Week 30 - One Daily Positive

I was in Germany for the week visiting friends we knew when we all lived in South Africa. Child 4 was also in Germany this week with work, but a 2 hour drive north from Munich. I'll see him on Saturday morning when I fly back into Manchester as he'll be collecting me with 4a when they drive over from Belfast via Liverpool for the week.

Peter spent the weekend with friends in Istanbul and is now back working in Dubai.

I'm spending the days on my own while Dirk and Jacques are in work, the evenings are spent putting the world to rights. There's not much English spoken in this part of Germany, but I'm doing ok with ordering coffee, food and buying train tickets.

I also took a drive over the border to Innsbruck in Austria, although I'm used to driving on the right hand side of the road, I've never driven a manual left hand drive, in fact I rarely drive manuals these days so hill starts through the tiny villages in the Alps were a bit of a challenge.

203 Sunday I woke to torrential rain, it was lovely, we don't get rain like this in Dubai and I haven't seen any since I arrived in the UK the end of May. We spent the day at a medieval festival.

204 Monday I explored Wolfratshausen on foot and visited a fairyland theme park.

205 Tuesday A lie in and then off to Munich on the train. I love how the municipality puts chairs out for people to just sit and watch the world go by in the city centre.

206 Wednesday I drove to Austria and visited Innsbruck for the day. Check out My Sunday Photo tomorrow.

207 Thursday Peter announced he had some days off in August and booked himself a flight to Greece in 3 weeks time, I've of course booked a flight to join him from the UK and now looking for somewhere to stay. I visited Starnberg and the lakes today.

208 Friday Coffee, packed, finished reading my book and flew back to Manchester. I stayed in airport hotel.

209 Saturday Up early and collected by 4 and 4a on their way over from Belfast for the week. Later tonight I'm going to Newport to a friends 50th birthday.

I've been using Google Maps to travel throughout Germany by car, train and on foot. I used their maps to drive to Austria. Yesterday I typed in my destination, it tried to take me through car parks and over fences. I clicked the bus symbol, caught the 288 and was at the hotel in under 4 mins. Why didn't the damn thing work when I got back?

On the blog this week:

I didn't realise how crap my life was until I switched on the TV in the UK and saw the adverts.

Should I seize the day more? Say sod it to the G&T and extra slice of cake? It's all about balance and starting point.

Did you know in 2018, people still walks miles to get fresh drinking water? Life in a township in South Africa

Days out with Kids - A visit to Birmingham airport.

My husband flew back to Dubai from Birmingham the last day of the Easter holidays. Our 6 year old niece knows we live a long way away and have to go on an aeroplane to get home and that it takes all night for us to travel. We've shown her our home in Dubai on google earth, plotted the journey on a map, shown her pictures and videos of us taking off and landing in planes, but she had no idea of what getting on a plane involves, so we decided to take her along for a visit to Birmingham airport.

After an hour of ispy and 'this is boring' (it was a 90 minute car journey), we neared the airport and asked O to help us navigate. This involved finding the picture of the plane, the junction number and knowing our left and rights. This is a trip we make on a regular basis and know the route like the back of our hands, but we let O believe she was in charge.

My sister had already warned me not to use the sat nav as O will argue with the woman on there.

We had to return the car hire in Peter's name and made the short walk to the airport terminal.

Stopping to look at the aeroplanes and holding Uncle Peter's hand really tightly as she didn't want him to leave.

After checking the departure board, O declared where we needed to be to get the ticket from.

 O watched with interest and asked questions until she was satisfied the check in staff would get Uncle Peter's case on the aeroplane.

 As we were early, we took a walk around the terminal and took a trip or 3 on the monorail, purely for entertainment.

 O was really sad she didn't have a ticket, but asked Uncle Peter if she could come next time and saw this picture of Dubai and recognised it from our face book photos.

 After saying goodbye to Uncle Peter and a few tears and way too many questions as to why O couldn't go on the plane to say further goodbyes, we wandered off to find the viewing platform as we had 2 hours before the next car hire was ready. (I was carrying the car seat the entire time).

