Sunday 31^st August & Monday 1^st September              DUBAI  -  BRISBANE

Well, we are back in Australia – safely ensconced at the Hotel Hooley with Cait, Mikeal and Danny, and very happy to be here!

Yesterday morning we set the alarm for 6. After yet another jetlag affected night, we weren’t at all keen, but hauled ourselves out, got dressed, finished our packing and weighed the bags. Mine came in at 31.5, so my poor old fraying Skechers and old black cardigan went in the bin! After that, we were pretty good with weight, so headed down to breakfast.

The front desk called us a taxi, which came straight away, so we were whisked off and were at the airport by 7.30. Then came all the usual check-in (long lines so we were glad we were early), security and a browse around the duty-free shops. I just had to buy a fridge magnet and a camel! (And some Dubai chocolate for Mikeal – we can report that it is VERY dark and rich.)

We were loaded onto the plane pretty much on time for our supposed 10.35am departure, but unfortunately the airport was very busy, and we sat on the tarmac for at least three quarters of an hour waiting. But we were finally on our way for the 14-and-a-half-hour journey.

                                             Our Emirates Airbus being loaded.

It passed slowly, as these trips do. We watched a lot of screen time. I saw three movies I’d missed at the cinemas: Wicked, The Barbie Movie and the latest version of Little Women. I enjoyed them all. Lex watched Lincoln and various documentaries. In the last couple of hours, I gave up on trying to find something new and just binge-watched Series 7 of Friends! Lex dozed a couple of times but I could only manage one 20-minute nap. They fed us three times, and as usual the meals were very good.

We finally landed in Brisbane at 7am on the Monday morning. This was 10pm UK time, which our bodies were pretty much still on, so no wonder we’d found it hard to sleep on the plane. It seemed to take ages to get off the plane, get through baggage and customs, and find the pickup area, but we finally got to meet Cait there just after 8. Then it was home to have hugs with a very happy Danny!

It’s been a very quiet day – we both had solid naps for a couple of hours in the middle of the day. There’s been plenty of Danny time! I went out to get groceries with Cait and Danny this afternoon while Lex repacked his bags, Mikeal has cooked a delicious pork stir fry, and we are looking forward to an early night – hopefully to sleep long and soundly. Let’s see what jetlag has in store for us tonight…..

But it’s so good to be back in Australia!

                                                         Grandy doing bedtime story!