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Gabrielle SheehanGabrielle Sheehan
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traveled in 55 countries Read more Sydney, Australia
  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Day 198

    Back Home!

    October 1, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 35 °C

    After a very smooth flight we landed into Sydney around 7am and caught the train back home - very weird carrying our packs for the last time from the train station to home!

    The past 6 and half months truly has been the trip of a lifetime. Almost 200 days, 5 continents and 30+ countries with some of the most diverse landscapes and cultures. The historical cities, delicious food and amazing sights have forged memories that we will never forget! But most importantly the people we have met along the way have made this trip what it was. Whether it be fellow travellers or the locals welcoming us to their home, we have felt safe and free to be able to explore the world, as well as forge friendships along the way.

    We have been so fortunate to go on this incredible trip of a lifetime together, making memories that we will cherish for a lifetime.

    Although we are back home now, this certainly isn’t the end of our travels - who knows where we’ll end up next time! :)    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    1
    Day 197

    Leaving Dubai

    September 30, 2023 in the United Arab Emirates ⋅ ☀️ 37 °C

    We got ourselves up extra early to make use of the hotel gym (and also to try and avoid some jet lag back in Sydney!) and enjoyed the last breakfast in our hotel.

    We made our way to the airport and boarded our flight to Sydney, we even got to watch the AFL grand final live on board!Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    1
    Day 196

    Dubai

    September 29, 2023 in the United Arab Emirates ⋅ ☀️ 40 °C

    We continued our sleep prep to get back into Sydney time this morning with an early morning workout at the gym at the hotel followed by a leisurely breakfast (the buffet breakfast at the hotel is great!)

    We then chilled by the pool for a few hours, soaking up a few rays on our last full day of our trip!

    In the afternoon, we were picked up in a 4WD for our desert safari experience. We were driven out to the desert where we went ‘dune-bashing’ - kind of like dune buggying but with deflated tyres on a 4WD - which was lots of fun! We stopped in the middle of the desert to take some photos and do some sandboarding which was lots of fun! Daniel took a very embarrassing video of Gab flipping off her board when she was sitting sandblasting (she was totally fine - just received a mouthful of sand!)

    We then jumped back on the road (after inflating the tyres of course) and headed out to a nearby campsite for a night of food and entertainment. We started with a very brief camel ride (less than 5 minutes) - Daniel’s first time and Gab’s second - which was fun. We then tried some local Arabic sweets followed by a starter of falafel and mimosas which was very delicious.

    This was followed by entertainment throughout the night of fire twirling, a type of whirling dervish show (which also contained fire) and finished with belly dancing. Given the proximity of UAE to Turkey, it made sense that a lot of the entertainment was very similar to what we had seen a month earlier. However, the fire twirling show was incredible and we had front row seats so we got very hot!!

    In between the entertainment, we enjoyed a delicious buffet dinner which included plenty of salads, fresh hommus, curries and bbq chicken/beef.

    After the entertainment was finished, we made our way back to Dubai city straight to sleep as we have an early start in the morning for our flight home!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Day 195

    Dubai

    September 28, 2023 in the United Arab Emirates ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Time to start adjusting our bodies to Sydney time! We got up early and went to see the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa!

    We made the short walk from our hotel across the Dubai downtown area and entered into the massive Dubai Mall (the largest mall in the UAE). Safe to say the aircon was very welcoming after the searing 35 degree Arabian heat! The mall itself is massive, we walked past hundreds of high end fashion shops and arrived at the entrance of the Burj. As we approached the elevator which would take us up to level 124/125 (a healthy 464m above sea level!) we were taken through the history of what went into making the Burj including all the various parties and contractors which were involved. Daniel was in his element reading all about this amazing engineering feat!

    We entered one of the building’s 65 elevators which swiftly took us up and the view was incredible! Although we were only halfway up the 828m tall skyscraper, we could see about 10km away! We had lots of fun exploring the two levels, took in some amazing views which photos really can’t do justice and made our way back to ground.

    The Burj is one of the engineering marvels of the modern world and Daniel particularly enjoyed all the facts we read about after we returned ground and exited the burj. The facts included information about how they deal with the challenges of wind and sandstorms for such a tall building (this requires full time monitoring), how they air condition the whole building (and use the water waste for watering the surrounding gardens), how they light the building (which can be lit up with special lights for special events) and how they clean the windows of the building (which actually are manually washed the old fashioned way, and take a team of 40 people 3 months to clean, at which point they start again!) It was all very interesting!!

    Next it was time to visit the ‘other’ mall, the Mall of the Emirates for another very interesting activity. What else to do when you’ve done everything else on your holiday - go skiiing at the world’s largest indoor ski slope of course!
    Daniel swapped the 35 degree heat for some snow for a couple of hours whilst Gab did some window shopping through the mall (she opted not to go skiing!) The slopes were so much fun and Daniel was very happy to get through his first time skiing since his knee surgery without crashing or injuring himself! Gab spent a couple of hours looking around at mostly high end stores with a mix of clothing stores and other speciality department stores.