The viewing area is no longer available, which is a shame and the only place to see the aircraft is now the tiny gap at arrivals, which was crammed with people awaiting their loved ones. So it was back on the monorail, we explored the NEC, ate our pack lunch, bought a cup of tea in a cafe and sat in the car rental office for 30 minutes doing some colouring in.

After an uneventful journey back to South Wales and more ispy, O finally fell asleep and when we got back we checked the app to see where Uncle Peter was.

We paid a visit to the park, to let off some energy after the car journey home and then there were tears at bedtime because she really hadn't wanted Uncle Peter to go home.

This was a whole new experience for O , she sees us only once or twice a year and was actually born the month after we moved from the UK, but she is a big part of our lives and us of hers. O is happy just to spend time with us, she doesn't need entertaining by throwing expensive gifts at her (that's our need, not hers) she just wants to be with us, doing the normal day to day stuff. We'd love to give her the ill experience and surprise her with a trip to Dubai, but sadly she is epileptic and my sister's health currently prevents her from travelling out to Dubai.

One Daily Positive 2017 Week 2 After the visitors

There's a bit of a change on the blog, I'm still Chickenruby and in my 8th year of blogging, I've just decided to drop the words 'Expat' 'solo travel' and 'family life'

I'm not really sure what an expat is anymore, Dubai is just where I live now, like South Africa before that and various places in the UK before that. My youngest child finished school this June, although he left home over 3 years ago now. The solo travel isn't really solo, I stay with friends and family in places where I've lived. The world of the internet is full of blog posts on 'how to pack a suit case' 'best places to visit with kids' I don't need to keep reinventing the wheel.

This month is also the 6th anniversary of us leaving the UK. As well as writing my weekly #Project 365, HDYGG? Animal Tales and My Sunday Photo Photo posts, I will be reflecting quite a bit, as I celebrate 25 years of parenting in May this year.

The visitors have gone, they left on Tuesday. I must admit I am enjoying the peace and quiet, but I know it won't last long. It's hard being an expat, family come and it's an intense few weeks, then nothing till the next trip, which will be me visiting the UK in March/April.

The last few days were busy with a desert safari on Sunday and I managed to get the christmas decorations down on Monday when the kids popped to the beach, followed by a visit to the Aquarium, some last minute shopping and a new suitcase for me with industrial wheels followed by afternoon tea at The Palace Hotel. Peter and the teen spent the evening installing a new TV and sound bar.

It was an early start, 4am on Tuesday to the airport for the goodbyes, it doesn't get any easier. I then spent the day cleaning and blitzing the house. 

Wednesday involved a lie in, food shop and coffee. The decorations were put away, although there is still a set of lights to come down but it's a two person job. I did the ironing, a bit more tidying and then headed off to a friends house where Peter joined me for a pub quiz and dinner.

Thursday morning was spent gardening, then off to work to collect my final salary pay cheque, I opted not to let anyone know I was coming and left some stuff in reception. I called in at the garden centre on my way home, followed by dinner and an early night.

Friday and another lie in, took Bob for a play date, followed by my first proper night out out in Dubai with some of the girls from work, which saw me dancing on the beach, drinking cocktails and getting home at 3.30am. 

Saturday and another lie in, took Bob to soft play for an hour and spent the evening on the sofa with the duvet.

I'm determined to find something new to do with our next lot of visitors.
8/365 Goals.

Afternoon tea at The Palace Hotel with my niece my first visit here and 1st time I've been defeated. 
9/365 New.

Could only find gluten free bread so I'm toasting it in the hope it's tastes better. I really need to start eating more healthily, but it's been difficult with all the visitors.
10/365 Make up

The first time since I left work that I've had a chance to tidy up properly and find a place for everything 11/365 Smells Good.

First meal I've cooked from scratch in ages.
12/365 I'm cooking.

Duvet day in preparation for going out.
13/365 Inspire.

Taking Bob to soft play

14/365 Car.

