People have been imprisoned in Dubai for some pretty obscure things.
Flying from Australia to Europe always requires a stopover, and flying Emirates that stop is Dubai, something I'm now a bit concerned about.
It's well-known that UAE drug laws are stricter than most, but until now I didn't realise how severe. Their list of restricted and banned substances includes a lot of things commonly used across the rest of the world, such as poppy seeds. Yes, amongst the horror stories there is a Swiss guy currently serving four years for being found with poppy seeds on his clothes (all 3 of them) from a roll he ate at Heathrow. You can be charged if even minute drug traces are found on your clothes (even the soles of your shoes) or in your blood or urine. If that doesn't make you paranoid, I don't know what will.
The medical drug list is also very restrictive. If you're on any medication at all, prescription or over-the-counter, you will want to check for it on the list available from the UAE Ministry of Health. As a quick summary, the following items are amongst the restricted list:
Codeine -- a common ingredient in many painkillers and cold-&-flu preparations, such as Panadeine and some forms of Codral
Dextromethorphan -- in some cough syrups
Most antidepressants and antipsychotics
Hormones -- including HRT and those used for cancer. Oddly, except for Nuvaring, there don't seem to be any other contraceptives on the list
Sedatives and Hypnotics -- such as Valium. In another odd omission, the common sleeping pill Temazepam is not on the list, but it would still be best to have your prescription with you if you have been prescribed this
Analgesics -- pretty much anything except paracetamol
If you are taking a restricted drug, it does not necessarily mean you won't be able to bring it with you, but you will require a letter from your doctor stating precisely what the drug is, how it is to be taken, and what condition you are using it for, countersigned by a Justice of the Peace or Notary Public.
I can't find any information on how these restrictions apply to transit passengers. I also can't find a map of Dubai Airport. If you know anything about it, please let me know below.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Special Needs
There are plenty of ways to lose weight, but I don't know of any to lose height.
Airline travel with my beloved M has presented an interesting challenge. My 5'2" frame squishes reasonably well into aircraft seats, but M is 6'4" and has bad knees. He has flown short-haul before, and finds that an hour on a plane results in a day of limping, so understandably he was quite worried about the 20-hour trip to Europe.
I've never had to deal with this before, but I figured there were plenty of tall people in the world, so someone had to have come up with a solution. I googled "Flying for tall people" and got a lot of complaining, but no real solution beyond flying business class (which I could afford -- if I wanted to spend my entire trip budget on flights). Qantas's Premium Economy would be affordable if we were going to London, but they don't have it on lesser routes like Singapore-Frankfurt.
All the talk of seat pitch did remind me of a website, Seat Guru, the ultimate flying resource for travel obsessives. Whilst specifically intended to provide the traveller with all the information they need to choose the best seat for their requirements, it also has some nifty features like a comparison charts for all airlines by class and haulage.
As it turns out, of the airlines which fly Australia to Germany, Emirates Economy has a few extra inches of seat pitch over most. They also cost a bit more, but hopefully it will be enough at least to make M semi-comfortable and not hobble for the entirety of the trip. On the plus side, they also have 10kg more baggage allowance than any other airline. Shopping!
Airline travel with my beloved M has presented an interesting challenge. My 5'2" frame squishes reasonably well into aircraft seats, but M is 6'4" and has bad knees. He has flown short-haul before, and finds that an hour on a plane results in a day of limping, so understandably he was quite worried about the 20-hour trip to Europe.
I've never had to deal with this before, but I figured there were plenty of tall people in the world, so someone had to have come up with a solution. I googled "Flying for tall people" and got a lot of complaining, but no real solution beyond flying business class (which I could afford -- if I wanted to spend my entire trip budget on flights). Qantas's Premium Economy would be affordable if we were going to London, but they don't have it on lesser routes like Singapore-Frankfurt.
All the talk of seat pitch did remind me of a website, Seat Guru, the ultimate flying resource for travel obsessives. Whilst specifically intended to provide the traveller with all the information they need to choose the best seat for their requirements, it also has some nifty features like a comparison charts for all airlines by class and haulage.
As it turns out, of the airlines which fly Australia to Germany, Emirates Economy has a few extra inches of seat pitch over most. They also cost a bit more, but hopefully it will be enough at least to make M semi-comfortable and not hobble for the entirety of the trip. On the plus side, they also have 10kg more baggage allowance than any other airline. Shopping!
The Perfect Handbag
No, I don't mean my partner.
I wouldn't have thought it was so much of an ask. All I wanted was some carry-on luggage that was practical and didn't make me look like a tourist. My requirements were an oversized handbag or tote with a strap long enough to be worn across the body.
