Dubai

Because we are just about to take off for the anicient part of the Middle East, it is a good time before I forget to write an appreciation of Dubai. This is my fourth visit and admittedly the weather has touch of perfection about it, it is like the best of English summer. However, this time I came with a question which was Am I on the right track and what's next? And for sure this is a pivotal time for us, a change from a working life to a more retired existence, it is a time of obvious change in the world too. What emerges f rom having a look is that moving into the new tends to be rather theatening, old is gold seems to ring true but it is no bad thing to be shaken out of an old way of looking and to step into an appreciation of what is clearly still full of goodness. Dubai, for all its brash extraordinariness, combining architectural aspects from every time and culture, provides a clean healthy environment, it provides jobs and as its host is the Arab World, it has a great appreciation and kindness towards families. No we won't be living here but I find myself moving from a faintly disapproving old granny way of looking at it to an appreciative enjoyment of what it has to offer. After all, if they open old people's homes over here, this might be the best place to be! Clearly for all the tradition in nursing and hospitality in the UK, old people's homes are not the place you want to end up in there. I am hoping if I can still read stories and do ironing that one of my children will take us in. So, off to the old world, to Damascus, perhaps for an enlightenment moment, to Baalbac for ancient ruins, to Beirut because it is still a beautiful place and perhaps to Byblos for lunch! We will update this when we come back here. Do you know that you can become a follower and send us messages, thank you Ray and Mary. Trying to retrain Richard not to get stressed in airports, so much nicer to be

guest blog/Amanda, Dubai

I am handing over to Amanda for today, suffice it to say that we have had a really lovely day in Dubai, the weather just perfect:-

Hello dear followers of the R&L roadshow. How priviledged am I to be the first guest blogger on this exciting travel documentary? Needless to say I would be less keen to contribute if we were all still stuck on that Mid West bible site. What to tell you? Well, it is already evident that this is surely THE way to do a gap year. Admitedly they did fly economy but arrived fragrant, with matching luggage filled with 'essentials' such as cashmere sweaters for Richard and pretty necklaces for Liz; no dreadlocks and grunge on this trip.

However, in the spirit of eighteen-year-old adrenalin sporting activities so associated with gapping (think bungee jumping) Richard very gamely agreed to come along to the go karting track at 9am this morning for a bit of Dubai Autodrome action. Even more gamely Liz agreed to be the driver for the second session. There were 6 drivers in the first session, all men, and Nick and Richard both sported blue crash helmets, the others in different colours. Each driver was dispatched from the pits and disappeared off out of view at speed round the first bend. Some time later, out shot the first driver and then the next and the next, until 5 drivers were visible screeching around the circuit in close proximity. Liz was loyally looking out for Richard ("where's my boy?") and excitedly mistook the one visible blue crash helmet (her son) for her husband exclaiming with satisfaction that having left the pits last he must have caught the others up. On went the race for some while, 5 go karts all haring round chicanes in quick succession, when finally another go kart quietly put-put-putted into view a long way behind the other 5. A gentlemen in a blue crash helmet, seemingly sporting a pair of crocs as his go-faster footwear, and riding his go-kart as sedately as if on his very own lawn mower, somewhere in the depths of Huntingdonshire. There was much mirth in the stands. Furthermore we couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the fact he'd have driven them all off the road had he been in his old Benz on the A1(M). Anyway Richard did respectfully well and Liz then followed with an equally dignified few laps and no parking tickets at all. Since I had spun mine on the second bend, I'm hardly licenced to be commenting to facetiously.

So this afternoon, after an alfresco lunch in our half finished garden and a dip for the brave (ie a swim in our as yet unheated pool for Liz, Nick and Max), we were looking for a way to keep a chicken-poxed 3 year old and a teething 1 year old entertained. Of course we also had a duty to show Liz and Richard who are already seasoned visitors to Dubai, a bit more of the ridiculousness of this place we've chosen to call home. We headed off to the Palm to the glorious Atlantis hotel and resort. We took in the spectacular aquarium - the "Lost Chambers" and Richard treated us all to an ice-cream. The Atlantis is the height of bad taste yet shamefully enjoyable at the same time, if only to ogle at the sheer scale of it all. But each 'adventure' be it the water park or dophinarium is cleverly concealed out of view for non-paying visitors. Out of view that is for most day trippers. But not if one of your party is a determined man in crocs who is prepared to clamber up landscaped banks and squeeze between rows of closely planted trees to reach a fence and then stand on tiptoes to gain a little lookee over the fence. Suffice to say the appetite is whetted sufficiently that you may see a further post about trips to the Atlantis when they come back to Dubai later this week after their sojourn to Syria and Lebanon. At which point I must leave you and hand you back over for the continuation of this traveblog.

Off we go

January 29th and we get a lift to Heathrow with Mary, and then queue along with many other economy travellers to check in. Travelling together, the actual travelling which is the queuing and finding the passports and navigating the security is the test! I think that it is as much a discipline for Richard to travel with Liz who is unfazed as it is for Liz to watch Richard becoming various colours towards incandescent as things don't seem to go plan. But we had reestablished cordial relations by the time we got through to departures and an uneventful flight landed us in Dubai. We are quite good at Dubai but as it was foggy it was not so easy to see if the taxi driver was going to Nick and Amanda's house, one of the travellers was doubtful about the ability of the driver, but didn't need to be. Fog lifted, and revealed a lovely day, House 9, Street 8, all now in its glory, see photos of smart house, smart pool, Nick and Amanda, little boys and a visit from various Crossman relatives. We are looking forward to a good sleep.

Suffolk

To start the travel, we went to Suffolk for the weekend. Possiblythis was to remind us just how wet England can be! The ground was sodden, the air was damp, the skies poured down more and more rain but we had a lovely time with Sam and Polly and their three children with the bonus of having Jonathan and Antonia. Now we are in the countdown, making lists of things to do, buying new toothbrushes, deciding which things will be useful in what place. It is difficult to imagine that in a week we will be in someone else's summer. We start off in Dubai with Nick and Amanda and from there we do a lightning tour of Damascus and Beirut, there should be plenty to report.

Gap Year Travellers

We are about to head off on our "Gap Year." In reality this is a whirlwind two month tour of various global locations where we will be finally catching up with many friends and family in their various locations. This is a way for us to update you on where we are and what we have been up to. We hope to be able to update it as often as possibly but we don't want to spend too much time at the computer screen while there is so much to see and do.

Lots of Love

R and L