...and these CAMELS are off & running!! Left LAX this a.m. on Delta without a hitch for our 1st leg to Dubai, arriving in Atlanta this evening to 47 degree windy/COLD weather. ...(and I am wearing light clothing...). (It was 90+ in LA LA land when we left....)

Next up, rendezvous with Peggy, Jerry & the sistahs for the 14 hr non-stop to Dubai tomorrow. Twirls & spins! This CAMEL is ready to BE THERE :cool:

Safe and timely flights to all. And may we arrive on the same aircraft as our bags!

Sorry about the weather Michelle; it is unusual for this date! Safe travels to all!

Michele,

Thanks for checking in. I am so excited to get CAMEL MAIL! You guys are going to have the very best time!
I am simply green!!!!

See you soon Chitlin'

Have a great time everyone. Wish we could be with you!
Don and Michele - we'll be following your every step!
John and Kathy

:bv:

Have a wonderful time Camels........what a trip!!!!!

How exciting! More sea mail coming in is always a great thing.

Have a great trip, Michele! We'll see you in a few.

Cheers, Anne

Michele,

Wishing you fun and exciting times...enjoy every minute and please send us seamail.

:bv:

Safe travels to all - patiently awaiting your seamail - lucky folks!!!!! You all will be missed on LCT BUT we need cruisers to provide us with our LCT "fix" - XXXOOO

Can't wait for Seamail from this one -- its going to be great, I just know it!! Safe travels everyone and keep us updated on the LCT antics, and boy does SilverSea even have a clue what is comeing?????? Whoohooo can't wait.

So happy this trip is finally here. I bet we get some of the best seamail & photos in ages!
Safe travels to all.

Just received a phone call from the Atlanta airport from the "sistahs" and Peggy and Jerry - they are having a ball before they get on the plane - no doubt this will be a great trip - ahhh they all will be missed - GO CAMEL CRUISERS!!!!

I also got a call from the "Atlanta" group last night. Peggy was out hunting for Michele and Don. She finally tracked them down. They were doing an airport lounge and bar crawl.

I am still not packed and my ride to BART is picking me up shortly. ACK! :eek:

Olivia and I will check in from Frankfurt. She was able to change her flights yesterday eliminating the leg to Zurich and was also able to get on a flight straight out the day of disembarkation. Sometimes waiting until the last minute on FF tix pays off!

Off to pack...

We're here!! The first wave is reporting in...Peggy, Jerry, Sistahs, Don & me. Loooong flight but all went well.(editing to say we got through Customs without any problemas...whew!) It's 8:30 p.m. & we're at the Grand Hyatt (very pretty) with cocktails waiting for us downstairs. We're so anxious to start exploring....maybe a quick trip to Abu Dhabi tomorrow?? Many ideas floating around in our weary heads. It feels like an inferno at night so daytime will be ....!@#!!

Thank you, Suzanne, for giving Don & me the tip to buy our wine in the airport! :nw: Safe travels to you all. We'll keep the light on & bar open for you!

Have a wonderful "CAMEL" time.

Glad to hear you arrived in good order. Wine in the airport? Hmm .. say more!

Packed - check
Bird sitter all set - check
Bird food premix - check
Mail on Hold - check

cheers, Anne

Wishing you all bon voyage - can't wait to hear all about it!

Wishing you'd be with us, Brad and Leslie! We'll keep the POOCH fur flying and think of you.

Cheers, Anne

Am green with envy wishing I was on this cruise...I love Dubai and am waiting to try out the Silver Seas .Oh well ROAR is fast approaching.

Have a ball and do try out the Dune Buggy ride...it was a blast....remember dont sit in the last row in the buggy...its on the axle...ouch!

Have a wonderful time all.

Bon Voyage to all!

Can't wait to share this experience with all of you-Bon Voyage!!

Bon voyage, CAMELs! Looking forward to hearing all about it.

:bv:

Dena

Have a great one, looks like its already off to a rousing start!! <img src="http://smileys.sm...i%253D26%252F26_16_2/image.gif">

We are 6 TIRED Camels tonight. We must have set an all time record in the # of STOPS on the HOHO bus today! Left at 10 a.m. & returned at 6:45 p.m. after 29 + stops! We managed to cover the entire City AND the beach areas in one day!We almost had to WALK BACK from the last stop to the hotel...Jerry did. The rest of us waited 25 min. for a shuttle, while taking one last gasp at shopping in designer stores (no shop too far for the "no bar too far" crowd). A cold shower, a tall glass of vino, cold cold A/C has now revived us (well, sort of). Staggering is not a strong enough word to describe the 6 of us .... talk about "doing Dubai in one day!....", well, we did it. Hot Hot humid (94%) & more hot. There are so many HUGE shopping malls, one loses count. We mostly enjoyed shopping at the textile souk. Marilyn, Suzie, Peggy & I made some fairly good deals along the way; we decided to do a "fly by" the gold souk (much to Don's & Jerry's relief) But, with Suzanne enroute, the boys may lose that battle. The heat reigns all decisions, though. Will be great to have all CAMELers here.

