August 8 - Sydney to Dubai once in a lifetime

Prior to our 13.5 hour flight to Dubai (departed around 4pm Sydney time, arrived around 6am Sydney time), we were lucky enough to spend some time in the Qantas International First Class lounge. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel like this, and I was just lucky I could share it with my beautiful wife Ros.

Enjoying a Mumm Rose champagne before the flight

Just to show that I do drink … certain stuff, from time to time!

At 3:15pm, our flight was called to board. We wandered down to Gate 24 to commence our journey! We were greeted at the door by a lovely guy who showed us to our seats and introduced our hostess. What a surreal experience – having your own secluded space. I think we had the best two seats on the plane – nobody in front of us, and very private.

All I could see of Ros …

I wanted to be comfortable on the flight, irrespective of where I was 🙂

The champagne they served to us was great. While we waited to push back and taxi, we had a bit of time to just sit down and take in that this was actually happening … to us! How lucky we are. The trip was 2.5 years in the making, and saving. It was terrific to finally be starting. From the start of the year when I counted down from about 130 work days, to just last week with mere days left.

The service on the whole trip was fantastic. When it came to dinner time, the hostess said we could dine together if we chose to (but it wasn’t compulsory). Without hesitation, that’s what I did. There was another couple on the plane who didn’t – they stayed in their own seat and watched tv. Weird that you wouldn’t want to share the experience with your partner, but I won’t judge them (too much). The Captain made his way around the cabin having a chat to everybody and talked with Ros about it being quite an experience.

How else to have dinner except in your pyjamas?

Dinner, like the rest of the experience, was great. I sampled some of Ros’s tasting menu while I waited for my veal cutlet.

After dinner we had our beds made up, I finished watching a movie and then fell asleep shortly after. I pity anybody who could hear me snoring, for I’m sure I was!

Bed all made up and ready for some sleep!

After quite a few hours of sleep, I was up and about – still 4 hours to go! About 2.5 hours before landing, we were served breakfast. I had a steak sandwich, but not sure why I didn’t go with pancakes. Lesson learnt.

Just for those at work … Ros had some strawberries before we took off, pity the person seated behind her!