Flight summary!

After two years and eight months away, I have finally made it back to Europe! Go read the first few entries on my blog for the last time I was there!

As expected, the flight was pretty horrible. It turns out Emirates do not fly direct to Melb - Dubai, it is Melb - Singapore (nine hours), Sing - Dubai (6.5 hours). The shorter than expected legs meant that I didn't knock myself out for the duration of the fifteen hours because I didn't know if they were going to force us all off or not, but it turns out I could have because getting off the plane was optional. I decided 30 minutes wasn't worth the hassle of having to contend with Singapore security (they did warn us that if we took illicit drugs into the airport, we would be executed). The really amusing thing was that a lot of people who went off decided not to take their luggage with them...and the airline staff came on and asked everyone who was left on the plane who the luggage belonged to...because if it couldn't be identified, it would be exploded.

But I got to Dubai fine and dandy, if a bit frazzled. DBX (the airport) is COOL. Or tacky. I can't decide. But it's one helluva shock to the senses. I didn't explore as much as I wanted to - the bottom level of the departures wing is all shopping - but I will when I go there on the home leg! Here are some pics:

Yes, those are live palm trees in the terminal.

The view down the concourse

If I had to describe the airport in one word, it would be sparkly. They have these giant golden balls at the top of each column and most of the walling are shiny shiny. If I had another word to describe it, it would be sleepy - there were people sleeping everywhere - it was kinda annoying when I was looking for somewhere to sit, only to find that someone was either sleeping on the chairs or sleeping on the floor in front of the chairs. Or both.

This is a bit blurry, but you can clearly see that instead of the usual Timex or Seiko clocks telling the time, they have Rolex clocks everywhere.

Flying out of Dubai, you see a lot of the sights - the soon to be tallest building in the world and the Burj al-Arab - that triangle hotel in the foreground. I had to photoshop this pic so it would be clearer - very sandy down there. And really blue water.

An un-photoshopped pic of Palm Jumeirah.

The last leg to London wasn't so bad - I watched Pirates 3 (boring) and Blades of Glory (funny), both of which I won't be reviewing. I also spent a lot of time chatting to my neighbours who were a father and son from....Woodend. Yep, I travel halfway across the world to meet people who are from home. Pooey thinks it's weird that I talk to strangers on the plane. I say, if you're gonna sit next to someone for seven hours, it's a long time to stay silent. And the three hours that I spent with the 15-yo boy trying to decide who was the Tetris Champion (me) or the Pong Master (him) made the flight so much more entertaining! Incidentally, he thought I was only 19 or 20 yo. Good kid.

More about what I did with everyone else later!