Put your hands up for Detroit !

Sometimes a song comes out of left field and even though in the 'real' world you would never have listened to it or enjoyed it, somehow, in the right moments the song appears and well, you're stuck with it and the memories associated with it. Thankfully Fedde Le Grand is only ever going to make me smile and think about Jagermeister & Beer in Hemavan, a night that slipped by too quickly in Belgrade and smoking a Sheesha /Hookah pipe a few times too many in Dubai. All along, at somehow the most appropriate time there was Fedde telling me to raise them for Detroit because it's a 'lovely city'. Either way I'm going to have to offer my thanks because my headspace will be right back in those places the moment someone decides to spin the disc.

So flight #8 took me from Belgrade to Vienna and three hours later I was on Flight #9 from Vienna to Dubai. I had entered the home straight of this trip but not before I took a couple of nights of in Dubai prior to making the home run for Sydney.

Now Dubai is just a spectacular place, audacious, futuristic, enterprising and cosmopolitan. Just reading up on the amount of development that has already taken place there is amazing but to actually witness what's going on and then to read on their intentions for the next 5 years just makes all the more mind boggling. Lured by zero corporate taxes, its proximity to both European and Asian markets and a relatively cheap labour force, this is quickly becoming both a financial and tourist mecca. On the list of 'most things surreal' was my ability to get some snowboarding time in their newly created indoor ski complex. If you'd like to check it out just go to the site, http://www.skidxb.com/English/default.aspx ....and for those of you that couldn't really be bothered, well I've included a shot below.

Of course, the purists will say it's not 'real snow' - like there's a difference these days because everyone is making artificial snow but really wme turns in the Mall of the Emirates I checked out most of the sights around town, the Burj al Arab (7 star hotel), construction on the Burj Dubai - which next year will be the tallest building on earth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Dubai, Palm island which is just a stunning piece of engineering and ingenuity and of course the desert.

Of course, after a long day in the desert what would any good Australian boy do ? Of course he'd find a pub and talk crap with a cool Canadian guy until 5am. Which I did on two consecutive nights before we both found ourselves stranded in a Hookah bar without any alcohol. Now picture two guys, smoking the pipe and having to order 'fruit cocktails' whilst sitting in a slightly 'artsie' bar. Can anyone say 'gay' ..........lol. Oh well, I guess you have to start somewhere. Either way it was a hell of a lot of fun and I got back to my hotel for an hour turn around before having to get to the airport and catch my flight at 8am . If anyone wants to know the trick of how to sleep on a plane, drink, don't sleep for a couple of days before and have the occasional fruit cocktail !?

Unfortunately this is where it all ends. I got back to Sydney on the 28th of January and kicked back into work and the same old routine the very next day. Thankfully I brought back some good vibes , I had the rest that I needed, I had fun with a lot of great people and I picked up the additional inspiration that I was missing for months. So until next time ......