I bet you didnt expect this amid total global lockdown that has had to be enforced as a measure to deal with this modern day plague of biblical proportions – Currently it is difficult to travel to a neighbouring town never mind foreign travel. ‘Foreign travel– soon to be deleted from the English Oxford Dictionary? For those of you born in 2020 and reading this in the year 2035, ask your parents about foreign travel. Travelling abroad for leisure and fun. Ask your parents about fun! It really was a part of most peoples life before the world changed forever.
There are only so many boxsets I can watch or books I can read. My shoe leather had worn down from the amount of daily walks I have done. I cant even go to the shops to buy a new pair!! Ask your parents about shops!! They used to be where people went to buy stuff before the shopping on line frenzy became the norm.
Its been just on twelve months since the Peru and Machu Picchu blog. We havent stopped travelling since last June although I took a break from writing for no apparent reason although we
have both enjoyed every minute of our wanderings that has seen us visit the Baltic, New England and the Canadian East Coast. Amsterdam to Basel on a Rhine river cruise, Maastricht and an Andre Rieu concert and Israel and Cyprus in the early part of this year. However, nothing has made me more excited as our next ‘big ticket item: Dubai to India.
This cruise starts in Dubai and after stops in Khor Fakkan (UAE) and Muscat (Oman), a crossing of the Arabian Sea would see us arrive at our first Indian port, New Mangalore. From there we sail to Goa before spending two days in Mumbai. We should have visited India last year (2019) but, due to a family bereavement, the trip was postponed. This is our second bite at the proverbial cherry!!
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. A minor news story had broken several weeks before our departure regarding an epidemic of a new strain of virus in a relatively unknown corner of China called Wuhan. Watching the early morning news on our hotel TV at the premier Inn, Manchester airport, the virus had now spread to Italy, who, in order to try to mitigate
the spread of the virus, had locked down its northern regions of Piemonte and Lombardy. Switching off the TV, I glanced outside.
‘Raining Again, I mumbled to Roisin as we wheeled our suitcases out of our room. ‘If its raining in the UK, then you can bet the Hodgsons are off on their travels.
The flight time from Manchester to Dubai was 6 ½ hours. This was a daytime flight aboard an Emirates A380, one of those double decker planes. Our seats were on the upper deck in the forward of the two economy cabins. We noticed that there werent many passengers heading up stairs and as the doors of the aircraft closed preparing for the other economy cabin was almost empty. Roisin asked the one of the cabin crew if she could move to the empty cabin. This was agreed providing she returned to her original seat prior to landing. I remained in our original seat. This gave us both more room. I popped down to see Roisin several times during the flight. To say she was as happy as a pig
I managed to cross off two movies on my ‘to watch list: Joker and Ad Astra. With my puzzle book, my kindle, a nice breakfast and a cracking Biriyani for lunch, the time soon passed.
We arrived at Dubai International Airport Terminal 3 which is mainly used by Emirates. This terminal alone has an overall capacity of about 60 million passengers per year. It consists of three concourses; A, B, and C and has six separate floors. On arrival we took the Skytrain to the fourth level of the terminal
Heathrow has certainly lost its dominance in size and grandeur. The Arrivals area was massive. There were immigration desks and twelve All were well marshalled and for this reason, immigration took no time at all.
