My Sydney to Dubai flight left Sydney at 3.00pm as re-scheduled.

Once I had booked my bag in and received connecting flight information (Dubai to Venice), including date and time of arrival in Venice, I rang the boat (at Emirates' expense) to update them and to double check where I would find the boat.

Because my new connecting flight to Venice meant an 8 hour layover in Dubai instead of the original 4 hours, Emirates put me up in a hotel. This meant being given a 'sponsored visa' to get through passport control.

I've had a 9 hour layover in Dubai before and not bothered to get a hotel but I wasn't going to pass up Emirates' offer, even though it was only going to be about 3 hours sleep.

As my bag had been booked all the way through to Venice, I thanked the forethought of packing a change of clothes in my cabin bag.

I rang the boat in Venice from the Dubai hotel to give them an update; that I had actually arrived in Dubai!

It was very hot and humid in Dubai.