At the moment I've just completed a massive week of turnarounds - two Hyderabads, Mumbai, Dammam and Damascus, with only a day of to split them. I'd been very fortunate until now to avoid the dreaded 5-turn streak but sadly December was my month to cop it. I was actually kind of relieved to not have to pack the suitcase for a week, before the turns I had a Bangkok-Sydney-Christchurch (which was a whopping 8 days away from base!) then after giving my washer/dryer a workout I had 7 days leave, followed by a snowy Paris. Fun times all around...

Speaking of fun times, guess who I caught up with in Paris?

I had a lovely catch up with Ben, and finally got to meet the famous motherofSodwee :-D Lots of eating to be had, including this yummy beef tatare from a Bistrot-whos-name-escapes-me, followed by hot chocolate from Cafe Angelina which totally rocked my socks off, followed by a Charlotte Framboise and for the finale - some squidgy chocolate cake baked by motherofSodwee herself! Talk about First Class hospitality! Never had anyone bake me a cake before!!! I was, and still am, very much impressed. So were the crew who operated back to Dubai and shared in the hospitality with me :-D
Also from what I hear, Ben's been plugging his jumbo ice spheres for €0.50c a pop, so those Parisians who want to get a piece of the action better act quick smart!

At the moment I've really gotten into jogging, which I never thought I would ever do. Before when I did some cardio at the gym it was 30 min of walking on the highest incline at the gym, followed by 15 minutes on either the elliptical or the bike. Now I'm actually starting to explore the Al Nahda area a bit, though occasionally I still have some random guy drive up to me, then follow at about 5kph, but when they realise I've got my headphones in and realistically it could be an hour before I quit they give up after about 5 min. I'm not wearing anything super revealing - elbows and knees are covered, and the same thing has happened before when I was living round Sheikh Zayed road, so I guess its just one of those things I have to deal with. And people wonder why the country is suffering from an obesity crisis?

So as I mentioned before I was on leave at the end of last month, and I decided to spend a week in New York. To be honest, despite the numerous layovers I spend there, 28 hours is never enough time to soak up the place, and I made sure I had an awesome hotel this time, with my own bathroom, unlike the Hotel Alexander I was in the last time I was on holiday here.

How can you not have a nice stay when you have this message to greet you as you put on your outfit for the day?

I was also fortunate enough to have my best mate in Dubai crash in the top bunk, and since we were there for Thanksgiving Day it was great to not be a total loner hitting the bars on the Lower East Side for Thanksgiving Eve. Wish he could stay longer, but alas he only arrived on days off and had to miss out on Black Friday sales.

Oz getting his pose on in Central Park...

Labels: Around Dubai, Galley Gossip, Layovers, Random Thoughts, Work