Day 50 – Tue 29 Jul 14, Dubai to Brisbane

Forecast: Hot and sunny, 31-39 deg C; Temp on departure: 38 deg C!

Distance to destination: 12 297km; Travel time: 13h10m; Departure time: 11:15am; Arrival time: 6:38am

After finding the Emirates lounge we found what we thought would be a nice quiet spot and settled in. No sooner had we shut our eyes for a little sleep than a couple of Chinese turned up and sat right behind us and proceeded to speak at the top of their voices despite no one else doing so.  I guess they are used to talking loud or they would never be heard.  So we packed up and found another quieter area.  Because Wendy was now awake she had a shower and was instantly refreshed.  Greg continued to nap.  About another hour later an African couple came and sat right next to us and also spoke to each other as though they were on opposite sides of the room.  And then they proceeded to have a domestic right there in the lounge - aaaagggghh!

So we moved again!!  This time the only disturbance was from the flight announcements.  We both managed to get a little sleep, and also did a fair bit of walking in the lounge to keep active.
Because we were in the other lounge we had to keep checking the flight board to see which gate our flight was leaving from; if it was from an "A" gate we had to catch a train to terminal A.  As soon as we saw Gate A13, we left the "B" lounge and headed for the "A" lounge, and were not there for long before we boarded.

The “A” lounge is about 500m long, has six eating points, four shower blocks, three shoeshine points, numerous games, computer, babies and meeting rooms and dozens of different types of sitting and lounge areas. It has 100s of staff hovering around ready to pounce on a dirty cup, fetch your food and drink or fill an empty glass.  There's an endless variety of food and drinks.

We boarded on time about 10am and the A380 pulled back pretty well on time.  We then spent a fair amount of time sitting on the taxiway waiting for incoming and outgoing traffic, which resulted in us taking off an hour late.  We were glad when we did finally take off as the aircon was taking its time cooling the plane down in the Dubai heat. 

We settled in for a long flight back to Brisbane, and it was l o n g, but we were both a lot more relaxed on the return leg than on the way to Zurich.  Wendy only watched two movies on this leg as none of the others appealed to her: The Other Woman, and Lone Survivor.  The flight was fairly uneventful except for a foul-mouthed Aussie bloke who decided to start a dispute with another passenger four seats away.  By the sound of it they knew each other.  The aggressor wanted a beer as soon as he stepped on the plane and therein lay the problem.  The hosties kept a close eye on the situation, and it did not develop into anything serious, however, some ladies in front of us showed real concern and seemed stressed by the incident.  With everything going on in the world with aeroplanes, the last thing people need on-board is a clown like that.

Due to the delayed departure, we landed in Brisbane about an hour late.


One of the countless food and drink stations at the Emirate A lounge at Dubai airport

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