The Tooth Fairy come twice in three days.

Jaime lost her first and second tooth with three days. The tooth fairy was great writing letters to Jaime for her lovely teeth. Now for that stage all kids go through! The goofy smile stage. Also though I would add a photo of the view from our new villa. Yes we still have the Burj Al Arab in our sights.



New view

Jack turns 8

Jack also got the day off school for his birthday but thats because it is the UAE National Day. 
We took Jack and 5 of his friends to the Mirdiff City Centre to do the sky trail and some rock climbing. Followed by lunch at Chillis and a Cold Stone Creamery cookie dough ice cream cake. The boys got all harnessed up and went on the flying fox down one side and onto the cargo nets to begin. Jack and Tom were old pros at it and the others were amazing as it was their first time. It is basically a obstacle course 3 floors high up and you are suspended on a rail the whole way. The rock climbing was next and the boys had a great time. Jack then went to Hambleys and was allowed to buy with his birthday money the Harry Potter Castle Lego. Andrew and I had such fun the next day building it. Hope Santa brings some more soon as I want to build some more.Jack read his new book while we built. Think maybe Andrew and I were more excited about it than Jack.

Jack and Jaime





Jack and Ned





The Famous Five



Jaime is Six

Well she was on November 24th. Jaime was lucky enough to take the day off school, along with Benthe her best friend and go to Atlantis water park and swim with the Dolphins. We had a great day. The Dolphin interaction was amazing. Jaime and Jack were a little scared but quickly got pushed into kissing the dolpin and throwing a ring out for the dolphin to get. The Dolphin felt amazing, it really was very special. . We learnt all about the dolpins and got to see and touch them up close. It was a quiet day at the park and the weather was gorgeous. I pushed Jack into doing the Leap of Faith which he loved so much he did it 9 times. Jaime not to be outdone and finally tall enough (just) comes to the top to check out the view. She decides its no problem and goes down the ride like a pro. Everyone in the line clapped which was great and a scared Arab man was saying "the baby did it" "Oh no now I have to do it". She did it 6 times all up. What birthday isn't complete without McDonalds. Needless to say there were 3 very tired children at school the next day. 

Jaime and her build a bears



Jaime and Joel the Dolphin



Benthe Jack and Jaime



Jaime and Benthe



The Leap of Faith



Jaime's First Day at JESS

Hi everyone.  Jaime here.  I had my first day at my new school today.  It is called JESS - this stands for Jumeirah English Speaking School.  Mummy and Daddy decided to move me to a new school, because they thought that I should be doing a little better, and JESS has a very good reputation (it's also non-profit, which Daddy says means that they spend more of the money they get from fees on good teachers and great facilities - he says that the teachers there are much more experienced, and many have been at the school for a long time). 

Mummy and Daddy were, I think, a bit worried about whether I would be scared to go to the new school.  But I don't know what they were worried about - they should know by now that I am pretty staunch (that's a word Daddy uses - not sure what it means - stroppy?) and confident, and that there wouldn't be any problems.  The only problem I had was remembering the name of my new teacher, but Mummy and Daddy helped me remember that her name is Mrs Humphries before I started today.

I was excited this morning.  I got up, got dressed by myself, and came downstairs for breakfast.  I like the new uniform - it is a lot lighter and cooler than the uniform at JPS.  Mummy took me to school, took me to the door of the classroom, said goodbye to me, and then came to pick me up at the end of the day.  When she asked me how my day was, I told her the truth - it was my best day.  The teacher told Mummy that "there were no tears, and all was good".  I can't believe she thought there would be tears - crazy woman....

I like JESS.

Zeus

Jack here.  Hi everyone.  I thought I'd show you the pictures of me as Zeus.  I loved the movie Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, so I talked Mum into buying me all the Percy Jackson books.  I read the first three books in about a week, and then Mum thought that we should see if the school library had the 4th one, to save a little money.  This was a great idea, until the Librarian told Mum that I am not allowed to read these books until Year 5 and 6.  Seemed like a long time to wait... so Mum agreed to buy it for me.  I probably like Poseidon the best, but Zeus has the coolest accessory - the Lightning Bolt.  I nagged Dad into making me one - he did a good job with his 25 dollar saw and some old chip board I reckon.  I coloured it silver, put on the costume from my Roman day (looks kinda Greek, I think), and then Dad helped with the beard (washable marker, unfortunately - would have looked cool at school).   Dad and I have been looking on the internet at some of the sites of ruins in Greece that they say are where the Gods lived - now all I have to do is talk Mum and Dad into going back to Greece again....