Clearly, this was indeed to much to ask. After a week of trawling through every bag store I could find, I had found only one that met my requirements, and I really didn't think it was worth $300.
Instead, I've decided to design and make my own. I often favour crescent-shaped bags (they wrap across the hips much more comfortably than a messenger-bag style), and I have an old one, so I'll start with the pattern for that an enlarge it a bit. I'm also going to significantly widen the strap, firstly to distribute the weight more evenly and secondly because I once saw a woman with what I can only describe as a bag/scarf mix, and thought it was a really novel idea. See below for a basic idea of what it will look like.
I've chosen a blue/gold shot fabric which I think is a poly-cotton. It's not truly ideal -- I would have preferred a darker colour in a more durable fabric, such as cotton drill, but it was the lesser of the various evils in the not-suitable-for-costume-making section of my fabric stash. Besides, it's not all bad. The thinner fabric will drape well across the strap, I can reinforce the bag part with interfacing, and if it gets dirty I can just put it in the wash.
More updates to come as construction commences...
I wouldn't have thought it was so much of an ask. All I wanted was some carry-on luggage that was practical and didn't make me look like a tourist. My requirements were an oversized handbag or tote with a strap long enough to be worn across the body.
Clearly, this was indeed to much to ask. After a week of trawling through every bag store I could find, I had found only one that met my requirements, and I really didn't think it was worth $300.
Instead, I've decided to design and make my own. I often favour crescent-shaped bags (they wrap across the hips much more comfortably than a messenger-bag style), and I have an old one, so I'll start with the pattern for that an enlarge it a bit. I'm also going to significantly widen the strap, firstly to distribute the weight more evenly and secondly because I once saw a woman with what I can only describe as a bag/scarf mix, and thought it was a really novel idea. See below for a basic idea of what it will look like.
I've chosen a blue/gold shot fabric which I think is a poly-cotton. It's not truly ideal -- I would have preferred a darker colour in a more durable fabric, such as cotton drill, but it was the lesser of the various evils in the not-suitable-for-costume-making section of my fabric stash. Besides, it's not all bad. The thinner fabric will drape well across the strap, I can reinforce the bag part with interfacing, and if it gets dirty I can just put it in the wash.
More updates to come as construction commences...
Monday, December 21, 2009
Travelling Companions
I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them. ~Mark Twain
Travel, as with most good things in life, is more fun if you share it with a friend. It's sharing the bad, the indifferent, and the just plain ugly that is what truly tests a relationship.
Opposites may attract, but it is similarities which determine how well you can travel with someone. First and foremost, you need to want the same things out of your trip. If one person wants to visit temples and the other wants to drink cocktails on the beach, you'll either spend most of the trip apart or angry at each other. Some compromise will always be necessary, but the more you agree on the less time you'll spend doing things you're not interested in.
Establishing rules and strategies is much easier to do at home before your trip than on the road. Some points you'll want to discuss with your travelling companion(s) are:
This isn't the first trip my partner and I have done, so we know we travel well together. It is however our first trip overseas, as well as the first time he's ever left the country. Since we're both medieval history buffs, we agree on our sightseeing agenda, and although I usually need a significant amount of time alone, he doesn't seem to register on my personal space. A rare thing indeed.
The best travel companion I've had, by a long way, is my mother. Alert, intrepid, and completely unflappable, she has dived WW2 wrecks, wrangled less-than-sober tour groups, and been evacuated from a warzone. She also has a knack for finding 'local' experiences such as introducing Noumean children to balloons, being the guest of honour at a traditional wedding, and was directly responsible for me spending my 21st birthday eating mystery meat at a very non-tourist market in Bali, with chickens pecking in the dust at my feet and the distinctive smell of hashish floating across from a neighbouring stall. Sounds a bit questionable in the retelling, but it was definitely a more memorable experience than any 21st party I could have had back home.
Travel, as with most good things in life, is more fun if you share it with a friend. It's sharing the bad, the indifferent, and the just plain ugly that is what truly tests a relationship.
Opposites may attract, but it is similarities which determine how well you can travel with someone. First and foremost, you need to want the same things out of your trip. If one person wants to visit temples and the other wants to drink cocktails on the beach, you'll either spend most of the trip apart or angry at each other. Some compromise will always be necessary, but the more you agree on the less time you'll spend doing things you're not interested in.
Establishing rules and strategies is much easier to do at home before your trip than on the road. Some points you'll want to discuss with your travelling companion(s) are:
- Who is responsible for making the bookings
- How you'll be splitting expenses
- How much you're prepared to vary your itinerary at short notice
- What kind of sightseeing and activities you want to do
- What places or activites are absolute "must do's" you're not prepared to forego
- The minimum standard of accommodation you're prepared to stay in
- What, when, and where you like to eat
- How much time you'll spend apart
This isn't the first trip my partner and I have done, so we know we travel well together. It is however our first trip overseas, as well as the first time he's ever left the country. Since we're both medieval history buffs, we agree on our sightseeing agenda, and although I usually need a significant amount of time alone, he doesn't seem to register on my personal space. A rare thing indeed.