Thanks for all the good wishes, everyone. This has been such an exotic destination & I'm sure that everyone of us would recommend it. All 6 of us commented today that we felt like we had stepped onto a Star Wars movie set.

Looking forward to more arrivals of LCTers. Dubai will never be the same :)

What troopers you are, Michelita! I am impressed - no way I could get through a day like that! However, I know I would LOVE Dubai. Your Star Wars movie set comment makes me even more curious!

WOW what energy the camel riders share! I'm with you, Kristin, that day would have been a struggle for me, too. No slackers in this crowd! Thanks for checking in Michele. Can't wait until rest of your gang arrives and the evening "partying" begins :lct: :lct: :lct:

Thanks for the great posts! You Camels are having a wonderful time and off to a great start.

Nancy

I'm tired just reading about your day!!! Don't know if I could have done it. <img src="http://smileys.sm...253D23%252F23_165_10/image.gif">

Here we are in Dubai. Flight was fine missed the sleeper seats but it was pretty comfortable and both Ken and I got some sleep.

Arrived and immediately ran into Peggy and Jerry, than came the Sistahs and Don and Michelle. We checked into our room and then went to the casual cafe in the hotel for a light meal. Sandwiches, salads and of course vino.

Suzie and Marilyn came bearing gifts. Great fun sunglasses and tee shirts for the ladies that say CAMELS ROCK. We are all going to wear them on boarding the Silver Whisper.

Went up to our room about 11.00 pm answered some emails and got a little organized and time just flew. We hit the sack about 1.00 am. So now it is abut 7.45 am and we are about to leave to go do half of the marathon bus ride with Suzanne and Olivia. Then tea at the Burj at 2.00 pm.

Looking foward to seeing Dubai. Right now it looks so modern and the air is very hazy. I think it is dust in the air. We will see what great things the day has to offer and be back later.

We are grabbing 30 minutes at the lounge in Zurich between planes. German keyboard so the y and z are reversed and the punctuation is God only knows where.

We took the privatair business jet from Newark. Angled lie-flat seats. Pretty comfortable. Food good. Best part? Very quiet for sleep. Individual DVD machines are the only IFE. Discounted price, it is a good choice. Otherwise stick with a lie flat seat choice.

Cheers, Cleo

If you only had time to get to old town
www.zeughauskeller.ch
Dena really likes this food, just ask her how much.

And to think we were just talking about the sausage extravaganza lunches with the sistahs at breakfast this morning! Were your ears burning?

mmm .. memories of those sausage midmorning snacks before lunch! We were so bummed to miss another late morning sausage meal. It's too bad we didn't have an extra 1/2 hour to run into town for the house specialties.

I didn't see the onion rings on the menu, grant. Do you need to place a special order for them? ;)

Not sure the Swiss really like me asking for ketchup with wienerschnitzel, some of the looks I got were well sort of like the French and how they feel about cooking your meat any more that raw! Also I did not see junior cooking Zurich.

I'll be camping here to read the mails. We just loved Dubai. The haze is definitely the dust. It is hard to get decent pics unless you are in certain places.

Anyone doing a safari or the Wild Wadi?

Grant, how I wish Junior is available for special orders of onion rings!

The dune desert evening was great fun. The 'e' ticket ride up and down the dunes; camel admiring; sunset photos; camel rides; a tasty dinner; and let's not forget the audience participation belly dancing.

We cuddled up in Cooz Bar after our dune adventure. Geez .. tomorrow is going to come waaay too soon. Then .. time to board the Silvesea Whisper and we are on our way to Athens. All of us have been most pleased staying at the Grand Hyatt in Dubai

Ngaire did a great job of getting the safari arranged. Looking forward to seeing Eugene, Gail, Ken and Sheila onboard tomorrow.

Cheers, Anne

Where are you guys? This is becoming an obsession. . . I've probably checked this thread 10 times today. . . . very curious to learn about the "Silversea" experience. We came really close to booking Silversea -- ended up booking Regent. Hope you are having a great time!

I know this group - NO doubt they are having a ball....diehard Regent cruisers BUT they can have fun wherever :lct: :lct: :D :D

Are they on the ship yet or are they still hanging out in Dubai?