So the day arrived. 90 days of travel, over 21,000 kilometres but it was now the end of April 2023 and it was time to come home. Did I celebrate the arrival in Dakar? Not much to be fair, it wasn’t like there was a team of people waiting in Dakar for me to arrive, it was just me basically. I filmed a few bits in Dakar’s Place D’Independence and I bought a couple of nice steaks from the excellent Supermarket next to the Air BnB I stayed in and cooked them up on the last night. The gas cylinder ran out just as they were cooked so I was lucky there!

Having to travel all the way home is not something people look forward to at the end of a long trip, especially when it’s from West Africa to Australia’s east. But at least I had two Business Class flights to get me home, booked of course with frequent flyer points.

Getting to the airport I wanted to try and use local transport. I needed to take a taxi to a bus station just outside Dakar proper, and then took the airport bus from there to the new International Dakar Airport Blaise Diagne.

The airport isn’t super big and it doesn’t really see that many international flights, which is an issue for this part of the world I guess. On top of that, I had arrived super early like 4.5 hours and they won’t let you into the main part of the airport until it’s 3 hours before your flight. There was a café and I sat there and got my diary up to date before going in. Security took a little while as there was an issue. I won’t go into it.

But once done the gates are in this tall part of the building with the wall facing the tarmac glass. I used the lounge there that wasn’t too bad, although to be fair it wasn’t up to much either and was small. Most of the food was spicey but I found a few things to nibble on as I uploaded all my outstanding video and photo files to Dropbox, I was days behind as the connection was so poor. Here in the lounge it was lightening fast. Best internet I found in Africa.

The flight was with Emirates to Dubai. It was delayed by an hour or two, but it was due in very early morning in Dubai so I didn’t care. It was an older layout on the plane and the steward actually apologised that it wasn’t a newer plane. However it was an excellent flight I there was nothing to apologise for. There weren’t single seats but the space was generous I could get up from the window seat across the guy in the aisle seat without disturbing him to use the loo etc. Boeing 777, I was really impressed and think Emirates really is still an outstanding airline with such great reach, they fly to a very high number of African countries more than any other non-African airline and I suspect probably any African airline too!

At Dubai I took a complementary bus to Abu Dhabi that Emirates put on 3-4 times a day. Hard to believe! But true! It’s over an hour away, they drop you off… well I’m not sure exactly where but they don’t fly to Abu Dhabi and it is a major city in the United Arab Emirates, so I guess this is why.

You get a bit more value for money in Abu Dhabi in terms of hotels. I stayed in the Sothern Sun Hotel in downtown Abu Dhabi. It had a number of restaurants and a couple of bars, I tried a bar and a restaurant whilst I was there and treated myself as it was my birthday the day after arriving. Some really nice food, the room was lovely and spacious with a huge tub, huge shower and toilet separate from the bathroom. And when I came back to the hotel at the end of my birthday day – there was a piece of cake waiting for me on the spacious desk! And this was less than $120 AUD around $75USD per night. Super happy with this place!

What did I do on my one proper day in Abu Dhabi (I slept the day I arrived)? Well, I visited Warner Brother’s World Abu Dhabi, an enclosed-under-one-roof kinda deal. As with most things, I vlogged it if you want to see what it’s like. Theme Parks in the UAE are bit on the expensive side and I think I spent over $200AUD on this ($130USD ish), but it was fun without having any really thrilling rides. My video certainly does a better job of detailing it than I could in writing.

The next day it was off to Abu Dhabi Airport to fly home to Melbourne, a flight that usually can take around 14 hours, we must have had a tail wind as it took just under thirteen. And boy, this was a brilliant Business Class experience. This flight was booked for 104,000 Velocity Miles and worth every single one of them.

You start by arriving to a special area of the airport for Business Class passengers. Check in and Security are only for Business Class here before entering the main part of the airport. It was so fast and smooth and I was treated so politely! If only airlines gave the curtesy to all passengers. Then the lounge was massive and I filled up on a large buffet breakfast.

The flight was smooth and I did get a bit of sleep. It’s hard for some reason even with a flatbed to sleep for a number of consecutive hours on a flight. But I did okay. The flight with Emirates was over 9 hours and I barely slept on that one. I think I had 5-6 hours on this flight. Wonderful super attentive staff, a food menu where you order what you want from it at your leisure and decide when you want your meals. Not the only airline to offer this but this was the first time I’d had it on a flight. Airbus A350 Aircraft, one of the best planes in the sky in 2023/2024 for long haul flights. Honestly if the flight had been a few hours longer, I would not have minded.

The only drawback was the timing, getting into Melbourne at about 430 – 5am. Much earlier than scheduled. Good if you have a connection but not many connect through Melbourne. Ground staff held everything up with slow arrival of baggage and the last bags were Business Class and Flight Crew which I thought was really poor – didn’t really care about mine because my pick up wasn’t yet at the airport, but for the Etihad Flight Crew this was eating into their downtime in Melbourne.

And there I was, home in Australia. Before I knew it, three months away was a distant memory. I was back at work and life was moving at 100 miles an hour. To be fair, Dhaka to Dakar moved super quick too. Which is why my next trip was to be something of a change of pace. I had already partially booked flights for a three week trip later in the year to the Philippines and Malaysia. Now that I’ve covered the Dhaka to Dakar experience, I can finally get around to writing about my experiences there.

As for the summation of returning home, using the points the way I did I was super happy with this choice. Etihad Airways and Emirates run wonderful services and I really would recommend using your points this way if you are able. This is a really good time to remember for myself just what an incredible privilege it is to be able to travel – regardless of the class.

As for being able to reflect on my 3 month journey from Bangladesh to Senegal, well I’ve reviewed it but not reflected a great deal. I do love a long overland journey and that hasn’t changed. To find new travel challenges generally isn’t that hard, and so hopefully I can do some more overland adventuring in the not too distant future.

For now I look back and can’t believe it’s been over 14 months since I returned. A trip planned for and dreamed about through the worst years of Covid happened and was over in a flash. It allowed me to develop and learn as a vlogger, I think perhaps for me personally that’s the biggest gain. Thanks for following me through the recollections of this journey and the 17 countries I passed through to do. Take care wherever you are in the world, and…. May the Journey Never End!