New Zealand!

In early July Delanie and the kids left for NZ, to escape the harsh Dubai summer (as I write this it is 45 degrees outside and starting to get humid).  They are in NZ for 8 weeks, so if you haven't caught up with them drop Delanie a line!  I followed about 10 days later, and had just over 2 weeks with the family in NZ.  The first week of the holiday was spent in Wanaka, skiing at Cardrona with Tracy, Damian and the family.  What a wonderful place.  We had such a good time - first time Jack and Jaime have been on a 'real' mountain - they're pretty good skiiers (will discuss below) but all the skiing has been in the ski dome inside the Mall of the Emirates, 5 minutes drive from our Villa in Al Barsha.  First photo below is taken from the plane on the flight from Wellington to Queenstown - and is really only there for all the strange people in Dubai who told me time and time again ..."but New Zealand doesn't have any mountains...".

Nah - no mountains here!

When we first landed in Queenstown we decided to do a Queenstown day - brunch in town (I love Eggs Benedict in NZ!), up the Gondola, Shotover Jet.  Was a wonderful day, until Delanie developed a migraine - so into the Doctor, and then a very quiet drive across the Crown Range to Wanaka.

The kids in central Queenstown - lots more clothes on than in Dubai

View from up the Gondola - Beautiful

Many thanks to Tracy for having the kids so kitted out in the ski gear - there was no way that either Jack or Jaime was going to get cold, with them being supplied with thermals, socks, overalls, great jackets, neck warmers, goggles and helmets.  We did bring their gloves and hats from Dubai!

Well-rugged up kids

Jaime making the best of the snow... got to keep the hydration levels up any way that you can...

The day that it snowed - lovely big soft flakes of snow

Delanie in the snow... this is the day that I decided that my 14 year old ski jacket wasn't doing the job any more....

We all loved the skiing so much - Delanie and I had great fun each day screaming around the mountain with Tracy and Damian, and despite some early grumps and tears the kids really enjoyed their time in Skee Wees - they were placed in groups of 4 or 5 kids, with one instructor who had them for the whole week.  Both instructors were wonderful with the kids - we heard a couple of times Jaime being told that "the tears won't work on me Jaime, you're not a baby, so let's get on with it..." or words to that effect.  Both kids went to amazing places on the moutain and amazed us with their ability.  One evening on the car trip back down the mountain Delanie and I were both very proud that we had done 'Powder Keg' - a black run. That was until Jack nonchalantly told us that he had done that yesterday and they were doing 'harder stuff' now.  Each morning we would ski with the kids for an hour or so before they went into their groups - and as the week progressed we were more and more amazed at how good they (and Cailin, Ryan and Alexa) were.  One particular morning stands out, where we were heading down one of the steepest bits of the Captain's Run, and the Race School passed us - well passed all of us except Jaime.  I'm standing at the top of the hill yelling 'Slow Down!" (of course she can't hear me) but I needn't have bothered because she pretty much floated across the snow to the bottom.

Invariably there were big smiles from both kids at the end of the day - the photo below shows Jaime, and I think this might be the day that I saw a monster crash by her (got myself in trouble swearing on the chair lift I was so worried!), and asked her about, a bit worried about the response, but I needn't have worried - "it's OK Daddy I have had LOTS of crashes...".

Jaime all smiles at the end of the day

Jack and Alexa were in the same group, which Jack was very pleased about. They are great mates.

Great mates - but one is always just that step in front...

There were some early mornings to get up the mountain (in fact you'd be surprised how early Delanie used to get up - competing to get a better park up the mountain than her sister!).  Jack wasn't big on the mornings...

6am is not a time that should exist Dad....

And Jaime was even worse.  But you can't tell from this photo because she has developed a sixth sense - whenever a camera is around she poses and smiles and generally tries to take over the room.  This one is taken about 6am....

Two seconds after an early morning tantrum - ie we have seen the camera!

The evening after we got back from Wanaka we attended Kelli's birthday party. A 70's party - lots of fun. Everyone got dressed up. From what I understand it took Adrian most of the next day to get out of the tightest white flares in the history of the universe.

Perhaps orange is not my colour?