This week on the blog.

My Sunday Photo 'S is for Selfie'
HDYGG with a visit to Zaabeel, Dubai Garden Glow
And a post about 'why I'm done with being a tour guide' with #PoCoLo

I'm done with being a tour guide

Since November 18th 2016 we've welcomed a friend, my mother, 2 kids and our niece into our home for a holiday. For my mother and our niece it's been their first and probably only visit to Dubai. For the kids it will be their last trip for a year or so.

It's been busy, expensive and very tiring. Up until December 16th I was working full time and despite it being winter in Dubai, at 28c most days it was too hot for my mother to go out in the day, so we did things on the weekends and evenings instead.

With all the places visited and time spent cooking meals, extra washing and tidying as well as just time spent sitting and chatting, the housework got neglected.

I wrote something similar in 2015 after yet another spate of visitors. Despite knowing Dubai well now, I still don't know what everyone wants to do and it's hard work organising everything.

My wallet also suffered quite badly and while I don't begrudge a single dirham we spent, it has been a very expensive 2 months. I've given up work now, I don't think I would've managed that as well after Christmas. Although everyone paid their own way, they were heavily subsidised and of course there were my costs. Purchasing the Entertainer App at AED 445 (£99) saved a lot of money with 2 for 1 deals, but paid for itself with one visit to Wild Wadi water park and I made sure we ate and visited where possible, the places available on the app.

I have of course visited many places on my own as a tourist when I first visited here and with Peter on weekends and many more places have opened and changed over the past 3 years. I had thought we'd use more public transport, something I do when I'm on my own, but we really didn't have the time with everything we wanted to fit in. Fuel costs are low and parking almost everywhere is free.

While everyone chipped in and bought ice creams and coffees, laid the table, tidied up, collected their washing and did the ironing (thanks Dan) I am glad they've all gone home now and I have some time on my own, time to tidy and clean the house, catch up with neglected paperwork, get on with various projects, blog and just work to my own schedule, I know that in a few weeks I'll be bored, lonely and looking for something to do.

What I need now is a holiday, to a place where things are new to me, a place I can explore, relax in and chill out away from home. While all our visitors are on holiday, I live in Dubai, it's home, it's not a holiday destination for me.

We're off to Luxor at the end of the month for a few days, which although is a place we visited around 10 years ago, it's somewhere we've always wanted to go back to. We have a few other trips lined up to the UK and will be visiting Leeds and Northern Ireland where 2 of our kids live and hopefully a visit to Dublin and Munich to see friends who used to live in South Africa. It will be nice to explore some new places. But when we're back at home in the South West we just spend our time visiting people and not being tourists. It would be lovely if on this trip we visited places with family and friends rather than sitting in their house or having coffee in town.

We've decided that future visitors will be given a Nol travel card, a map, sim card and instructions on how everything works, they will book their own flights, change their own money and will be given a quick tour so they can get their bearings. We will of course join in with a few things, dinners etc, but we just can't keep up this level of entertainment and cost.

So if you're coming out to see us any time soon, you have been warned and if we're coming over to see you, be prepared to provide us with a list of things to do where you live, that you think we'll like to visit. We'll sort our own flights, money, sim cards, car hire etc.

I know it sounds harsh, but we really have enjoyed all our visitors over the previous 6 years, both here in Dubai and in South Africa, but we're done now with being tour guides.

This is where Peter and I have been over the past 2 months and we've done these places most times we've had visitors, regardless of their length of stay, family or friends, with and without kids.

Desert Safari x 1
Miracle Gardens x 1
Wild Wadi x 1
Dubai Garden Glow x 1
Rain Forest x 1
Afternoon tea x 2
Led display x 2
Global Village x 2
Burj Khalifa x 2
Aquariums x 2
City Walk x 2
Walk along the canal x 3
Ferry and Souks x 3
Souk Madinat x 3
Fountains x 5
Mercato Mall x 5

Too many visits to count
Mall of the Emirates
Dubai Mall
Meals out
Trips to the desert
Visits to the beach

Other Malls visited
Outlet Village, Mirdiff City Centre, Oasis Mall, Marina Mall

Airport runs -  collections and drop off's x 8

Week 79 - My Sunday Photo

According to ground staff at OR Tambo airport, the reason my bag split was because I'd over filled it. However this tin didn't get damaged like this from being tightly packed. I think something ran over my bag. 

Week 33 - My Sunday Photo

When you live as an expat there are many tears.

Tears of joy for hello.

Tears of sadness for goodbye.

There is also lots of coffee as you sit and wait for your family and friends to arrive.

Expats don't need to programme the airport into their GPS/Sat Nav.

Their car takes them there, like your car does the school run or the journey to work.

Expats know the best parking.

Expats always have the right change for the fees.

Expats spend so much time at the airport that their phones and laptops automatically connect to the wifi, just like it does when they walk through their front door at at home.

This morning at 5am I've dropped hubby at T1 Dubai Airports, he's off to Turkey with work for the week.

We never drop and run, we always park up and say a proper goodbye.

I have 2 hours on my ticket, I wait at the airport until he's at the gate, I sit and have a coffee, he calls me, I go home. Track his flight, he messages when he arrives at the airport and again at the hotel.

Then we both get on with the week and we do the same in reverse on Friday when he comes home.

Week 28 - My Sunday Photo. Fed up with Ramadan

I didn't plan it this way but I left Dubai for Canada the day before Ramadan and have been away for 3 weeks.

I returned on Thursday evening and needed a coffee and a smoke after a 13 hour flight. But it was still day light and the coffee shop at the airport was closed and it is illegal to eat/drink/smoke in public during daylight hours.

However there were people smoking, hubby was happy to wait for the sun to set (within the next 15 minutes) and while I then had a cigarette he queued for coffee when the Costa opened up.

Yesterday we went to the Mall, not only was every coffee store closed for business but the chairs and tables in the food hall had been put to one side. The supermarket was open, we shopped, I bought fresh bread, as I paid and in a moment of weakness, I automatically tore off a piece of the bread and popped it in my mouth, the very second I did it, I took it out and was mortified I'd broken the law.

Today we went to the Mall of Emirates. Most coffee shops were closed, however several were open for take aways and I've been told a lot of non muslims take their work breaks in the bathrooms so they can eat.

I find it very strange that there are screens around the food counters in the coffee shops that are open for takeaways, yet no screening at all from the supermarkets and as usual they were busy as you'd suspect on a Saturday in a major city.

The food hall at Ski Dubai end was open, this photo is one of the many screens covering the entrance.   Hubby had some lunch and I wanted a coffee, but they don't sell coffee in the food hall.

You'll see on the sign that it does say 'legal action will be taken and fines issued'

I've chosen to live in Dubai, a Muslim country and I am more than happy to live by the laws of the country I live in. To be out in a city centre on a weekend where there are no gangs of youths, no one swigging alcohol from brown paper bags, no fear of any danger or risk is truly wonderful.

My first thought about this was New Years Eve on the beach in Dubai. There were 17,000 people on the beach watching the fireworks at the Atlantis. Can you imagine that number? Now realise that not one single person had consumed alcohol and understand why I'm happy to obey the laws of the country I live in. No worries about something kicking off, no worries about getting caught up in any violence, no drunken youths spoiling our night.

The local papers, websites, employers, social media and the government issue guidelines for behaviour, eating and drinking and what you can wear and can't wear. They also make it quite clear that this is 'The Law' not a recommendation.

So why am I fed up with Ramadan? Because people are flaunting the rules. I can only assume that the two young men eating and drinking outside Carrefore were tourists and they were approached by security. The many women with strapless tops and cut off shorts must have also been tourists, I mean if they lived here they'd know the law, wouldn't they? Or are they just complacent?