    Next, we caught the Dubai metro back to downtown Dubai which was pretty efficient and easy. We bought our tickets and hopped on the metro which has different carriages for males and females. We got off at Dubai Mall and Gab went to explore the Dubai Aquarium (which is the biggest indoor aquarium in the world) whilst Daniel went back to the hotel to chill.

    The Aquarium starts with an underwater tunnel which is so impressive as it spans around 4 floors of the mall. The tunnel contains lots of different types of fish, rays and sharks and it was a thrilling experience walking through and seeing the fish swimming above your head and around you. After exploring the various levels, you enter into the Underwater Zoo area. This contains various areas including a ‘rainforest’ area with many fish, turtles (including lots of pig nosed turtles which come from Australia and Papua New Guinea), cute sea otters swimming and playing and even 2 crocs!

    We met back at the hotel to freshen up and went out to explore downtown Dubai at night time. We went for a boat ride on the lake in front of the Burj Khalifa to see the world's biggest water fountain show - so so cool! Yes, there is definitely a theme here that everything is the biggest in the world!! We loved the way everything lit up around us during the show. We had a fantastic view of the show as well as the incredible Dubai skyline behind it.

    We then went into the bustling Dubai mall food court for a very much enjoyed healthy dinner of poke bowls before heading back to the hotel to sleep.    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Day 194

    Munich —> Dubai, UAE

    September 27, 2023 in the United Arab Emirates ⋅ ☀️ 38 °C

    We had a bit of a slow morning today recovering from yesterday's antics!

    Thankfully today was just a travel day so we slowly left the campsite to head to the airport to leave Europe and make one last stop before coming home.

    We arrived at Munich airport with plenty of time, had one last schnitzel for old times sake and boarded our flight to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The flight was comfortable and took around 6.5 hours. Neither of us had flown Emirates before and were very impressed by the huge dinner (which even had German potato salad as an Oktoberfest special!)

    We landed in Dubai around midnight and by the time we had checked into our hotel it was around 1am and we were both definitely ready for a sleep! Our bodies were definitely very sore from sleeping in the tent for 5 nights! Our room has a view of the famous Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest building, which we would be exploring tomorrow!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Day 193

    Munich - Daniel's birthday

    September 26, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Our last full day in Europe and it was Daniel’s birthday so what better way to spend it than at Oktoberfest!!

    We had a couple of mimosas at the campsite to get us going and got to the festival before it had even opened. We went straight to the Augustiner tent to taste our first beer of the day by 10.30am. Augustiner is the locals' favourite beer and is served out of an oak barrel. After we finished our beers, we went for a walk to the more well known Hofbrau tent where we enjoyed our second round for the day as well as a delicious Schweinehaxen - the famous Bavarian pork knuckle! We were sitting next to some Americans who had just done the Berlin marathon and had some good chats.

    We then had a pretzel on the way to the Paulaner tent, where we shared a beer - the tents were definitely starting to get busier now! We then went to our fourth and final tent where we spent the next four hours - Lowenbrau. It was so busy but we managed to get a seat next to some older German couples and had some great fun attempting to communicate! The band started playing and we got up on the tables and danced the night away. After Daniel had finished his 5th stein of the day we decided to bid farewell to Oktoberfest, but not before grabbing an oxe burger and bratswurst on the way out!

    We made our way back to the campsite to spend the last night in the tent!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Day 192

    Munich

    September 25, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    After a very cold night, it was great to see the sun shining in the morning to warm us up!

    We headed into Munich centre for a bike tour which we had included as part of the package at the campsite. We started in the same place as our self guided tour yesterday however we went in a different direction which was fantastic as we felt like we thoroughly explored Munich.

    We learnt a few interesting facts about the city and visited some very significant buildings in relation to Munich and Germany’s history, such as:
    - The city name Munich (München) means ‘House of the Monk’, as monks were the first inhabitants of the town.
    - The big beer culture comes from the fact that Munich used to have unsafe drinking water and so the monks brewed beer which was safer than water. Munich now has the 6th cleanest water in the world but of course the beer culture remains!!
    - Otto Von Wittelsbach was from Bavaria and was actually the first king of modern Greece. The letter 'y' is not used in German but is commonly used in Greek - the y in the German world 'Bayern' (‘Bavaria’) was added by Otto due to his love of the Greek language. Further, the Greek flag uses the white and blue colours which are the same colours as in the Bavarian flag!
    - We visited Hitler’s former office and the surrounding gardens. These are one of the only parts of the city which were not bombed in WWII as the Allies wanted to preserve the area as they thought there would be important documents and information in the building.
    - We saw many reminders of WWII with damage to some buildings still visible from bombings - these have been intently left as "wounds of remembrance". 80% of Munich was bombed during WWII so much of the city has been rebuilt.
    - The towers of the Cathedral of Our Lady are 99m high and the city of Munich prohibits any building which is higher than the towers. This means that the city of Munich is relatively flat compared to some other European cities with no skyscrapers in the inner city. This makes Munich quite unique and appear to still have a "town" vibe.

