lunch at 11.30 and the footy at 4.40. Straight back to uni Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and work Thursday, Friday and Saturday. But I'm Claire, and we all know I only have one mode - busy!!! So as usual I will make it work haha. 

What an incredible nine week adventure this has been. Thank you so much for reading my blog. Whether you read it once, a handful of times or every day, I really appreciate you taking the time to follow our adventures. I'm sad it's over but really grateful for all the incredible experiences I had and all the fantastic new friends I made along the way. There are already talks of a Greek islands reunion in Sydney in November when our American guide comes to visit so that is exciting!!

As for me personally, I feel like this holiday has been really good for me. I've never been a big fan of my own company and I feel like travelling by myself (on tours and completely alone) allowed me to realise I'm capable of doing anything I want to by myself, and allowed me to begin enjoying being by myself!! As I mentioned previously as well, at home I'm so busy that often times I forget to let myself have fun. Well I went from being that person to being the type of person who isn't scared to jump up on the bar the first night in Mykonos and dance like no one is watching. I jumped off a bridge into arctic circle waters, I had some big nights that I paid for the next day, and so much more!! As you know from my blog I had a million more amazing experiences, but most importantly I had fun.

My next adventure begins on January 4 2015 and will see me travelling first to South America (Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil)  and then living in the UK from March to December with my friends I met in January in Asia. I'll be taking some mini adventures whilst in the UK including Iceland, the UK and a tour of the western front that will see me at Villers-Bretonneux (don't know how to spell it!!) for the dawn service for the 100th anniversary of the Anzac landing. I'm hoping also to do a Croatia sail as I enjoyed the Greek one so much. Long story short, I'm iving up to my motto "never stop travelling" and there will be lots more adventures to tune in for. 

Thanks so much once again for reading,

See you all in Melbourne SOON!

Lots of love to all

Claire

Xoxox

Dubai!!

Hey everyone!

I'm back on the air - yay! Turns out you can buy one hour of wifi here for $5. Still a rip off but I can justify that. 

So yesterday (Wednesday), we had brekky and packed up. Then we went for a walk the opposite way to the station (a part of town we hadn't seen) for 30 minutes each way. We came back and checked out and were greeted with a nice surprise. Long story short, the hotel we stayed at used to be a Clarion a Collection hotel. When it was, the room rate included a light buffet dinner at night. In April it changed hands to First Hotels and the room rate no longer included this. Mum queried it and they agreed to give us a discount. Turns out they now give everyone who booked prior to April a 500 krone ($100) refund due to this, and they didn't realise they'd already given this to us. So we got a bonus $100! Usually I probably would have spoken up, but due to the terrible sleep we got at this hotel, I didn't feel bad at all. 

Got the train to the airport and checked in no worries. The flight was a bit turbulent and at one point we dropped quite sharply and to be honest I freaked out a little bit. I think mum and I held hands for a good ten minutes after that. Told you I was nervous! But it was all fine. Passed the time by watching 'Captain America' and 'Divergent', both of which were great!

Walked out of the airport and BAM - 37 degrees and 70% humidity at midnight. I felt like I was being suffocated. Got straight in a cab for the 20 minute journey to our hotel, Fairmont the Palm situated on the Jumeirah Palm island. On the way we saw heaps of lit up skyscrapers, so pretty!

We arrived at the hotel, and staff opened the car and helped us out. We had our luggage carried in for us and were told at reception they'd upgraded us to an ocean view room - woohoo! Because it's Ramadan we are only paying $200 a night here, the room we have is usually $700 a night. It's HUGE! We have everything from TV in the bathroom to a pro coffee machine. We even had our own porter, German (pronounced Herman), who gave us a 'room orientation' and showed us how to use everything. Dad - he's from the Philippines and reminded me so much of Abdul from Malaysia. Please tell Adam!!

We went to sleep about 2am as it's a 2 hour time difference so had a bit of trouble winding down. We are now 6 hours behind Melbs. I got that wrong the other day - sorry!!

Woke up today at 9am, but only because of the alarm. I had the best night's sleep since I slept in my wonderful bed just before I left. So dark, so quiet, so comfy!! Hoorayyyyy!!!!!! Just what is needed before our journey home. 

We ate muesli bars for brekky in our room and then caught the 10am free shuttle from the hotel to the Dubai Mall. Dubai looks so different in the daylight, it's hazy, dusty and dry. It was 45 degrees today and it's a dry heat that makes you feel like you can't breathe. Luckily they are expert air conditioners!