Love the hair honey - but perhaps only for 70s parties

Jaime in the wig - a good look but Dad is not keen on bleaching that hair

We also had the chance to catch up with Kirst, Gerard, Hannah and Lucy.  Was lovely to see the kids together - they really did have a lovely time together.

Once you tell them to be models taking photos is easy

Jack and Hannah loving the sun out the front of Kirst's house

The time in Wellington went very quickly, unfortunately.  But we did have time to visit Mr Whippy - arouund the bays at Whitby there.  Always a favourite.  We also took advantage of very good prices for Lego and Polly Pocket compared to Dubai - much to the kids' delight.

Love Mr Whippy

Polly's Water Park

Dad took 3 hours to make this so I better smile (Ed's note - this is prior to Jenelle cutting his hair - thank goodness!)

Then it was a flight to Tauranga, and a lightening visit with my family.  Many thanks to Adrienne and Dot for the organisation.  It was lovely to see Dad, Ray, Liz and everyone, even if just for a very short time.  We then drove to Auckland, managed to catch up with Claire and her family, and Carl and Rachel, and then I was back on the plane back to Dubai, with the family on the plane back to Wellington.  It was very hard leaving, and the house over here in Dubai seems very large and empty without them.  Oh well, just under three weeks to go now.

We loved being back in NZ, but we also realised we're not ready to leave Dubai just yet.

Beer O'Clock

An alternative guide to cruising...
Venice

Ancona

Santorini

Mykonos

Athens

Corfu

Dubrovnik

Venice and the Cruise

Hi all. Very big blog entry to follow – we just finished a 10 day holiday - Venice for a few days, and then a 7 night cruise on the Costa Victoria, round the Greek Isles and a couple of other places. We packed a LOT in, so there is a lot to follow. You might want to read it in shifts....


Venice
Venice is only a five and a half hour flight from Dubai – love being so close to these places. We landed at the airport and got a water taxi to the Apartment Hotel where we were staying. Jaime loved the water taxi – but there were a few tears from Jack early because he was a little scared of being down the back and falling into the water. By the end of the 3 days we had in Venice there were no problems – water everywhere so there was no option really!
Delanie in the water taxi

The apartment hotel looked really dodgy from the outside, but was nice inside and very well located – thanks to Nick and Bindi for the tip. The apartment was very close to the Rialto Bridge and to San Marco. Two flights of stairs to navigate with suitcases that my wife had packed was, however, a challenge. As an example, we had a small suitcase that we needed to use just for Del’s toiletries, make up, hair straighteners etc (because the other two were too full) – this case alone weighed 12 kilos!
We walked everywhere (the boat travel was very expensive). My kids started the trip pretty unfit, I reckon – particularly in the places with hills it didn’t take long for the “I’m tired” harmony to begin. By the end of the trip, however, they were doing very well. The one exception to the walk everywhere rule was the gondola ride around Venice – it really is an amazing place. It’s old, crumbling, smelly in places, but it truly is one of the most interesting places that we have been. On the Gondola ride the gondolier showed us the apartment that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were staying in – my wife wanted to jump off, but I restrained her.
The family on the Gondola

We walked to San Marco (St Marks Square). Delanie was great and marched into a shop and asked to be shown glass blowing. The guy in the shop started to try to tell us they only took large groups through, but Delanie and Jaime batted their eyelids and the guy let us in. We only got a short show, watching one of the staff make a small horse, but even that was wonderful. We then spent some time looking round the showroom – some of the objects they make out of glass defy belief. We must have been inspired because the next day we spent a small fortune on a glass egg sculpture (this did occur after the ‘big beer’ (see below) so there may be a lesson there for me...
Dad and the kids at San Marco

We ate two of the nights at the same place – just down from the Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal. The kids both loved the pizza and Delanie and I had great pasta, and it was just such a lovely atmosphere right beside the canal watching the boats and gondolas go past. I got a wonderful surprise that evening – I asked for a draught beer, and was told I could have a small one or a big one. Of course, like a real kiwi bloke, I scoffed at the idea that I might have a ‘half’ (what next – a shandy?) and went with the big one. When it came out it made Oktoberfest look like a warm up. It was massive – but not quite as big as my smile.
The view from the Rialto Bridge (x2)

