Under way Down Under.

Me at Dubai Int. Airport

Win a Bentley at Dubai Int. Airport.

The oasis at Dubai Int Airport.

Sunday 5th Feruary, 2012

I hadn’t slept much that night, probably a combination of excitement and trepidation of the forthcoming few months.

Looking outside of bedroom window at 5.45am I was greeted by a 3or 4 inch layer of snow. This wasn’t going to make getting to Gatwick any easier, or indeed, the potential flight cancellations that Heathrow had already implemented prior to a flake of snow falling.

Anyway, what would be would be, and so I started the final preparations for packing and leaving nothing vital behind. My luggage allowance was a generous 30kg with Emirates Airlines but there was no way I would be taking that much, besides, my suitcase was not the largest.

At the last minute I was forced to jettison various pieces of clothing and pharmaceutical items that I had laid out to take due to lack of space. Travelling with a laptop and other electrical equipment severely hampered available space and also added to the basic weight.

Big brother Pete was driving me to the airport accompanied by big sister, Sandra for company on the way home. Road conditions were testing but not appalling, and with care we made the Best Western Moat House Hotel in 2.5 hours. My decision to stay here overnight was a wise one given the conditions and the early start the following morning.

Monday 6th February, 2012.

I had asked for an alarm call at 5.15am but had yet again only slept fleetingly. I caught the bus to the Gatwick North Terminal and joined a relatively small band of fellow travellers at The Emirates check-in area. As I was travelling alone, I was asked if I would consider taking their later flight that lunchtime that would still connect with my onward flight from Dubai to Sydney. This was because of the cancellations of flights from Heathrow the previous day, and they now had an overbooking problem. It would mean that I would have a 5 hour wait here as opposed to Dubai, but the sweetener was the offer of a FREE return trip to Sydney valid for a year.

I took all of 10 seconds to agree and was given a refreshment voucher to use at any of the terminal’s outlets and told I would be called back to have my luggage checked-in after my original flight had closed.

I was actually very pleased at this outcome and couldn’t wait to advise my friends and family. I had my complimentary breakfast and sat back reading a book on my new ‘kindle’ device.

Just before 9.00am, 45 minutes before my original departure time, I was called to return to the check-in desk. You can imagine my disappointment, and that of about 10 other people, as we were told that they could indeed take us due to no show passengers. This gave me very little time to loiter before getting to my departure date and boarding the aircraft. My original requested seat was still available and so began the first leg of my 26 hour journey, a mere 7.5 hour flight to Dubai in The United Arab Emirates.

Emirates Airlines are, in my opinion, one of the best airlines to travel with. Their in-flight food and services are excellent and despite taking off 35 minutes late, we arrived 15 minutes early.

I spent the next 5 hours in the pleasant company of a chap called Pat, from Chelmsford, who was travelling out to Brisbane. He had just recently received his Australian residency visa following along drawn out process, and was starting his search for possible homes. Good luck mate.

The Dubai to Sydney sector is the long one and is scheduled for 14.5 hours. As a notorious non-sleeper on aircraft, this would be the ‘killer’ journey for me and sure enough not long after take-off my lower back was crying out to be massaged. Once again, despite a 40 minute delayed departure we still managed to arrive 5 minutes early.

I had pre-booked a room at The Central Sydney YHA that is situated directly across the road from Sydney Central Railway Station, and from where I would catch the train in the morning to Newcastle and my home from home with good friend Jonesy.

As I presented my weary bones at the YHA reception desk, you can imagine my dismay and quickly, embarrassment, as I was told I didn’t have a reservation. But my visa card had been debited. How could this be so? The answer was soon apparent. My printed confirmation clearly stated arrival for 1 night on Monday 30th, January and not Tuesday 7th February.

What had happened was I had cocked-up! Whilst making the booking online, I had the correct dates booked but had lost the connection before I had entered my payment details. When the connection was restored some 30 minutes later, and my details were still online, I wrongly assumed that the dates showing were my original, entered my payment details and printed the confirmation.

The date was incorrect and I didn’t notice until now! The YHA had correctly charged 100% charges for a no show, and that was where I was now. The only beds they had were to share a 4-bed dormitory room, a mixed dormitory room at that. I took the bed and was told to speak with the manager in the morning prior to check-out.

In the event, there was just one other guest in the room, a young Indian guy. I felt bad at disturbing his sleep as I blundered in at 0.45am and turned on all the lights. I had to make my bed with the clean sheets provided and borrow a towel as I did not have one with me and would have had these provided in my original room.

So ended my first few hours down under again! I slept little again and my fellow guest was up and about early as he was leaving for Canberra. I suppose it was pay-back time for my disturbing him earlier.

The YHA Manager was very pleasant and could see my original booking and agreed to not charge me for my bed last night but neither could he authorise a refund between the $134 I had paid for a private room with en-suite facilities and the $46 for my bed in the dormitory. Fair dues, I should know better as an ex travel professional. Let this be a lesson.