Season's Greetings

Merry Christmas to all of you from a sunny, and slightly chilly (yes really) Dubai. It's almost time for that fat old guy in red to make his annual visit - although we don't have a chimney - what to do?

If you are travelling over the period I wish you safe travels and happy holidays. And may 2012 be a prosperous and wonderful year.

Chat soon.

[thanks to http://majikphil.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-palm-trees.html for the image]

the flip side

If you travel much on business then you probably also suffer with the over-plastic syndrome. That is, one loyalty card for each airline you may ever have flown with, one for each hotel you may ever have stayed in and perhaps even one for each car hire company you have ever hired from. If you are very careful and extremely organised you may manage to always stay at the same hotel chain when you go somewhere, or even use the same airline, but for most of us we end up collecting dribs and drabs of points here and there. And then you move countries and lo-and-behold all the miles you collected on your previous national carrier become null and void as they expire into uselessness before you know it.

[a working dhow on Dubai Creek]

Happy National Day

The 2nd of December marks the 40th National Day in the UAE. Every year around this time people decorate their cars and homes with the national flag and images of the leaders (past and present). But this year it's more extreme than ever - 40 is quite a big deal as you know.

People have been encouraged to upload images of the number 40, and other images that portray the spirit of the day. So I have tried to capture the same for you, but sadly the good stuff I saw either a) whilst driving b) when I didn't have my camera or c) both. So apologies but this is the best I have.

[in Dubai Sports City]