The 14 hour flight to Dubai was on the two deck A380-800 and I believe Emirates, who we flew with, carry 615 passagers with their layout. Once we arrived at Dubai you can tell it's the world's busiest airport and we were bussed away from first plane, then another bus to terminal 3, then another bus to catch plane no 2. We had a gold plated cup of tea for £4.20 each waiting to connect then it was take off for the 8 hour flight to Edinburgh on a Boeing 777. We were fed another breakfast onboard and I watched a movie, read and napped. At last we landed at Edinburgh and messaged Gary while collecting luggage, and met him at arrivals with hugs before heading out into a sleety and cold afternoon.
Back in Gullane Mabel was delighted to be reunited with the mummies and the cat decided that if he sat in my case I wouldn't forget to pack him next time!
The rest of the day we took it easy and were in bed by 6 pm. On Saturday we eased back to life, catching up with family and friends, walking to the best beach anywhere (here in Gullane) and lunch in our village coffee shop.
For anyone thinking of a trip to the other side of the world - yes it was worth it. I'm so glad we had a taste of Australia too - flights in total were £1,300 each so that the major expense of going so far away. Hotels were average £80 a night. The most expensive was Mount Cook at £171 and the cheapest £56 for our last night in Bargara which was cabin stuck in the 80s decor wise, but clean with air-conditioning and beach just across the road. The cost of food was equal to UK. We didn't eat out much to keep to budget and noodles were a popular supper!
You can obviously spend what you want on trips when you get there - our most expensive was going to Lady Elliot Island at £230 each but considering this was return flights on a private plane, boat trip, lunch, snorkeling on GBR with equipment and talks and walks if you want to join, it's actually a steal. They've just been voted second best place for snorkeling in the world and I am happy to contribute to their conservation work.
In conclusion I would do it all again but meantime it's lovely to be with Gary, pets and comforts of home. We had no issues re COVID-19 - just got asked at check in if we'd been to China last 2 weeks. We'll have our feet on the ground for a while as we pay off bills and enjoy spring and summer in Scotland.
Thanks for reading and until next time 😘
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