Almost there

 I am in Dubai waiting on an Emirates flight to Sri Lanka.

That county was not on my bucket list, but when I got a message from my good friend Damith on Christmas day 2024, telling me that he and wife Sharlene were back there and I should come and spend time with them. Who could turn down such an exceptional offer?

Not me, especially since I am crazy about elephants and curious about Buddhism. Hope they don't get tired of me before my 3 weeks are up.😁

Naturally, Dubai duty free shops are fabulous and ridiculously expensive!

So here I am in Dubai airport in transit area, killing time as I have a 5 hour layover after coming off a 13 hour flight from Toronto on Air Canada a few minutes ago.

If I have ever flown on Air Canada before it must have been many decades ago. I don't recall. But this was an excellent long haul service. Especially since I just had the experience of flying from Venice for 8 hours on that dump, Air Europa last month.

Boy I can't believe that airline which was established in 1986, could still be  flying, as their service is so terrible. It's worse than Spirit and I always thought no airline could compare.

Not even water could you get to drink on that dump outside of mealtime! 

Anyway forget them. 

I left Fort Lauderdale in a thunder storm but was happy to do so, as there was lots of news yesterday about the poor, dangerous conditions at Trump's US airports, where not even radars are functioning properly at some.

The leg to Toronto was fairly bumpy to the point where I even had to stop reading, as my hands where jumping up all over the place.

But Toronto to Dubai was a dream. 

Great food, nuff wine, lots of leg room, smooth conditions most of the way and efficient staff.

I love Emirates and am using it to Colombo so will see if they can outdo Air Canada.

Big up the airline.

Sri Lanka here I come. Hope the mangoes are riping there now too.😋

Venice

 We disembarked in Venice but as we knew it was too late to catch our flight back home, we had booked a hotel to overnight there. 

This

 is the only day Kadi spent some time with us. 

For as she is a super chef in New York, so is always off on some tour learning to cook new, local dishes at every port.

We 

got a conveniently located hotel called Belstay in the town of Mestre where the cruise port from which we disembarked is located and only fifteen minutes from the airport.

As soon as we checked in, we took a cab into town, hung around, took lots of pictures and ate Italian food.

Here are some of the pics.

It was a great eleven day cruise. Interesting ports of call in Europe/Africa, wonderful entertainment and tasty regional food always available.

 Best of all was that my travel group synced most of the time. 

L-r: Kadi, Michelle, Joan, Sonja, Camille.

That's important, for the Jamaican saying: "si mi but nuh lib wid mi" is often prophetic.😩

Tomorrow morning it's back to the miserable USA with their ridiculous and destabilizing tariffs 😡.

I need to win the lottery so I can go on a permanent cruise.😊

Sonja's last look at Venice.❤️

Reminder to myself. Never fly Air Europa again😡