And then back to the UAE

You wouldn’t believe it!

We got to the airport 3 hours early to ensure Ron got a seat with plenty of legroom – success – got the exit seats – plenty of room for his long legs……should be a good flight!

Once on the plane we were seated next to 2 families with 6 kids between them - all quite small. The mothers were just great and did everything possible to occupy them, keep them quiet etc. One father was absolutely useless and should have been thrown out from about 30,000 ft – waste of oxygen he was! The other father was helpful and tried his very best to assist his wife and the kids. HOWEVER the trip was through turbulence for over 85% of the flight and the kids had to be restrained in their seat belts for hours on end. The baby in the bassinette had to be moved everytime the seatbelt sign went on and of course the poor mother had to be up and down and struggling with the lapsash addition to restrain him…………….and it just went on and on! No amount of effort by the poor parents could keep the kids settled. The staff were besides themselves with trying to keep them all safe and belted up as the plane bounced its way across the world.

Between the bouncing, the parents trying so hard to keep the kids settled and the crew constantly checking that they were all restrained appropriately we just didn’t get a moments rest and hit Abu Dhabi at midnight completely b*ggared to find we had to wait at the airport for 2 and ½ hours for the bus to Al Ain. By the time we got home at 4.30 am, 22 hours after hitting Sydney airport, we were absolutely shattered!

However we are now back in our apartment, settled into work and looking forward to all the adventures and fun of another year in the UAE. I am already concocting stories about the last two weeks - so watch this space!