One of the things we noticed in Venice was the dog doings, absolutely everywhere. And while we never saw any of these ‘incidents’ taking place, it would not surprise me if there is a fleet of St Bernards in Venice. Some of the piles were just about large enough to require hand rails for safety reasons. We managed to avoid standing in any, so attuned did we become after the first few hours, but we saw some very dramatic skids from people that were not so able to deal with the hazard.
One evening after dinner, with the kids and Delanie tucked into bed, I wandered about 150 metres from the Apartment to the local pub, which was showing the Juventus-Inter Milan game. Was a lot of fun actually – met a Jordanian guy called Malik who has been living in Venice for 6 years – and ardent Inter supporter so he was very pleased with the 2-0 result. You have to admire the passion the Italians have for football – the place would erupt each time the ref made a bad call, or someone committed a foul.
At the end of each day at dinner I would ask Jack and Jaime about their favourite experiences that day. I’ve tried to capture all of them here. Jack and Jaime’s favourite things in Venice were:

• Jack - the Gondola ride and eating real Margherita Pizza
• Jaime - eating Pizza and playing with Jack

The Cruise Begins

On the third morning in Venice we grabbed another water taxi, after heaving the suitcases down the stairs, and headed off to the port to board the Costa Victoria for our cruise. We weren’t quite prepared for its size – and it’s probably only a middle sized ship in the Costa fleet. It takes about 2400 passengers, has a basketball court, three swimming pools, a gym, sauna etc, a spa and salon, a two-tiered theatre, a large dance hall, countless bars, shops, a running track (around Deck 6 – each lap is 450 metres), about 6 different restaurants, etc etc etc. I wasn’t quite sure about cruising, but as I write this on our last day, I am so very sad about leaving. We have had probably the best holiday we’ve ever had as a family – the facilities have been excellent, and it has been just wonderful waking up each morning in a different place to explore. Sometimes I wish we had more time in each place (probably on average only 4 hours) but with the kids in retrospect this has been just about exactly the right time.

The Costa Victoria

It helped very much that when we booked, after dithering for a bit we decided to book a suite. We were right up the front of the boat – with a wonderful view right out the front as we cruised, and had lots of space, which was great. We more or less had a living and dining area off the main bed, and then a smaller area with two bunk beds that we could close off, and a reasonable sized toilet and bathroom. We sneaked a look at one of the standard cabins (which we nearly booked), and breathed monstrous sighs of relief that we spent the extra money. The standard rooms were so small (and the only ones left had no windows – inside the ship), with the kids’ bunks pretty much folding off the walls directly on top of the double bed. It would have been carnage being in that small space for 7 days – one of the kids (or one of the parents) would have ended up over the side I reckon. We also got, as a perk of being in the suite, the ability to have our breakfast delivered each morning at no charge, which was a lovely way to ease into the day, sitting around the table as a family. The only downside of the suite was that it was directly above the dance hall – so you heard the music fairly clearly, and it went until 2am or thereabouts. We all adapted quickly though, and after the first night it wasn’t a big deal.

Jack and Jaime’s favourite things about being on the ship were:

• Jack – playing on the basket ball court, where he scored a goal
• Jaime – being on the top bunk, running round the jogging track (where she was very fast!)

Ancona

We arrived in Ancona at about 7am, to a hell of a shuddering – the boat putting its ‘brakes on’. Woke everyone up – so I sprinted upstairs to get some photos and the two kids and Del went and looked through the window at the front of the suite. It was a beautiful day when we got into port – we wandered off the ship, across the port facilities (much like Wellington in NZ the cruise ships come right into the working port – we had to dodge trucks and large forklifts to get across the road into town).

First entering Ancona

 Once we got into the town it was beautiful. A lovely spring day, not many of the shops open, so no cars around. Beautiful old buildings, all of which have amazing doors! We heard an Australian woman remark that Ancona should be called the city of doors – and she had a point. There were certainly similarities with Venice in that there were very large dog leavings all over the place – would be very interesting to research the diets of dogs in Italy!

One of the doors

 

 Again, not unlike Wellington in NZ, the port is at the base of hills, and houses and businesses sprawl up the hills away from the bay. The kids experienced two things in Ancona that they haven’t experienced for a while – hills and walking! They actually did pretty well. We had a church at the top of the hill as a target, and randomly took lefts and rights on the walk up there – we only had one really wrong turn, and that was aborted early enough by a nice local who pointed out that we were heading up a dead end.

