Sunday 21st
The alarm was set for 5am and yep, it went off right on time, talked myself into staying in bed until it went off again at 5.30, can't ignore it a second time, quick shower, final pack, a look around the room, yep got everything and out the door, taxi arrives and we are on our way to Gare du Nord train station, which takes you out to Charles de Gualle airport, with the slowest taxi driver In all of Paris, I think he thought at that hour of the morning he would take us on the tourist route, then at the station, trying to buy a ticket I must have got the only ticket seller that didn't speak English, now even I should have realized that this day was not going to get better, train trip to the airport was fine but then we walked into the terminal and still the alarm bells were not going off in my head, in Europe if your purchases are over a certain amount you request the store to provide you with a tax free form and you lodge them at the last airport that you leave Europe from to get a refund and Chrissy was determined to lodge them, when we got there the line up was so long, looking around I saw on the monitors about a strike with Air France and passenger please go to the information booth, no warning bells going off yet, finally forms lodged and posted and then down to Emirates to check in, that was fast and then went for breakfast as our flight wasn't until 11.20 and it was now only around 8.40am, after breakfast decided to head for customs early and get all that over and done with and sit down and relax, yeah, right, hit the customs area and the alarm bells went off big time, it was wall to wall people and the line was not moving, for some reason the Air France strike had thrown everything into utter chaos, after over an hour we finally got through passport control and then hell broke loose again with the security check, it was a nightmare, getting through we rushed to our terminal to find that boarding had already started,
On the flight to Dubai we met a young steward that was from Melbourne and was formally a paramedic at the Alfred Hospital, and over 4 months ago decided to have a life change and became an airline steward and has been living in Dubai for only 4 months and loving it, yep after he found out we were from Bendigo, we got a little spoilt.
Dubai airport this time was a breeze and we were through in no time, collect our luggage and go to find the car that was to take us to our hotel, car did I say, try limousine!!! Didn't expect that, ( thank you Jo at TCB) we are staying at the Sofitel, Jumeirah Beach, lovely, 

Monday
A long day and a late night for both of us and finally settling down to a good nights sleep to wake up to a beautiful sunny day, we are overlooking the beach and the view is stunning although the distance is hazy, a quick change for me and down to the pool, wow!!! Water cold, didn't expect that but once in, so refreshing, another quick change and off to breakfast we go, fresh fruit, crepes and strawberries with maple syrup and the much needed coffee, then back to poolside we go to settle for the day. The pool is an infinity pool overlooking the street below and the ocean and I ain't moving from it.