Travel Story #1 from Dubai and Stockholm by Jenny May

Dear All

Leaving Sydney on the evening on 1st Aug Dubai was our first stop. It was an interesting place with masses of construction sites even in the downtown area. Being summer it was very hot and humid. The min temp at night was 33 degrees and we had max temps of 43 for the 3 days we were there. Fortunately the air conditioning is everywhere, including the little shops in the souks (markets), and it was a saviour. Because of the humidity there is a heavy haze for all of their summer and even my camera lens fogged up a couple of times when I turned the camera on soon after venturing outside. That being said we had an interesting time and even managed to walk around the gold and spice souks for a couple of hours - looking not buying! 

My travel companions are the usual 3 couples - Sue and Adam, Lorrie and Graham, Robyn and Geoff - plus one of my friends from work, Ping. Highlights from Dubai were a visit to the observation terrace on the 124th floor of the tallest building in the world (Burj Khalifeh) from where we watched a choreographed fountain display far below, a desert safari with dinner in Bedouin camp and high tea at the Skybar of the Burj Al Arab which is the sail shaped building. High tea was a 7 course affair and none of us could eat everything that was served to us despite not having lunch except for a piece of fruit. The Burj Al Arab is a 7 star hotel with elaborate gold and blue decor. Unless you have a booking at one of the restaurants or hotel you cannot even get past the boom gate on the bridge to the hotel! Even then you are only allowed in half an hour before your reservation. It was magnificent but a little over the top. 

The desert safari was about an hour out of town and included 4 wheel "hooning" up and down over the dunes. It was an amazing sight to see a row of Toyota Landcruisers all keeping their distance and sliding over the dunes. There were 23 cars in our group each with 6 passengers plus another group of cars of a similar number and this happens every day of the year! A little gold mine for Arabian Adventures (owned by Emirates Airlines, as was our hotel, the J W Marriott Marquis). Also included was a falcon show, camel ride, belly dancer show and dinner whilst sitting on the cushions around low tables. A touristy thing but quite interesting nonetheless with more than enough tasty food for everyone. Although we didn't partake of these there was also henna painting and water pipe smoking.

After Dubai we left the hotel at 4.15am for our flight to Stockholm. The direct route was over Eastern Ukraine but I was pleased to see that we veered to the east and avoided Ukrainian air space completely.

After one and a half days in Stockholm we are now at the airport for our flight to Tallinn in Estonia. We had a fabulous young guide, Natalie, for our private tour of Stockholm and have done lots of walking over cobblestones. Some of the places visited included Gamla Stan (the old town), the Royal Palace, City Hall, Skansen outdoor museum and the amazing Vasa which is a huge ship that was built in 1628 and only sailed for 20 minutes before sinking in the Baltic Sea. 333 years later (1961) it was raised and restored and is now in an indoor museum. 98% of it is the original. Stockholm is a pretty city covering 14 islands between a lake and the Baltic Sea. 

Before this gets any longer I will finish off and try to send another one soon.

Love 

Jenny