That’s a Wrap

We begin this post again, where else, but back at the airport. As noted my friends Agathe and Mark took me to the airport after our brunch, and they headed off to a different terminal to deal with a very frustrating missing baggage issue from one of Mark’s flights a few days prior.

I didn’t notice until just now, but the ad on the digital pillar displays in the first class check in area when I snapped this pic was off the Banff Springs Hotel !

Originally, my idea was to see if I could leave at least my rolling bag and possibly my backpack in a left luggage area at the airport, then head back down to Old Dubai for a walk around the spice souk and the gold souk for some pictures and maybe a ride on an abra. But the left luggage service was shared with the general baggage irregularity counter and the line was moving very slowly. So rather than wait and then take a trip down to the souks for basically what would be a 20-30 minute walk, I gave in and just went through passport control, security, then headed to the First Class Lounge in B concourse at DXB Terminal 3.

It’s not as massive as the much better lounge in the A concourse, but it still extremely substantial – the lounge takes up about 2/3 of this level of the terminal, on both sides of the central atrium.

There was a ton of seating in various areas, mostly unoccupied.

A mini cafe to supplement the full Costa Coffee cafe in the dining area.

More empty seating.

A kitchen in full view.

I sat down in the mostly empty dining area for a meal since it’s still going to be a few hours until they start the onboard service on my flight.

I had ramen, an avocado and mixed greens salad, and a Wagyu steak. It was all very, very good. I’ve found previously that it’s hard to get this blue tint out of photos from inside DXB T3 due to the way the window tinting works, so the food was actually much better looking in person than in some of these photos.

I check the weather and I guess I’m glad I’m in here rather than sweltering out in the souk.

They have a new concept of rolling around a cart with some of the desserts and encourage me to try a few things. I really didn’t want to eat any more at this point but I humoured the staff nonetheless.

After my dessert, I checked Flightradar24 to see which aircraft had been assigned to my flight to Frankfurt before heading down to the gate, and I was very disappointed to see that the equipment had been swapped last minute to one of the older Boeing 777-300ER. I booked this particular route and time of day so that I could get the new Emirates “Gamechanger” first class suite which is really out of this world, but is only on 9 of the newest aircraft and is assigned to particular flights generally months in advance. As luck would have it, I will not get to experience that today. So, I’ll be slumming it in the standard Emirates 777 First Class which is a very similar suite to the A380 suite, just a little bit bigger.

Here’s a photo of the Gamechanger suite which I flew in previously from Tokyo Narita to Dubai in December 2021. It’s a fully enclosed room with a zero gravity chair, personal lighting and climate control, and virtual windows (I’m in the middle seat here!) The photo doesn’t do it justice, you really have to see a video or better yet, experience the product to fully appreciate it.

As disappointing as the aircraft swap is, I have a half empty cabin and a friendly crew, and of course, Dom Perignon in which I can drown my sorrows.

And of course, Arabic coffee and dates.

Here’s another Emirates 777 as we push back for departure.

And here we go, on a beautiful tailcam!

The windows were filthy but we still had a decent view towards Sharjah, which is in a different Emirate than Dubai, but is still considered part of the metropolitan area of Dubai.

We pass over the Deira Islands, more man made islands. There are a number of these in Dubai but the only large one that is built out is the Palm Jumeirah.

The mood lighting and starry ceiling is still nice on the older 777.

Again, some crisps with my Dom.

The amenity kits on Emirates first class are really something else. The amenities are certainly not cheap, and not something you leave behind on the plane.

Here’s a look at the tablet that controls many functions, including the IFE and your seat.

The suites are mirrored at both ends along the window side to provide the illusion of even more space.

I start off the meal service with a tomato consomme. Very tasty.

As we fly over the mountains of Turkey I can see a fire down below.

Pretty rugged here. Last time I flew over this area in February it was pretty cool to see the landscape transition from dry dusty desert to these mountains which were completely white with snow.

The rest of the food and drink service is very similar to yesterday’s flight. I just have a couple servings of caviar and some dessert.

Then I settle down for a nap shortly after passing over Bucharest, Romania.

I wake up and we’re already over south eastern Germany and it looks like a nice evening through the filthy windows as we approach Frankfurt from the east.

Here’s the bird that brought us here from Dubai at the furthest end of Frankfurt Airport Terminal 2. I can’t remember if I’ve ever been down here before. As disappointing as it was to lose the super cool suite, I was really getting tired after all of the travel and sightseeing over the last week, so a lower key flight maybe wasn’t the worst thing after all. If I’d known it would have ended up this way, I would have either tried to book another Etihad Apartment flight for half the amount of points, or something in business class direct to Prague or Vienna, instead of having to make this night stop in Frankfurt.

After an uneventful night spent at one of the airport hotels, I’m back the next morning for my very short flight over to Prague. From a bus gate. I almost feel like I’m in Lufthansa First Class, being outside on the ground right outside one of these beauties! (If you fly out of Frankfurt in Lufthansa First Class, you get driven in a sedan directly from the lounge to your aircraft, get out right here, and just go up to the jetbridge and onboard). But no more first class for now, I’m just here getting on the bus with everyone else.

Here’s my favorite Boeing 747-8 in the skies in the retro livery, which I flew on from Mexico City to Frankfurt in February 2022. If you’ve ever seen my office, a scale model of it is on my desk!

There are some very colourful Condor A330s as we drive around the apron.

As we pull up to our remote stand I spot one of the Lufthansa First Class transfer vehicles waiting to deliver a passenger. See, if you come in on First long haul, and your connecting flight is departing from a remote stand they will drive you right to that plane, too!

One of the ANA Star Wars 787 is being towed as we are about to take off.

Before I know it, I’m back in Prague.

Here’s the departure board for today at Prague Airport. It’s 11:30, and all 3 screens are full of listings that go up only until about 7 PM.

For contrast, here’s the full departure board for the whole day during the height of COVID in January 2021, from 6 am at almost the same spot.

I’ve got a bit of time before my train before I stop in at – you know it – McDonald’s!

And my usual short walk from Wenceslas Square to the train station.

After a quick ride back to Pardubice, my sweetie and I are very happy to see each other again! I almost can’t believe that I went to so many places in just 9 days. It was a ton of fun but also pretty tiring given that I was out doing stuff in every city for most of the day. I loved all of the stops but in particular Sydney since it was my first time there.

All of the flights on this trip cost approximately 3000 CAD and 600,000 points from various airline program currencies (Aeroplan, BA/Qatar Avios, and Singapore KrisFlyer). Time for a short “rest” of a work week ahead. As I’m writing this, already in the second stop on the next trip!