Leaving Emirates the Airline

Two years ago last week I left Dubai and Emirates (the airline) after 12 years, to come home and help with the launch of V Australia. This series of posts documents the leaving process - partly as my first attempt at a blog (which hopefully someone will find worth reading), partly as an assistance to others in my position. While this blog should provide some amusement, it should also be of assistance if you are leaving soon as well. There will be differences however - a lot of this depends on your years of service, and I'm sure some things have changed - hopefully for the better!

25.Apr.2008 : Car Trouble

AAA Strikes Back. I was lucky it wasn't any worse.

Today I backed carefully out of a nose in park at Wafi, and received a terrible crunching noise for my efforts. I kind of like my little white volvo and now that I don’t own it, I’m even more concerned with looking after it. Some examination revealed that Volvo designed a solid plastic sheath which goes from the forward bumper back to just before the front wheels, right across the car. It protects the bottom of the engine and radiator from stone damage, etc. It also comes with several holes where fasteners are position to hold it in place. All of which were missing.

Unfortunately the sheath is damaged. I managed to find some wire and fastened it to the bottom, but the car will need to go back to Volvo to have the shield replaced. In all likelihood there isn’t time to order and replace the part, so I’ll get a quote for it and take it off the price of the car for Geoff. I wanted it in a service to get the windshield wipers replaced anyway, they are on their last legs. Bugger Bugger Bugger having that radiator replaced at AAA – I should have known better.

At least I can say “Told you so” to Meg – that will make my life happier …

28.Apr.2008 : Family Visa

My first real mistake today. Just as we are all about to leave Dubai, me on a SIN/MEL trip, the family passengering down with me, including a night in Singapore – I realise I’ve forgotten to cancel the visa’s for Meg and the Kids. A quick phone call to Patricia confirms that I can bring their passports back and cancel the Visa’s without them being here (phew). I’ve been running a task list in my plastic brain – it’s grown about 40+ items long – and I’ve discovered that when you do something like that you tend not to forget the things in your task list (you look at it constantly) – but you have no capacity to discover or remember the things you don’t put in that list. Funny that.

Next Week : I explore the concept of my last paycheck – which will include the provident fund – and how I’ll be taking all of that money home without a bank account. I’m sure there’s a system …