Today was an early 6am flight to Dubai. I can recommend staying at the new Rydges hotel at Sydney international airport. It's so easy, you just walk across the road and you are in departures, and that's one less thing that you have to worry about.
It's just on 14 hours to Dubai on the A380, which is my favourite aircraft for a long haul flight; the seats are just that extra bit wider, and the cabin noise is not as bad as a 747 in my opinion.
Dubai in a few years will be bigger than Heathrow airport. As I've said before it's a strategic hub now linking Asia with Europe and the Middle East. It sort of reminds me of Las Vegas without the entertainment and gambling. It's hot like Vegas; it was 42 degrees when we arrived in the afternoon, and it felt exactly like when you open an oven door. It is Ramadan at the moment, so it's the quiet time of the year. It also means you can't eat or drink in public during the day. If you do you can be hit with a fine or worse.
After dark we had a sumptious feast of Middle Eastern food. Sydney is a very multicultural city, and we are blessed with food from all over the world, and Middle Eastern food is very good.
We will have a chance to see more of the city on the return leg of the trip, but with a 9am flight the next morning for Prague we crashed out on the bed.