    Towards the end of the tour we cycled through the English garden which was very beautiful and then made a stop at the Chinese Tower near the middle. This was our lunch stop and one of Munich’s biggest beer gardens is right next to the tower, where we shared a beer and tried the hendl (half roasted chicken) and weißwurst (white sausage). It was all delicious!

    We then made our way back to the starting point, stopping at the standing wave we saw yesterday before finishing the fun 4.5hr bike tour!

    After the tour, we decided to walk to Oktoberfest (without our lederhosen and drindl on today). With it being a Monday it was noticeably quieter and we decided to go on the Ferris wheel. It is the largest moveable Ferris wheel in Europe and at approx 65m high, gave us a fantastic view over Oktoberfest and Munich!

    We then made our way back to the campsite for some drinks and cards before walking out to explore the area around the campsite. We walked for about 30min down the road and decided to go into KFC for dinner - as everything else was closed! It was the first and last time on the trip! We then headed back to the campsite to get some rest in preparation for a big day tomorrow.    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Day 191

    Munich

    September 24, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    After a better sleep than the night before (thank you German beer!) we headed out on a day of sightseeing in Munich.

    We used the same self-guided walking tour website we had previously used to explore Munich. We started at Karlsplatz before heading into the old town of Munich passing many old churches and the traditional beer houses. We went past the Hofbrauhaus, the one we had gone to last night and learnt some very interesting history regarding the oldest beer house. In 1920, Adolf Hitler attended a meeting with other would-be Nazi party members where he presented his 20 point plan of the ‘final solution’ to Jews - more commonly known as the holocaust. Annual Nazi events were then held at the hofbrauhaus until the end of WWII.

    We then went to the old town square, Marienplatz, where we watched the intricate Glockenspiel. This is a clock which has some moving components that rotate at midday each day for approx 10min for a fantastic show. We were then able to meet up with Amy again and met her cousin, Lisa, whom Amy is staying with in Munich. We enjoyed a nice change of pace with ramen for lunch in a Japanese restaurant and chatted in the sun before walking through the beautiful English Garden.

    After the garden, we went to see the surfing wave where surfers try to stay on the wave as long as possible in the middle of the park! There was a natural dip in the water which made a wave and then it was further built up with materials to make it even more exciting to surf! Surfers flock here all year around and of course wear body suits in the winter as the river can be freezing! It very cool to watch and chat away in the park in the sun. We said goodbye to Amy, wishing her well for her 6 month stay in Bologna and assuring each other that we would catch up back in Australia.

    We made our way back to the campsite to chill out and make the most of our drinks package!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Day 190

    Munich

    September 23, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    We awoke after our first night in the tent. It was quite cramped and difficult to get comfortable but we managed to find some positions that worked to get some sleep!

    We went into Munich city centre to meet our friend Amy, who we had met on our Turkey tour a few weeks ago. She had quit her job back in Australia, was travelling for a bit and is now au pairing in Bologna, Italy. She was already planning on going to Oktoberfest this weekend and so it worked out really well!

    We then walked into the festival and it was incredible! Lots of music, people, food carts and surprisingly a lot of rides. The middle Saturday of the festival (which was today) is known as the busiest day of the entire two week festival and this was definitely evident even when we walked in at 11am! It is also Italian weekend!

    We walked for a bit through the streets, taking in the sights before attempting to get a table at the Paulaner tent. This was unsuccessful but even just walking through the beer tent was amazing, so many people and lots of music!

    We then went next door to the Spaten tent where we did manage to get a seat and had our first steins of the day! 🍻 We danced on the benches to all the music (which included songs in English such as "Take Me Home, Vountry Road" and ABBA classics!) We had a fantastic time!

    After Spaten, we got a pretzel (as you do!) and walked to the Hacker-Pschorr tent. This is one of the lesser known ‘big beer tents’ in Australia but it took us a bit longer to get in as it was getting very busy throughout the festival. We managed to get a seat in the outdoor beer garden and enjoyed our second steins of the day.

    After this we went for a snack of kaiserchmarren which is a delicious smashed pancake and apple sauce dish! We then struggled to get into a tent as it was after 5pm and most were closed/already too full. After a few attempts and huge queues we decided to leave the Oktoberfest festival and headed into Munich old town.

    It was really pretty walking around the old town and we managed to get a seat in the oldest original beer house in Munich, Hofbrauhaus. We then got our third steins of the day (with Daniel trying a dark one!) and some delicious pork, sausage and macaroni which we shared for dinner. There was a great vibe and atmosphere in Hofbrauhaus with a band playing and everyone singing and celebrating!

    We then said goodbye to Amy (not knowing if we would see her again) and went back to the campsite to sleep after a very busy day!    Read more

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