We explored the mall. It's huge and full of expensive brands! Saw the famous aquarium wall, the ice skating rink, the souk market area and even walked outside for 2 minutes to stare at the Burj Khalifa (tallest building in the world). Two minutes was all we could stand - SO HOT! The building is so tall I had to take a panorama to fit the whole thing in a photo!

Ramadan is on now so during the day you have to cover your knees and shoulders, and you can't eat or drink in public between sunrise and sunset. So we had many sneaky toilet and change room drinks. Funny how the minute you're told you can't drink water you're instantly thirsty and have a headache!!

We got a taxi to the Mall of the Emirates. This one was more in our price range, and I bought a dress and a skirt at 'Forever 21' which I love!! So cheap too. We checked out the 'Ski Dubai' indoor ski run, so weird! Also did some grocery shopping. There were 'Ramadan Kareem' decorations everywhere which is sort of like a Ramadan equivalent of wishing someone a merry Christmas. The holy month ends in a few days so they will no longer fast then. 

Next we went back to the hotel and ravenously scoffed down our sandwiches we had bought as we couldn't eat them while out. Then we went for a swim at the hotel's amazing pool! Palm trees, palm island views and skyscrapers in the background. Pool temp perfect! Only downside is that it's so hot the pool ladders and concrete edges burn you! Have a red mark on my arm to prove it too. Went to the private hotel beach but it's so hot the water felt like a spa - yuck!

At 3.55pm we got picked up by our 'Arabian Adventures' guide Fahran. Our land rover had him, us, a German couple and a newlywed couple from Manchester with an Indian background. All were so nice! Fahran was a great guide and very chatty. He talked the whole way telling us interesting things about Dubai and the UAE. For instance the Vice President, prime minister and ruler of the UAE is called Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has 8 million people, but only 1 million of those are locals. Lots of Indians, Egyptians, Syrians and more live here. The Burj Khalifa was finished in 2010, and another famous building called the Burj al Arab was finished in 1999 and was the world's first 7 star hotel. 

Off we went on our adventure. We drove southeast for 45 minutes to an area called Margham, which includes the 227km squared Dubai Desert Conservation Park, and is very close to the border of Oman. We saw wild gazelle and oryx along the way which was awesome. We then arrived at our first stop which was a falcon show. The Bedouin people who were nomads in the desert here used to use these falcons to capture food for their families. Today we saw the falcon swoop and catch some food. 

Back in the land rover in the beautiful air conditioning and we were on our way for some sand duning! There was a convoy of about 30 land rovers and Fahran drove like a maniac, tearing the desert to bits. We flew up and down hills and around corners. It was fun but scary at times! Especially as mum and I were in the back and felt every bump haha. 

We stopped for a photo stop and then another stop to watch the sunset. It was  absolutely stunning. I tried to capture it as best I could on my camera for you guys and I think my camera did an exceptional job, especially considering that drop in St Petersburg caused its light sensor to stuff up a bit. 

Once the sun set, all the drivers madly started eating and drinking as they could break their fast. It was really interesting to see. I don't know how they do it, I am a compulsive water drinker at home, let alone in heat like this....!

Our final stop was a desert camp. Mum and I had a camel ride (bumpy!), I held and patted a falcon (scary!) and we had a nice Arabian dinner. Only problem was all the food was hot of course and after eating it I started to feel sick due to being overheated. So I tipped lots of water on me and lay down and felt a bit better. We were then treated to some stargazing with all the camp lights off and some Tanurra dancing. Usually it's belly dancing but not now due to it being the holy month. But the dancing was great!! Involved a man spinning around a lot and reminded me of the whirling dervishes in Turkey (see post from December 28, 2012). 

We drove back to Dubai and Fahran told us how happy he was now it was cool. It was 34 degrees!!!!! Haha. He said that when the weather here hits 28 degrees or less people wear jackets. Unbelievable! At the camp I had drunk five bottles of water and three glasses of coke to keep cool and hydrated. Seemed like a great idea at the time, but not so much on the one hour trip home. This ended with me literally running through the hotel corridor to make it to the toilet, with mum laughing behind me!! Haha. 

Last full day of our holiday tmro, going to a water park and then up the Burj Khalifa. Speak to you all then!

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox