Dubai Ferry trip

There are several routes available, travel along the coast  or take a look at The Palm from the sea, or just pop to one of the fabulous beaches in Jumeriah away from the tourists.

For up to date information on times, locations and costs visit the RTA website

Catching the ferry from either Dubai Marina or Al Ghubaiba, Deira Creek is a must do if visiting Dubai. The trip costs AED 50 and lasts for 90 minutes. After a brief safety demo, the ferry sets off out the harbour.

We started our trip from the Creek, catching the bus from our house on the Al Wasl Road, on our arrival at the Marina, we travelled home on the tram, train and bus. 

Food and snacks were served on the ferry and you were free to walk around talking as many photos as you wanted, which of course my son and I did in abundance.

The ferry travels approximately 1km from the shore line and the views are simply stunning. On this day I had a headache so stayed mainly indoors, so please excuse the reflection in the windows. To be able to see all of Dubai in one go is astounding.

We can see the Burj Al Arab from the beach near our house, but when approaching from the Mairina area by road you can only see the top half of the building and despite the sail looking very close to the Al Arab there is now such much building going on around the area you can only see this iconic view now from the air or sea.

The last part of the journey is entering Dubai Marina, again the shore line is simply stunning.

Dubai Marina Mall, final destination from where you can get the tram, tube or a taxi back to your hotel or home. After a spot of lunch and shopping of course.

Olympic Games - Barcelona 1992 #TimeTraveller

This is me aged 21 with my 2 month old first born child, who has never forgiven me for abandoning him at such a young age to leave him for a week and travel to Barcelona to watch the Games of the 25th Olympiad.

I won a trip for 2 to the Olympic Games, all travel, accommodation, tickets and luggage in The Daily Express newspaper. All I had to do was identify 5 athletes over the week and send my answer 'on the back of a postcard'

I am a huge athletics fan and this was a dream come true for me. I'd given up my dream of competing around the age of 12 and now with a new baby and only a few weeks before the games started I assumed that this was another dream that was over.....until I got the phone call.

Arriving at Heathrow there was a little bit of publicity, interview and photo's before boarding the flight and arriving at our hotel in Sitges.

Flowers and champagne awaited us and that evening we got to meet the other competition winners. Everyone else had won via various other methods, including one man who opened a mars bar to see on the wrapper 'you've won tickets for 2 to the Olympic games'

We travelled round the venues in a group, we had dinner together and transport laid on into Barcelona in the evenings so we could explore the city.

For me these Olympics were the greatest games ever and although the stadiums and ceremonies have got bigger and better, nothing will ever take away from me seeing Germany compete as one country after the Berlin Wall came down. Hearing all the new country names after the Iron Curtain and wondering how these names were pronounced. Recognising international athletes who I knew as coming from the USSR yet not existing as an entity anymore. Supporting South Africa compete in International sport for the first time during Apartheid, if a spectator didn't have a countryman in that event you can guarantee if South Africa were represented they supported them.

We took part in the then largest and longest Mexican wave at the swimming events, boo'd Ben Johnson on his return to the sport after his drug's ban. Screamed ourselves hoarse at Linford Christie in the 100m's and travelled to the hockey and the rowing events and stood in silence when medals were given and national anthems played.

I had the most amazing holiday of a lifetime, one I talk about often and I would love to revisit Barcelona one day. Some of the world's greatest athletes competed at those games and went on to be some of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen and i am proud to have been there.

My Gran on Holiday 1940's with #timetraveller

It's 10 years ago next month that my Gran died. We finally got round to unpacking the last few boxes after our move in December which contained photo albums and childhood books of mine.

I'm off to the UK next week and will be visiting the crematorium in Newport.

My Gran is never far from my thoughts and every time we move I think about how proud she would be of us living abroad and although if she was still alive, she'd be 102, she'd not have made the trip to South Africa or Dubai, but she would have loved every photo and every letter and I can guarantee every member of the WI and the church would know about our travels.

So as my Gran is no longer here, I thought I'd show you some of her travels.

On the ferry from Torquay to Brixham 1940's

Gran 2nd from right

Bournemouth 1964

Gran and Granddad
Sadly I never met my Granddad, he died a few years before I was born.

Drusilla Zoo 1975
Me and my Gran, I have many fond memories of holidays with or at my Grans, just sadly not too many photo's from back then.

Porthcawl 1980

L-R back to front

Mum, Uncle, Me, Gran, Aunt, Cousin, Sister

Regardless of the weather, we always got on the beach, there's no month on the back of the photo, but it would've been the school holidays as we lived in York in 1980.

Teignmouth 1987

Uncle Joe and Gran

 Not a lot has changed over the years, apart from maybe the stripy deck chairs on the beach. I've seen numerous photo's this summer of people on the beach with their families in their wet weather gear, being 'typically British' and many photo's of families visiting Drusilla Zoo.

Family Holiday to The Bay of Arcachon France 2004

With 4 boys and a disabled daughter finding holidays that suited our budget and the wide range of kids needs we spent a lot of time in France for our holidays, usually in Brittany taking an overnight ferry from Portsmouth on a Friday night so we could sleep on the journey, arriving in San Malo with a short car trip to reach our Gite for a week. As our daughter doesn't travel well, doesn't particularly like the beach and wanting to take the boys away for longer and to enable them to have some quality time with us, we opted not to take her on this trip and travelled further a field to spend 2 weeks in Andernos Les Bains in the Bay of Arcachon.

We rented a 3 bed self catering chalet and loaded the car with the bikes and 4 excited boys 

aged 5, 9, 12 & 15

11 years on we only have fond and happy memories of this holiday and it is one that the boys talk about often, however for me as I look at the photos I remember the arguing in the car, the fighting over who wasn't sharing a room with whom, the hours spent looking for a child who has stropped off and the afternoon spent at the police station when the 15 year repeatedly splashed a small child by running through the water despite us and the child's dad asking him to play elsewhere until eventually the dad hit him as he ran past for the 100th time.

There was plenty of beach time as well as bike rides round the local area and the kids were dispatched every morning to the local bakery to purchase fresh breads for breakfast.

We had picnics in the day and in the evenings hubby and I took it in turns to prepare dinner while the other supervised the kids at the pool.

One evening whilst I was preparing dinner, hubby took the 3 older boys for a walk and left the youngest with me playing outside.

5yo: Mummy I'm duck

Me: You're a duck 'quack quack'

5yo: No mummy I'm really duck

Me: Yes I know 'quack quack'

5yo: Mummy I'm duck, you know I can't say my S's

Me: Removes child's stuck head from A frame of bench

There were many trips exploring the local area and while hubby took the 3 older boys to the Great Dune of Pyla at 3km long, 500m wide and 100m high, the tallest of it's kind in Europe, to run and slide up and down, I spent the afternoon with the youngest at the local zoo.

We found a local fun fair one evening where the boys spent most of their pocket money.

A day trip into Bordeaux

An afternoon and evening in St Emilion and the boys loved the cellar tours.

Hubby and the older boys spent a morning at Bisc'Aventure for fun in the tree tops and zip wires

And we all spent a day at AquaPark Biscarrosse

My favourite photo of the holiday and in fact probably my favourite photo of our youngest was taken on the beach at Biscarrosse, the waves were pretty fierce and the youngest kept walking up to the shore line then running away squealing as the waves approached him.

This turned out to be our last family holiday in France as the following years we went further a field, to Turkey, Tunisia and America.