But now that I have recovered and am back on British Summer Time, I’ve had the chance to work out a few statistics.

Over the past 6 weeks I have:

Traveled over 23,500 miles
Spent over 100 hours in planes, trains and buses
Visited 3 countries & 13 cities/towns/islands
Visited some of the best places in the world
Taken well over 2000 photos
Drank far too many airline drinks

For a 6 week trip – that is quite something!

The trip has been nothing short of amazing. Japan is certainly the highlight for me; there is nothing I won’t miss. The food, the people, the safety. It’s an amazing place and I’d recommend it to anybody.

There’s not much else I can say that I’ve not already said in my blog over the weeks of my trip. I’m pretty gutted to be home, I’d love to just keep traveling.

I hope that my blog has been enjoyable – and if you are going on/planning a trip yourself, I hope it’s been useful to you. I’m certainly happy to answer any questions you have about any of the places I have been.

Hopefully I will go away again soon; but for now at least, reality beckons.

I leave you with a rather appropriate Japanese quote…

I no naka no kawazu taikai o shirazu – a frog in a well knows not the ocean

Thanks for reading. Until next time!

On Wednesday I went on a Desert Safari excursion. Pickup was around lunchtime so I just lazed around the pool in the hotel again and watched a bit of TV. Days of Thunder was on – great film. I was picked up from the door in a Toyota Landcruiser. We had to go to another hotel to pick up another group, and from there it was off to the desert. Our particular spot was around 45mins drive. We stopped half way there to meet the other cars. Much to my surprise (and delight!) people were standing around shops eating and drinking. The locals had no issue with this (they were selling the stuff) so I stocked up. I must admit, I felt a little guilty standing drinking when they had to go all day in 45+ degree heat without a drop to drink!

Once the rest of the cars turned up we traveled the final few miles into the desert where the fun began! Dune bashing is basically driving up and down sand dunes. And these dunes were big, and steep! I was quite surprised that the car didn’t end up on it’s roof. This was really good fun and we did plenty of it. Also had a bash at sandboarding…I’m sure I don’t need to explain what’s involved there…but it was a little damp so the boards didn’t ride well, and running back up the dunes soon got fairly tiring. I also ended up covered in sand; but not to worry. This made for some excellent photo opportunities and some incredible views of the desert; it’s a very surreal place to be. After this it was a bit more dune bashing before heading to a little camp where we had a fantastic Iftar buffet. There was also a sheesha tent, as well as the opportunity to dress up in traditional clothing. Unfortunately I ran out of time so didn’t try the clothing but did have some sheesha. I got talking to a guy from the States who was heading over to Ireland for a year.

I booked the excursion through North Tours and the price was 325dhs, (approximately £45) and it was great value for money. At first I thought the driver was a bit miserable, but as soon as we started on those dunes there was a 5-year-old-kid style smile on his face, along with the rest of the passengers!

Yesterday I decided to head to Jumeirah Beach where I sat for a few hours catching some rays in the park. Then I decided to have a walk along to see the Burj al Arab. From the park it looked about a 10 minute walk….the reality of it was that it was closer to a 2 HOUR walk! Fortunately, I noticed shopkeepers allowing tourists to drink, so it wasn’t too much of a problem but not something which I would want to do too often…certainly not in that heat anyway! The building itself is very impressive, so sat around the beach there for a while before heading back to the hotel. It seems that Ramadan can be respectfully observed by tourists but the locals certainly appeared to be very understanding of those who did not observe their holy month, so I am glad that it’s not made too much of a difference to my time here. It would have been nice to go wake boarding and to the Wild Wadi water park though, but never mind.

After this I headed back to the hotel where I was pleasantly surprised to find a meal voucher under my door; a reward for filling out a questionnaire. I opted once again for the Iftar choice. A wide arrange of appetizers followed buy a great mixed grill.

Dubai isn’t cheap for the sole traveler. Hotels seem to be generally quite expensive, and when you factor in food and taxis (there is no proper public transport yet) it soon adds up. However, the luxury of the hotel has been very refreshing and it’s been a nice and relaxing few days.

And so the time has come – my trip is all but over. I have to get up early in the morning to head to the airport. From there, it’s a 7 hour hop back to good old Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The day which I have been dreading is finally upon me. I’ve been looking forward to this trip for so long….as just as good things come to those who wait….all good things must also come to an end.