The view from the top in Ancona

 

The walk to the top was entirely worth it – once we got there we found a little cafe, sat in the sun, and gazed at the view. This is where my Beer O’Clock mission was birthed – it just felt the right thing to do to have a cold Peroni in the sun. Refer to the separate blog site for the details.

Jack and Jaime’s favourite things about Ancona were:

• Jack – climbing the hill and seeing the great view
• Jaime – getting to the top of the hill

A day at sea

 

After leaving Ancona we spent a day at sea, travelling down to the bottom of Greece and around the corner. Life on board was pretty good. We got up late, ate breakfast in the cabin, explored the ship in a bit more detail, and generally cruised (get it?). Jack and Jaime went to kids club for the first time – a few tears at first, because of an absolute little nightmare of a boy that drew all over Jaime’s clothes, and also the fact that there were no other English-speaking kids, and most of the interaction with the adults was in Italian or French. Lucky I am very good at getting stains out of clothing – years of playing cricket and having to get my own grass stains out honed those skills. Delanie and I took advantage of kids club on a few afternoons after that first day – and one evening. Was a real delight just to be able to relax together. After the first visit to kids club the kids enjoyed things a lot more too – Jaime especially used to run off in front when we were taking them down to the 6th floor for kids club (our room was on the 11th floor).
The pool area onboard

One of the highlights of the afternoon on the day at sea was playing basketball as a family – there was a basketball court at the back of the boat. Jack and I had a great time, and he got better and better as we spent more time. I don’t know that we would be keen to do a stretch of 5 or 6 days at sea, but one day was actually very enjoyable.

Jack and Jaime’s favourite things about our day at sea were:

• Jack – playing basketball
• Jaime – playing tennis and basketball

Santorini

The next day was a big one – Santorini in the morning, and Mykonos in the afternoon. It was not the greatest of weather when we arrived in Santorini – quite large seas, and cloudy skies. Unfortunately this took a bit of the gloss of the place – still very beautiful, but we just didn’t get the sharp contrasts of the white houses with the blue skies and the beautiful calm blue water that you see in the postcards (and which we saw in Ian’s great photos of when he and Viv were there last year). Nevertheless, a beautiful, unique place, and one in which we enjoyed walking around the walkways of Oia and Thira villages.

Oia Village, Santorini

 

Santorini is the one place where we paid for the excursion (a bus and a guide) because that meant we had time to get to the two villages – would have been very difficult otherwise. Everywhere else the ship more or less docked in the centre of everything, and we walked around with the kids. There were, of course, all sorts of other excursion options in each place, but we’re not really museum people, and at a couple of hundred Euros a pop, they were quite expensive.

The kids in Santorini 

 

Jack and Jaime had the most wonderful milkshakes in a little cafe overlooking the Caldera – full of chocolate and beautiful and thick. I had the obligatory beer...

The family in Santorini 

We managed to avoid the smelly donkeys. We were bussed up from the getting off the tender boat from the cruise ship and then got the Cable Car back down to the bottom. Delanie went to see the donkeys and confirmed the smell was as bad as it had been described!

Santorini is where we discovered Jaime’s ‘level of comfort’ with having her photo taken. Frankly she has developed in a camera hog. She loves it, and is an absolute poser. Just point a camera at her and she smiles, tilts her head and makes sure that her hair is in the right place. Jack – not so much. Photos are not exactly his favourite thing, so every time we got a good one of him I was very pleased. I can’t wait to hear from Viv about what she thinks about the length of his hair in the photos we have included in here...

Jack and Jaime’s favourite things about Santorini were:

• Jack – the Cable Car ride
• Jaime - The Cable Car and gelato for lunch!

Mykonos

Change of author – Delanie in charge now...

The weather finally came good and Mykonos was every bit as beautiful as I had remembered from my trip when I was 11.

Happy kids in a beautiful place 

 

We had a few hours just wandering around the shops. Andrew got trendy and bought a man scarf and not for cold weather. Looks very cool I must admit. It was very relaxed and the shops were great. The public toilets were atrocious.

The view from the restaurant in Mykonos

 

We wandered up the hill and saw the windmills and then had dinner (huge rip off) which was nice right along the beach front and watched the sun set. We saw a really old lady spinning wool and were tempted to buy her beautiful wraps but at 90 Euros we walked out of the shop empty handed.

Jack and Dad at dinner

We then found a gelato shop and wandered back to the bus to take us back to the boat. Mykonos was my favourite place and definitely a place to go back and stay.

