We arrived home late on Saturday afternoon, tired but happy.  Cherryleigh's family was there to meet her and had space for another two passengers.  The rest of us piled back into the double cab with trailer, but we needed to tie some of the instruments on the roof to make space for two who had to travel in the back.  Before we hit the R300, we had 5 sleeping band members and this was the case all the way to Wolseley.  We dropped the kids off with some very happy parents and there were some very emotional reunions.
A good nights sleep was on the cards for all.  The next day was Sunday and I believe most slept through that too.

All good things must come to an end at some point and it was now 6 am and "time to say goodbye".  We were humbled and warmed by the kindness, warmth, hospitality and support from all the expats living in Dubai.  You really made our trip very special and something for us all to treasure for ever.  A big thank you from Paul, Peppi, Jemile, Emilda, Gavin, Gersh, Jay-Brian, Cherry-leighAshley.

Today we were all spoilt rotten by the wonderful Dubai hospitality from the expat South Africans and Zimbabweans.  
We were invited by Hugh Born for a ride on his boat.  We arrived at the home of Hugh and Lynn Born who live on the Palms in Dubai and half the group went on the boat ride to the Burj al Arab which is the only 7 star hotel in the world.  The other half of the crew were able to take kayaks and row out on the water in front of their lovely home.  

After an exhilarating morning on the water another very special person in Dubai invited us to lunch at her home.  Sue Fletcher is from Zimbabwe and open her home to a hungry group of children and spoilt us all rotten.  They swam and washed off the salty sea water from the Arabial Gulf.

It was now time to prepare for our evening concert at the Fridge.  It was still beastly hot and we made the mistake of packing the instruments into the transport a couple of hours before the show which resulted in the drum skin going soft and some of the notes going flat.  I don't think the audience noticed a thing though.  Robyn had done an amazing job of securing us this venue and gathering so many people to come and enjoy the show.  There was even a lady who had been in Dubai for 12 years, but had attended school in Wolseley.  The band once again gave a sterling performance and got their first standing ovation.  There were people in the audience who came and said how the band had made them homesick for South Africa.  We were once again very proud of them.
 

We still had another treat lined up for the day and that was a delicious meal at Nando's.  This was arranged by Michelle, a friend of Robyn's who is marketing manager for Nando's.  This is like no Nandos I have ever experienced.  It was out on the terrace near the Dubai Mall and whilst we were served the most delicious treats, from starters to mains and deserts, we had a view of the beautiful musical fountains.  We had been spoilt with the most amazing Dubai hospitality and kindness from start to finish and our trip was about to end.  It was now time to go home and once again wrap our instruments for travel.  This process takes quite a while and it was after midnight before we went to bed, but some of the youngsters never slept at all.  We had to get up at 4.30 am in order to get everyone up, packed and off to the airport for our flight home.  The children were now quite hyped up about being reunited with family and friends.  We have been exceptionally blessed by everyone in Dubai - extremely grateful.

Robyn had secured a rental and together with her Xtrail, and Paul driving, we navigated the streets of Dubai and got to see the Dubai Mall with its aquarium and famous shops.  Needless to say no shopping was done by the SA crew with our week currency.  They got to see the Buri Khalifa which is the highest building in the world.  We then proceeded to another shopping center which was slightly more affordable and let the crew loose for a little shopping to buy gifts for family back home.  We made them lunch at the Villa and suggested that the rested to get over a bit of jet lag before.  They had a surprise waiting - a desert safari.  Paul and I were not booked on this as we were going to have dinner with our daughter and her boyfriend Mark.  This was to be the only time we had together and it was priceless.
The dessert safari consisted of riding, literally surfing sand dunes in 4X4, then getting to ride on camels and having a traditional meal, complete with belly dancers and henna tattoos etc.

We were met in Dubai by our daughter Robyn and her boyfriend Mark in Robyn's Nissan Trailblazer and a rental.  We got all the instruments into the Nissan an all but three of us in the rental and so three of us took a cab and we all arrived at the Villa tired, but excited.  Our cab driver, a lady asked me about my "two sons" in the back and I told her that if these were my sons, I was travelling with eight children.  When she dropped us off, she said "you a funny lady".
Robyn had arranged for the children to camp in her games room.  The kids were so excited as there was a pool table, table tennis and weights etc.  There was little sleep that night in the games room and they all suffered the next day on top of jet lag.