I'm assuming that almost 100% of people who arrive in Dubai, do so by air, yet I didn't see one sign or poster or leaflet letting visitors know it was Ramadan and what to expect and to obey the laws. Nothing was mentioned on the plane prior to landing and when I received my email from Emirates to remind me to check in the day before I flew, there was no additional notification about Ramadan.

Perhaps I missed it all, perhaps it's not deemed necessary as after all what kind of mad tourist comes to Dubai in the summer anyway?

So maybe everyone who I've seen inappropriately dressed, smoking or eating and drinking in public during daylight hours lives in Dubai and thinks they are exempt from the law?

How to extend a tourist visa for Dubai

Well despite asking the Flight Centre in the UK, visiting Emirates desk at Birmingham, Dubai and South Africa and even asking at passport control in Dubai. I was still none the wiser until I came across this site after asking several different questions prior to booking my sons flight to Dubai.

I was told you can renew your 30 day tourist visit in Dubai, when you get there.

But when you get there, no one at the airport is remotely interested, they just stamp your passport and wave you through.

We booked for our son to fly to the UK from South Africa with a 35 day stop over in Dubai. He is due to fly back to the UK on Tuesday 27th January, 5 days over the 30 day visa.

The cost to change is flight with Emirates is around £75. I'm still unsure what the difference is between a tourist visa and a visit visa, one can be extended either by visiting a place in town or making a visa run flight over the boarder. Which is all explained in the above link.

The youngest child, although in school in the UK will be applying for residency here so we don't have to go through this hassle when he visits for the long school holidays.

I wish this had been made clearer to us when we were booking his flight.

He is now flying back to the UK on the 21st January 2015 and I'm losing a precious week of time with him before he joins the British Army on March 1st.

Today I extended my tourist visa for another 30 days. Apparently it's a quick and easy process, but it took just under 7 hours to do and cost around AED 800 each (approx £140)

5.22am taxi to airport
5.59am check in
7.15am bus to plane
7.35am board plane
8.10am take off to Oman
9.05am land
9.15am bus to terminal
9.25am step off bus, enter terminal, walk up one fight of stairs, turn left, walk down corridor, go through security checks, walk down one flight of stairs
9.33am bus to plane
9.40am board same plane you just arrived with same passengers and cabin crew
10.11am take off
10.52am land in Dubai
11.10am bus
11.25am duty free a benefit to the flight
11.31am taxi
12.06pm hotel

Things to do at Dubai airport for 6 3/4 hours

I'm in transit from South Africa to the UK and booked my flight too late, so instead of the usual 2 hours in Dubai I'm here for nearly 7 hours.

The 8 hour flight was uneventful, but I didn't sleep much, with Mr Elbows next to me and I'm struggling to stay awake, having woken on Sunday at 7.30am.

The first thing I did was to go to a departure gate and grab a trolley, with it I've explored Terminal B & C, been in every shop, finished my book, drank endless coffees, had a shower, found wifi and the smoking lounge, read a book, tweeted, face booked and sorted photos and files on my laptop.

I am shattered. It's 1.30pm here in Dubai. 11.30am in South Africa and 9.30am in the UK. I think it's Monday.

Off now to gate B31, which is the opposite end of where I am now, I have coffee (again), still have my trolley which is now more of a walking aid and I'm going to sit right at the gate where hopefully someone will wake me should I fall asleep before my next 7 hour flight.

My Sunday Photo - Goodbyes

Think life as an expat is fantastic? There are moments like this when we have to say goodbye that I'd happily give it all up. My 15yo has grown up so much over the past year and I'm so proud of him making these long haul flights on his own.

Fight or Flight? What would you do?

I wrote a blog post which was published on Monday about How safe is South Africa?

Today we were victims of a crime and all the advice we have been given about maintaining our safety in South Africa went out the window and I experienced 'fight or flight'

I always said I would I would run the opposite direction and I'd let a thief take what they wanted to, to protect myself, but until you're actually put in that situation you really don't know what you'd do.

I fought back, I chased a thief.

