It goes without saying that it’s a looooong way from Europe to Australia and it takes indeed looooooong to get there. And even if Anton likes Ryanair, we were lucky enough that they do not operate on this route ;-).
We’be been booked to fly with Emirates who joined the efforts with Qantas on the route from Brussels to Sydney. Their entertainment system is quite good and is a great help for passengers trying to survive the long hours.
Every seat is equipped with a screen like this:
The most boring of the flight attendants interaction – the emergency instructions – are transformed into a nice movie and comes up on screen.
Movies, games and music are offered in great volumes and variety.
Food is okay, the presentation (a fancy menu card) is a bit more advanced than the dishes self. Although, for kids there is a special arrangement:
However, even with such special care for kids, the airline wouldn’t bother to have milk on board. We’ve asked a steward for a cup of milk for Anton and he said that they serve only drinks from a bar and “there is usually no milk at a bar”. Seriously, tell that to an Italian bartender who makes cappuccino ;-).
Sleeping might be one of the most valuable options for shortening the flight time. The seats next to us were taken, so we sat all the time and couldn’t stretch the legs while sleeping. Our little one made a big deal when he just rolled to the floor and settled a bed for himself there. We used his seat to stretch a bit.
I’m not sure whether it’s better to sleep through the flight or stay awake in order to get longer sleep upon arrival and minimize jet-lag. We landed in Sydney after 10pm and reached the apartment after midnight, but with the time difference of 10 hours it was unnatural to go to bed at that time.
Anyway, we survived the journey. The first leg Brussels – Dubai took 5:50h instead of expected 6:20 due to strong tail wind. The second leg Dubai – Sydney took 13h as expected.
Ah, one more thing. In Dubai airport your cabin luggage will be quickly screened when you reach the transfer zone. But once you are at the gate, there will be a through security check again. They’ll open all your bags, I mean all of them. The gate is organized a bit different than in other airports: it’s split in two zones and you can either sit in the first one where shops and cafes are (if you find a place to sit, of course) or you can step into the second one, which looks like a lounge, but you can’t leave it once you are in. And here is the trick. From the entrance point we could not see the “lounge” and asked whether there was a cafe or something like that. The answer was no and we decided to split for a few minutes. Aleksej would go buy some food and I would proceed to the gate with kids and bags. It was a few steps away anyway, not a big deal. And this is how it happened. We’ve been asked to open (and close ourselves, of course) every single piece of luggage. I came in as a Christmas tree, hung with bags at all sides, you can only imagine how surprised and entertained I was. Moreover, they confiscate your drinks, although there is no sign nor any notification at the entry point. Thus, Aleksej’s catering initiative could turn a bit worthless if he didn’t engage into a “discussion” with the security guy who finally “generously” permitted us to drink our water outside the lounge. So we did, one by one 😉
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