UK Trip - 2010

Monday 16th August

This was the longest Monday ever. Managed to pack more than 24 hours into a day, no wonder I fell asleep the moment my head touched the pillow.

The travel started at 11.30pm Sunday at Melbourne airport, I though I would early, so did the queue of people in front of my at the Emirates check in. I think wearing the jacket actually helped and I managed to score a exit row seat for the longest part of the journey from Melbourne to Dubai.

I must have got some sleep on the first leg as it seemed to pass rather quickly. Although people kept bumping into me or gathering in front to chat!! There was a brief stopover at KL where we all had to get off the plane, just enough time for a toilet break and to walk on solid ground again.

The food was fine, although limited for non-gluten types like me, although it approved on the flight out of Dubai where I got some gluten free breads.

Dubai airport was very busy and I choose a simple offering from Haagen Das for food. It’s more of a shopping centre than an airport, very clean but not that many Arabs. At one point I thought I would be flying out on the plane that I arrived on to Gatwick, but in the end it was another one.

This time I didn’t enquire about a exit row and was pleased by the leg room. Although I was at the back of the plane, I was the only one in my row of two seats so was able to spread out and played with the entertainment system on the plane.

There was some bad turbulences on way into Gatwick and the staff were told to sit down, didn’t really enjoy that portion of the flight. The crew of Emirates live up to there image of very multicultural and there was a long list of languages available on the flight to Gatwick.

Took about an hour to clear Gatwick customs and immigration. The only sour part of the journey is that somewhere along the way my luggage had been damaged. There was some oily substance on the case and to me it smelt like cooking oil. It’s proving impossible to get out too.

Took public transport to Aaron’s place, which took a little longer than expected, but then I didn’t take the most direct route to make it easier with my luggage.

Aaron has a very nice flat and happy to meet him at the station, but the thing I was most looking forward to was getting into bed and to sleep.