Hanging out in Hong Kong

I recently got back from a quick trip to Hong Kong. I’d say Hong Kong is up there in my list of top ten favourite destinations, so I am always happy to go back!

The flight time was not ideal, as we left Dubai in the evening, flew overnight and landed into Hong Kong international around 5:30am, so by the time I got to bed it was around 8am. I’d arranged to meet my friend Kirsty later on in the day, so after a few hours sleep she came to meet me at my hotel.

The weather was looking pretty miserable, with foggy clouds covering the sky and a fair bit of drizzle. I was glad I’d left my scarf in my suitcase from my last trip to Oslo!

Our first stop was to get some lunch, and Kirsty remembered a restaurant, “Tai Woo” that she had visited with her dad (who used to work for British Airways) over 10 years ago. Somehow she recognised the manager, Raymond, who was still working there!

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We ordered an array of dim sum, fried rice, steamed broccoli, pork and chicken dishes, and soon realised we might have gone a little overboard!

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30 Hours in New York

My last trip was a flight to the Big Apple…there’s something magical about New York, no matter how many times you visit. I was especially looking forward to this flight as it was a 30 hour layover. Last time I was in New York was just a 24 hour layover, and those few extra hours really make all the difference.

After an early start from Dubai we were on our way. The flight was full, and since it was daytime everybody was awake, which certainly kept us on our feet! On long “ULR” (ultra long range) flights, we get a break in our bunk beds (CRC – Crew Rest Compartment), so while we take it in turns to rest we each have a lot more passengers to serve.

14 hours later we finally touched down in JFK, and after a long rush hour bus journey made it to our hotel.

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If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may remember that I have some friends in New York, Stephen and Colin, who I met whilst interrailing around Europe before I joined Emirates. I’d messaged them before coming to see if they were free, and we arranged to meet for dinner.

Luckily they also got stuck in the terrible traffic, which gave me a bit of time to shower and  freshen up after the long flight.

They’d reserved a table in a restaurant called “The Smith”, which was located just a short drive from my hotel. We could have walked but we already running a little late for the reservation, so decided to hop in a taxi instead.

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Dinner in Düsseldorf

I recently got back from a quick little layover in Düsseldorf. It was actually my first time visiting the city, however it’s never been somewhere I’ve been particularly interested in visiting.

The flight over was relatively busy but only around 6 hours, so we were there before we knew it. Our hotel is right next to the airport, so we walked over from the terminal and once I got up to my room I collapsed onto the bed!

I’ve been doing a lot of flying lately with not many days off in between so I was pretty exhausted (even if it wasn’t a long flight, getting up at 4am takes its toll!).

A few hours later a few of us met up to head into town for some dinner. Since it was Sunday, almost everything was shut, as is the norm in Germany. If not I would have made more of an effort to see a bit of the city, but I’ll have to save that for my next trip there!

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After a quick trip on the train, we were in the city centre. It was pretty quiet, and although it was chilly, it was nice to get some fresh air and see a new city.

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March Roster

I hope you all enjoy these posts every month… I quite like putting my roster up here each month so I can look back on it and see where I was each month of the year!

My roster next month is quite alright, no new destinations but some quite nice ones 🙂 I’ve also got a business promotions event which is very exciting. I applied to be part of the BP team and got accepted, so when I find out what the event is I’ll keep you updated! It could be anything from a sports event to a press conference, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

In March I’ll be heading to:

  • ZRH (Zurich, Switzerland)
  • HAM (Hamburg, Germany, where I’ll be meeting one of my old school friends from Austria who lives there now!)
  • LHR (London Heathrow – hopefully I’ll be able to pop home for the day!)
  • KWI (Kuwait – quick turnaround)
  • ZRH
  • JFK (New York, USA, where I’ll hopefully be meeting up with my cousin who is there for an erasmus semester!)
  • Business Promotions

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As always feel free to leave me a comment with any suggestions or anything you’d like to see here! Thanks for reading! 🙂

P.s. Follow me on Instagram & Twitter for more day-to-day updates of where I am in the world! 

A special guest in Dubai!

As my 3 years in Dubai are creeping up, it was time to renew my contract, and along with it, my visa. Since this can take a few days at a time, I was rostered 3 days off in a row, and after swapping some flights, I had a nice little string of days off…perfect for a visit from my mum!

She flew out from Vienna and arrived late evening, just time to have a nice cup of tea on the balcony. Certainly makes a change from the chilly Austrian autumn weather!

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After a long breakfast on the balcony (now Dubai has finally started to cool down I couldn’t be without my balcony!) we decided a trip to the beach was in order.

We drove down to the public beach which is not too far from my apartment, and set up camp….quickly realising we should have brought a beach umbrella!

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