MIL arrived from the UK this morning. We sat and drank coffee while waiting for hubbies flight from Dubai, which landed an hour later. We walked down to the parking lot, paid for the ticket and as we opened the boot a guy insisted on helping us with our luggage. We told him no, but he grabbed the cases and put them in the car, then he started rearranging the cases. I told him no more and gave him R5 to go away.

We closed the boot and got into the car, but something stopped me, made me check the boot.

My first thought was he had marked the car and was going to phone ahead to hijackers, to intercept us on our way out of the airport.
Then I noticed hubbies hand luggage case was unzipped on the side. I asked hubby if he had his passport, he said it was in the side pocket of his hand luggage.

As I closed the boot and looked towards where the man had gone, I saw him start to run. I yelled at hubby, 'he's stolen your passport' and before he could get out of the car, I'd taken chase.

I ran up the escalator, looked left and right and saw him at the top of the next escalator, I ran after him, out the door, across the 2 roads, towards the long stay car park and the hotels.

For a split second I thought about running into the police station, but I really didn't want to lose him and go through the hassle of replacing a passport.

As I caught up with him I grabbed him on the shoulder and yelled 'Give me my f***ing passport back, NOW'

He removed it from his jacket pocket and said he'd found it on the floor. I snatched the passport and yelled 'you f***ing liar, you stole it' and turned and ran to the police station.

It was only as I entered the building that fear spread over me like a big wave. He could've had a gun, this is South Africa, Johannesburg.

I had no control over my behaviour. I fought, it was a natural instinct, one that I will have to learn to supress.

If the incident was captured on CCTV it'll look like I was the one who committed the crime. I was so bloody angry.

Stolen? Mislaid? Why should we pay extra for our security?

Missing and disappearing things

It seems to be an accepted fact that things go missing in South Africa. I suppose really I should say stolen...but then I don’t have any proof of that, unless of course the one time my lap top and camera ‘disappeared’ from hubbies suit case as he left OR Tambo airport, Johannesburg or the monthly occurrences of envelopes arriving but open and contents missing, including the actual letter.

When I check in at OR Tambo airport I'm asked the usual security questions 'did you pack your own bag, etc?' and then no matter who I'm flying with the airline staff say ’we know stuff will be stolen from your bag, so we suggest you get your bag wrapped at the cost of 60 Rand per bag.

This really annoys me. The airlines know there is a chance items will be stolen for your suitcase as it travels to the plane, the airport must be aware this goes on or they wouldn't allow bag wrappers to operate inside the airport.

WTF? I’m already paying for a service, why should I have to then pay extra to stop my stuff being stolen? I don't have to pay more to leave the UK or Dubai (my frequent destinations)

There is only one solution and that's to employ better security, more CCTV and in the meantime I'd like to see the airlines increase the hand luggage allowance because as an expat, I fly frequently and have to carry documents, electronic equipment back and forth and as I can't put ANY of it in my checked in luggage, I have to carry it all on my person and I'd like to travel lighter, especially long haul flights.


Then there is the ‘lost’ post...it arrives, a slip is sent you collect your parcels and packages...easy peasy, except the slips don’t arrive and the parcels are returned to sender.
Except the parcels never reach the sender and the t-shirt and cap I sent which I declared on the customs form and the three cards I wrote (probably looked like birthday cards with money in them) never reached their destination.


You can't just pay for a stamp you pay to have everything sent with a tracking order, which can add up to 50 Rand on a letter and at least double the value of the gift and then you try tracking your tracking order and if it goes missing good luck getting a reply from the post office.
It's the same for post coming into the country. Why aren’t family and friends told by the UK postal service when they send a gift to South Africa that I have to pay a customs fee if it ever arrives? Why doesn’t the UK Postal Service advise all customers that when sending post to South Africa they should do it by recorded delivery so there is a tracking number so if the slip never arrives I can at least still collect the parcel, once I’ve paid customs clearance?


And why should we all pay twice? Is there anywhere else in the world where so much stuff goes ‘missing’?


I personally think the post office and the airport should tackle the issue head on and stop taking my money twice.