Day
1: Flight to Dubai
 Check
In
We left for the airport at 4:00 PM and got there
about 4:45. The gates were not open for the 8:30 flight so we had
a seat and watched the queue form through the check in ropes and
spill out down toward the next check-in bay.
Carry on Baggage Blues
On my last trip to ladies room I took a look around
and saw a scale for weighing carry-ons. Now mine was a bit questionable
as it is difficult to be accurate with the bathroom scales. So I
fetched Ken to bring the carry on bags over to weigh them. He was
alright, but I was a kilo over!!! Yikes!! We began to take things
out and stuff them into pockets. Fortunately there really weren't
many item in it as the computer takes up most of the weight. Ken
took my liquids plastic bag and I took a few things into my already
sagging cargo pants. I tightened my belt and turned up my pants
legs so that I wouldn't trip over them as the pants slipped further
down my hips with the weight. Then we proceeded to the end of the
long queue.
 Eurika!
On-line Check In
Before we left the house we had intended to take Emirates up on
their offer for internet check-in, but we didn't get around to it
and I thought what difference could it make? You just get to the
desk and they already have your seat allocated! Well---as we took
a place in the queue, number 400 or so, we saw what difference it
could make. They had a seperate area for those who had checked in
on the internet, sort of like a business class queue. One or two
people waiting and two desk operators. Crickey! we felt like fools,
but I had also noticed that there were internet kiosks nearby when
I went to the bathroom (it just goes to show that frequent visits
to the ladies room can be useful if you pay attention to your surroundings
:-) ) so I left Ken in the queue and dashed over to the internet
kiosk. You can do internet check in up to two hours before the flight
and I had 30 minutes.
 Fellow
Travelers come to Rescue
A group of people were operating the neighboring kiosk and asked
if I wanted the remaining 15 minutes of their time, I said yes and
tried to get to the site to check in. It was a close thing. They
had opened ten or twelve windows and I didn't quite know the address
that I wanted. The trouble was the roll ball mouse was so old and
sticky that it wouldn't respond and some of the key were stuck,
and the up arrow had been replaced with gum when it fell off, but
was fastened on in the wrong direction.
Finally I stumbled on the window the previous group had used to
check in and fortunately I had the flight data in my "daybook"
that I had compiled for the trip and which was stuffed into the
right leg pocket of my burgeoning cargo pants, but I didn't have
the booking reference in the daybook. It wasn't on the electronic
ticket either. The time was ticking away and I was frantically trying
to get the mouse to take me where I wanted to click.
At last I got my flight number and name in the form and got the
mouse to click on continue and the marvelous Emirates system pulled
up my details and asked if I wanted to check in Ken, too. We already
had seats that had been allocated by the Emirates office in Melbourne
so I said yes, check us all in ---roll, roll, roll, roll the mouse---
and it did. I couldn't print out a copy, obviously, but the page
said I was checked in and the desk operator could pull up the record--not
to worry. So I raced back to get Ken and he had advanced to the
first part of the official check in queue snake corridors. He was
beginning to worry that if he got to the desk he couldn't check
in because I wouldn't be there. Anyway, we were able to get the
luggage trolly out of the queue without killing any small children
or squashing any toes and we rolled triumphantly around to the smaller
queue for virtuous online check-ins of two couples and two at the
counter. Oh if the looks of the people in the other queue could
kill, our trip would have ended right there.
Confucius Say: A Short Queque May Not Mean Short Trip
However it looked as if we may have outsmarted ourselves, one of
the groups at the counter was a woman with two elderly parents,
one in a wheel chair, a 55 kg bag (20kg is the limit) and 7 carry
on bags (1 per person is the limit). The desk personnel sent the
lady off to buy other bags and to repack. I looked shakily at my
bag, hoping it was underweight, as these Emirate clerks were strict!
The next couple turned out to be parvenue fraudsters of sorts, they
had not checked in over the internet, but they did seem to be business
class and they were sent off to the slightly longer business class
queue.
Finally we stepped up to the desk, our record came right up, our
carry- on bags weighed in perfectly and our other bags were even
1 kg underweight each! We were through to the next stage with boarding
passes!
We went to MacDonalds to celebrate with a chicken salad and
gathered our courage to face the dreaded security check. The
fates were smiling on us. The man at the entrance to the international
departure area declared our bags as "just right" and
didn't even question my sagging cargo pants and bulging coat
pockets-- he was too busy being charmed by two young things
that each had one bag too many, as a result of shopping in
the airport mall.
The passport queue was small, and no one was waiting at security.
It looked promising. I stopped Ken after passport and began stuffing
the items from my pockets into the carry on as it is murder to try
to manage the computer, a coat, my carry-on bag and all the items
in pockets and waist packs. I always carry a mesh bag to combine
everthing on the security conveyor belt or stuff everyting in the
carry-on. Security is not worried about weight of bags, they are
worried about--well-- security. So when we got to the x-ray machine,
I unloaded the computer, and pushed through my mesh bag, the computer
and the carry-on. They weren't checking the liquid bags (that starts
March 1 or April 1--can't remember which--and surprisingly they
didn't ask me to take off my shoes. Tip: I always wear socks and
sandals for easy removal plus protection against whatever is in
a carpet that a millon people walk on each day. In this case I just
looked geeky for nothing!
Ken confidently put his bag up on the conveyor belt and said he
would meet me at the other side. I paused along the corridor and
began putting everything back together into a seemly configuration
just in case the gate personnel hefted my carry-on bag.
I looked up for Ken and he had been asked to step to the side for
a little closer inspection of his bag! It seems that all the electronic
camera gear he was carring looked suspicious in the x-rays, or maybe
they just wanted to see how many gadjets there were in there. Anyhow
Ken was released from inspection and we made it though the duty
free without buying anything. We boarded a full plane and we were
off.
Flying on Emirates
Now, here is the skinny on riding on Emirates. Yes, it's true,
the food is really good and there does appear to be a little bit
more room for your knees, but they don't give you any passenger
comfort bags so If you haven't brought your own toothbrush, toothpaste,
socks and comb, and a mask, you are out of luck. Also,there is no
room for anything much under the seat in front of you with all the
electronic gear for the entertainment consoles. I sorted out all
the things I needed during the flight into my mesh bag (see security
preparations) and put that under the seat, Ken complained and fretted
that each item he wanted had to be retrieved from the overhead.
I offered to share my mesh bag and told him to take the offer and
get on with life, as we were on vacation and not at home where everything
is always where you want it. He sulked a while and then took my
offer and adjusted pretty well when he found a movie he liked. I
clamped on my noise cancelling headphones, opend my magazine and
enjoyed the flight and the food.
We got dinner, a nap and a "savory snack" and then got
to Singapore where they let us stay on the plane while they refueled.
That's pretty unusual, but I did notice that the flight crew were
not nearly as strict as Qantas. People were up when the seat belt
thingy was on and the meals weren't served with rigid precision.
Ken never did get any coffee after dinner. Anyway, eventually the
new people piled on at Singapore, I took a pill (not the dangerous
sleeping ones that the doctor had told me probably wouldn't bring
on halucinations, but I should know about it) and slept until just
before breakfast. Ken stayed awake for the snack on the second leg
and slept a bit.
|