The best travel companion I've had, by a long way, is my mother. Alert, intrepid, and completely unflappable, she has dived WW2 wrecks, wrangled less-than-sober tour groups, and been evacuated from a warzone. She also has a knack for finding 'local' experiences such as introducing Noumean children to balloons, being the guest of honour at a traditional wedding, and was directly responsible for me spending my 21st birthday eating mystery meat at a very non-tourist market in Bali, with chickens pecking in the dust at my feet and the distinctive smell of hashish floating across from a neighbouring stall. Sounds a bit questionable in the retelling, but it was definitely a more memorable experience than any 21st party I could have had back home.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Itinerary reshuffle #2
The luxury of planning this far away is the ability to change your mind. We've changed our path to Dortmund -- Berlin -- Prague -- Vienna -- Venice, a trip which will cost a little more but require less travel time and allow more time in each place.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Time, Place and Budget
The world is a pretty big place.
Too many would-be travellers limit themselves by getting these in the wrong order. Commonly, they dream of going to Paris, get half way through planning their ultimate trip, realise they will never be able to afford it, and then give up entirely. For this reason, budget needs to come first.
For my upcoming trip, we've chosen to spend Christmas in Dortmund, then travel by train across Eastern Europe to Istanbul. I've wanted to see Europe for a long time, and spending time with my family in Dortmund and visiting Eastern rather than Western Europe keeps costs down.
Some tips for keeping travel costs down:
Too many would-be travellers limit themselves by getting these in the wrong order. Commonly, they dream of going to Paris, get half way through planning their ultimate trip, realise they will never be able to afford it, and then give up entirely. For this reason, budget needs to come first.
For my upcoming trip, we've chosen to spend Christmas in Dortmund, then travel by train across Eastern Europe to Istanbul. I've wanted to see Europe for a long time, and spending time with my family in Dortmund and visiting Eastern rather than Western Europe keeps costs down.
Some tips for keeping travel costs down:
- Fly to a closer destination and travel overland the rest of the way
- Flights between major centres are cheaper than regional, but living costs are cheaper away from major cities
- Stay with friends or family
- Avoid "tourist" places -- eat, drink and shop where the locals do
A little bit of history
To know where one is going, it is important to know where one is from.
I'm Shona. I'm mid-twenties, work in IT whilst studying criminology part-time, and am in the middle of a divorce. I live in a very pretty but sadly rented house with my beloved partner. No kids (thankfully) and no pets (yet), just an ever-expanding library and a very random garden.
My family has always loved to travel. My paternal grandparents were migrants, my maternal ones refitted a bus and spent ten years taking it around Australia. My father is a recreational pilot and flying instructor, and my mother is a travelling sales rep and scuba diver with a love of tropical waters. I spent about a month per year in my childhood on extended family roadtrips. So as you can imagine, having not left the country in over five years is something I'm finding quite... uncomfortable.
So what is a tied-down traveller to do? Plan, of course.
I've finally found enough time and money for one good trip before I resume a relatively settled life, and it may well turn out to be the most over-planned three weeks in existence. This doesn't mean that I schedule every minute of my time away, but I might draw up more lists than is usually considered healthy. And I'm going to share the process, in the hope that someone else might find some insight in the ramblings of an over-educated but under-experienced wanderer.
I'm Shona. I'm mid-twenties, work in IT whilst studying criminology part-time, and am in the middle of a divorce. I live in a very pretty but sadly rented house with my beloved partner. No kids (thankfully) and no pets (yet), just an ever-expanding library and a very random garden.
My family has always loved to travel. My paternal grandparents were migrants, my maternal ones refitted a bus and spent ten years taking it around Australia. My father is a recreational pilot and flying instructor, and my mother is a travelling sales rep and scuba diver with a love of tropical waters. I spent about a month per year in my childhood on extended family roadtrips. So as you can imagine, having not left the country in over five years is something I'm finding quite... uncomfortable.
So what is a tied-down traveller to do? Plan, of course.
I've finally found enough time and money for one good trip before I resume a relatively settled life, and it may well turn out to be the most over-planned three weeks in existence. This doesn't mean that I schedule every minute of my time away, but I might draw up more lists than is usually considered healthy. And I'm going to share the process, in the hope that someone else might find some insight in the ramblings of an over-educated but under-experienced wanderer.
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