Happy family at end of wonderful time in Mykonos

 

Jack and Jaime’s favourite things about Mykonos were:

• Jack sucking up spaghetti for dinner and buying a cool t-shirt
• Jaime buying a bracelet, singlet top and notepad and pen.

Piraeus - Athens

 

We caught a taxi in Athens and went straight to the Plaka and had a wander round the shops with my friend Kylie and then we all had lunch together. After having spent a week sightseeing there on November we were happy just to sit and chill. Lunch was at my favourite restaurant and the food didn’t disappoint. Lunch cost 26 Euros and the same meal at Mykonos cost us 70 Euros. Massive mark up out on the islands.

Jack and Jaime’s favourite things about Athens were:

• Jack buying a mini torch key ring
• Jaime seeing Dione and buying a sparkly hairclip.

We caught a taxi back to the boat and then realised we got screwed by the earlier cab driver.... he was so chatty we didn’t realise until too late he didn’t have the meter running. Cheeky man!

Corfu

The following day we had the morning on the boat and played basketball again. My shots were on fire today and I easily beat Andrew in a shoot out (Editor’s note – replace ‘easily’ with ‘by the skin of my teeth’ and this will be more accurate). Such fun! As we sailed into Corfu it was amazing.... the sun was shining and everyone was our on deck at the pool, music was playing and then the sight of Corfu simply stunning. It was a lot bigger then we had expected - kind of between Athens and Mykonos.

The view as we sail into Corfu

 

This was the only day we didn’t need a sweatshirt. We took a bus from the boat to the edge of the port and then another bus into the city centre. We wandered around the shops which were lovely. I conned Andrew into buying me a beautiful glass necklace.... it’s even made the Pandora necklace stay on the shelf this week. We relaxed with drinks twice and Andrew had a beer. Suprise suprise. We would love to go back and stay here for a few days. It would be great to get a car and drive around the island.

Getting back onto the ship - Corfu

 

That night back on the boat we watched the first show. Kids stayed awake throughout and it was great. The staff were performing and not the professional ones. They did a really great job. They had a room cleaner singing, an engineer singing and a galley boy dancing. He looked alright too with his shirt off.

Jack and Jaime’s favourite things about Corfu were:

• Jack - Gelato and finding a massive tin of Pokemon cards
• Jaime getting to choose a t-shirt colour and a design and then watch it being made.

Dubrovnik

We were pretty sad on the day in Dubrovnik realising the cruise was nearly over. We tendered in from the ship and the sea was quite rough. I had to keep telling myself I am a very good swimmer if it sinks I will be okay! The cool thing was the cruise ship was using its own life boats as tender boats. So it was great to see inside them. It was freezing and the wind was very cold especially when sitting in the rough water travelling back out to the ship. There is a massive castle with a moat and then huge walls all around which guards the harbour entrance in Dubrovnik. The moat is now a road and there are shops and restaurants all inside.

The castle in Dubrovnik

 

We went the wrong way once on land and ended up walking up a steep hill throughout residential area. It is built on a hillside. Very pretty. We finally asked a cab driver to take us to the shops and he pointed about 100m away and said you walk. Duh! Again we found a gelato shop. The jeans were getting pretty tight by now. It was lovely to wander around and see the enormity of the castle wall. Probably not a place we will ever go back to though.

Jaime and the busker

 

Jack and Jaime’s favourite things about Dubrovnik were:

• Jack - got a postcard with his face on it.
• Jaime - dancing with a busking man.

Dad and the kids leaving Dubrovnik

 

That night we went to the show again. The kids slept through the entire show. Good thing too as it was two singers and pretty boring. We stayed til the end as it felt rude to walk out.

The following morning we had to be out of the cabin at 8am and then in batches we had to disembark the ship. We were one of the last families to leave at noon. Jack’s Nintendo DS got stolen right from under our noses 5 minutes before we left the ship. Pretty disappointing. Andrew gave me grief for charging it in a plug across from where we were sitting (where it got stolen from) and Jack and I cried. On that note the cruise was over and we caught a bus to the airport. It was only 15mins drive away yet somehow cost over 200NZD. Venice really charges for transport.

We were extremely lucky with the volcanic ash and managed to completely avoid it.

Once safely back in Dubai Andrew had 8 hours on the ground before flying out to London for work. Back to the grind. It was the best holiday we have ever had and would love to do another cruise and soon if I get my way.