Around the World

It was a long time coming for this trip... I was going through a tough breakup, work was getting to be too much and I just needed to get away from real life for a while. As my father works for an airline, and I was turning 25 soon, I have to take advantage of the perks that were left for me to travel for free (well nearly, just paying taxes!). Since I have lived most of my teenage years in Dubai, and I now have friends all over the world, I decided to use all that in my favour and take off through the world and visit people I didn’t see in ages, see how they lived and what their new lives consisted of... while at the same time discovering new places.

First stop was going back home to visit my parents in Dubai (as I now live in Sydney), they would kill me if I went on this trip and I didn’t come to visit for at least a few days. So I took off from work that afternoon, and jumped on the train to the International Airport as excited as could be.

Due to my father working in the airline business, I had the possibility to be upgraded... so First Class on Emirates it was! I was over the moon, as that meant that I had my own little private luxury cabin to stretch my legs all to myself for the rest 15 hours.

The new private suite is fully equipped with individual storage, a coat closet, vanity desk and personal mini bar. The extra-large seat reclines to become a fully flat bed, and the 23" wide-screen LCD screen features over 600 channels of ice entertainment... so let's just say I had really comfortable travels

As I arrived to Dubai, whisked my way through passport control (thank you fast track!) and made my way outside to the 40 degree heat and 100% humidity! It was a killer! I found my parents in the crowd so excited to see me! I hugged them both so tightly after not having seen them for 6 months and made our way home. Tyson came outside to greet me when we finally arrived; he is our family Labrador and the cutest thing you will ever see!

The rest of the few days I had in Dubai were spent by my parents spoiling me rotten with their hugs, taking me shopping and mom preparing all her yummy food. We went to the beach club a lot, as I wanted to get my tan going for my travels, having just come from the Australian winter it was not a pretty sight! So me and mom went every morning to swim and tan (early, as by 11 am the heat and humidity were unbearable!)

Burj Khalifa — The Tallest Building in the World had also just opened, so we decided to go visit - 'At The Top' - Burj Khalifa's Observation Deck. Located on level 124, the journey begins in the lower ground level of The Dubai Mall. Throughout the journey to the top, visitors are entertained by a multi-media presentation of the exotic history of Dubai and the marvel of Burj Khalifa. We begin our vertical ascent to the observation deck in a high-speed elevator, travelling at 10 metres per second. As the doors open, floor-to-ceiling glass walls provide a breath-taking unobstructed 360-degree view of the city, desert and ocean. By night, sparkling lights and stars compete for your attention. We then finished our trip with a fantastic yummy Italian Dinner at one of the million of restaurants located in Dubai Mall (biggest mall in the world) and Downtown Dubai (a shopping and entertainment district which surrounds the Burj Khalifa.