I'm just finishing off packing, sorting some things up online, and leaving here about 06:00 without any sleep to head down to Heathrow. My flight arrives in Dubai about 01:00 the following morning, and though the foreign office is recommending extreme caution to anyone travelling in the UAE, Colin assures me that it's at least 300 miles from the current bombing. Apparently, the land border with Oman is open again, though I have to go to the embassy in Dubai once I arrive to try to get a visa to make the crossing, so fingers crossed.

I'll update this blog as often as possible as I'm travelling over the next couple of months, and hopefully manage to upload some photos, though it all depends on where I can get internet access.