We needed to check out of our accommodation by 12h00 so we spent the morning packing up the instruments once again using the same bubble wrap, card board found at the hotel waste and did a great job.  Our flight was due out at 16h25, so we decided that there would be no time to do anything else so we took the shuttle to LAX to sit out the time there.  On leaving the accommodation, the manager, who took a dislike to us, after he kicked us out when we were trying to have a final practice before the show and we took our instruments onto the street and continued there,  asked the shuttle driver to make sure he left nobody behind.  How is that for people skills?  
Our experience in the departure section of LAX was a huge improvement on our arrivals.  The people were a lot more helpful and things went smoothly and there were no long queues as we had experienced on arrival.  We were soon checked in with boarding passed and found a nice corner to park off for a couple of hours.  We needed to feed the crew once again and Paul set off to find the best selection and came back with the most expensive sandwiches @10.50$ each.  This was the most reasonable purchase he could make.  Needless to say he bought one for each band member and one for us to share.  He bought a 3$ coke for each and we took an empty mug and filled it with water from the tap.  We knew we could get a good meal on the plane and Emirates did not dissapoint us there.
We started our 16 hour leg to Dubai, but we were all excited about new adventures and for Paul and I the added bonus of seeing our daughter, Robyn.  Paul had not been to Dubai before and was very excited about the visit.

We felt the need to do at least one special thing that was unique to LA and chose a trip to Universal Studios.  What a special day of informative tours through the movie world, shows and rides. This is just one of those experiences that defies description - you simply had to be there. We travelled through the House of Horrors, got attacked by dinosaurs in the world of King Kong, were recruited by Despicable Me and turned into minions.   We took a ride through Jurasic Park and  saved the All Spark at the Transformers and were terrified by ghastly creatures in the ride of the Revenge of the Mummy.  We saw an amazing act at water world and were exposed by special effects. We finally ran out of time and returned exhausted and  exhilarated by a unique and special experience.  

It was Sunday and the day to be at Venice beach.  This was an amazing experience. It is a long beach and all along you have stalls, musicians, acts and anything and everything goes.  No rules apply at Venice and you  could see a lady with a beard, the smallest man or a guy on roller with electric guitar selling religious T shirts or street dancers,  you could get you tatoo, see Mchael Jackson  dance if you filled his pot and so much more. I would have liked to spend more time. We set up the marimbas - thanks to the unbelievable support of some South African friends, Mona and Sam who Assisted us with transport.  We could not have done this without their assistance. In no time the crew had a supportive audience and we raised 32$ each selling cd's and in donations.  Unfortunately there was a difference in priorities and the crew wanted to find a shopping mall. We then left Venice and enjoyed some time with Mona and Sam over a cuppa chino whilst the crew shopped.  
Jeanette (my US  sister) and son Karl and family had also met us at Venice. They had to leave for their respective homes and it was sat to say goodbye to Jeanette. 

The day dawned but since we were being picked up at 4 pm we decided at the children's insistence to find a mall. This was a depressing experience for all  us and dollar based shopping was a non event so early in the trip.  We soon headed back to the hotel to have lunch and were met  by American family and friends. It was wonderful to get this support.
We had 3 Lexus vehicles scheduled to transport us and the instruments to venue in time for a sound check, but here the organization fell short.  One arrived and the second one only arrived over an hour lated. Suffice to say we were too late for a sound check but that did not affect the crews game. 
In the waiting area the crew could see Fergi from Black Eyed Peas which excited them no end. We were hoping that she would come and have a picture with them, but that was not to be. 
The show got underway  and the team played out of their socks. We had got our hotel to print off two SA flags that we attached to the two outer instruments. Sometime during the performance someone in the crowd shouted "Julie is Fokken amazing". It was so funny hearing that in downtown LA. 
The disappointing part was that we were told to be ready for pickup at 4 pm and they played at 8 pm, finishing at 9 pm and no consideration was given to feeding the crew. We were at a Food and Wine festival but there was nothing to eat for them. We ended up sending them home with the Lexus fleet and gave the driver money to go via Mc Donald's. We stayed for another 30 min and got a lift home.   It wa s over all too soon but I believe we gave it our all and made our sponsors proud.
  

On  Thursday we decided to explore and took the hotel shuttle to Manhattan  beach. We asked the bus driver if we could put our CD in and in no time the team were singing to their own music as was the entire bus.  The spirits were so high.