The flight to Dubai wasn’t at all bad, but at 10hrs30mins, it’s the longest one I’ve ever taken. I was fortunate enough to have a 2-seat row to myself; or at least at the time I thought it was fortunate. At 5’11″ i’m not exactly a giant, but try as I may to get comfortable accross the two seats, it wasn’t happening. So while having a double row to yourself does sound good in theroy….the reality in practice is that you probably can’t take advantage of it unless you are either quite small, or are a contortionist.

I arrived at Dubai airport to face a very long, very slow moving queue. There was also arabic music playing rather loudly. As it was around 5am, the combintation wasn’t at all welcome – as I am sure you can imagine! Eventually got through customs after a brief explanation to the immigration officer, and once again collected my bag without incident. There seemed to be a little bit of confusion when I checked in at Osaka so I was a tad worried about my bag not turning up!

I booked a taxi through the hotel before I left Japan to ensure it would be easy going when I got there. The desk was empty but it didn’t take long to get sorted. This service cost 50dirhams and to be honest isn’t worth it at all – my advice would be to go outside and get into a yellow cab which would cost less than half the price. When I arrived at the Traders hotel in Deira, the clerk would not budge on letting me check in early for no charge, so I reluctantly handed over some more money – I was far too tired to debate any longer! On top of that, they wouldn’t let me have breakfast that morning, even though I would miss the breakfast on the day I checked out due to leaving early to get to the airport. I thought this was pretty rough, but again, I just got on with it. My bags were taken to my room, and after a quick shower to freshen up, I went straight to bed.

The next thing I knew it was midday, and looking out of the window in my room, I immediately became aware of quite a big issue in Dubai – traffic. It’s seriously bad! I foolishly booked a taxi through the hotel to take me to Creek Park – again this was expensive at 45dhs – lesson was certainly learned after that. Took quite a while to get to Creek Park due to the traffic, so you can imagine my slight dissapointment to find everything inside closed and the park all but deserted. Even so, I still had a good wander about and it gave me a chance to sit in peace. You’re not supposed to drink in public during Ramadan – I did my best to observe their customs but in 45 degree heat this isn’t exactly easy, so I had to keep drinking, but I made sure I was discreet.

It didn’t take long for me to run out of water, and with convenience shops closed, I was faced with quite a dilemma. I began to walk for a bit, but it was getting a bit too much so I flagged down a taxi and headed back to my hotel for a spot of lunch and several gallons of Diet Coke and water. I initially opted to go for the lunchtime buffet, but once I realised that it was £15 I promptly changed my mind – I wasn’t THAT hungry. I already miss the sub £5 delights of Japan!! I ended up opting for a Ceasar salad; which was actually great. It was strange using a knife and fork again!

As it was mid afternoon I decided to wait around the hotel for a few hours. During Ramadan, stuff happens after 7pm and continues until the early hours. Traditionally, this period is known as Iftar and it’s when the fast is broken. There are many culinary delights to be had as a result – or so I have read in my Lonely Planet guide…I will find out soon enough.

So at around 6.30, after enjoying relaxing in the hotel’s health club, I got myself dressed and this time hopped into a yellow cab to head accross to the Mall of the Emirates. Fortunatley, the yellow cab rate is far more desirable than the “executive taxi” the hotel booked for me. Even so, it all mounts up. The taxi driver was very chatty and took great interest in my trip, and told me lots about Dubai while were were stuck in traffic. As it transpires, Dubai is home to the biggest and the best of everything the world has to offer. Or at least that’s how the taxi driver saw it! We went past the Burj Dubai – the world’s tallest building. And it’s TALL…yet very thin at the top. Quite a bizzarre structure.

The Mall itself is quite amazing. Very impressive architecture and it’s utterly spotless. The first thing on my mind however was food! There’s a great food hall in the mall, I went for a pizza – lovely. After that I had a good wander around the shops. The mall was operating extended opening hours during Ramadan, so at 10pm I went to Ski Dubai – the world’s biggest indoor ski park. Before this, I had only been to Xscape in Castleford (near Leeds, England) and Ski Dubai utterly dwarfs it. Xscape has a little draglift. Ski Dubai has a 50 car, 4 man chairlift! The price was very reasonable; around £25 for 2 hours including equipment hire. The snow was good and I pretty much had the place to myself.

So now I am back at the hotel – tomorrow i’m going on a Desert Safari which should be great fun. I will no doubt report back tomorrow!