TR - Brazilian Wedding + Honeymoon in Santorini & Dubai

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Josh Hamilton

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2019
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33
Hi all,

First trip report here so go easy on me :D but I welcome all feedback, questions and most importantly recommendations!

So my first flight does not leave until next week, 26th to be exact but a bit of background information seems to be appropriate for a trip report. My fiancée is a Brazil national and she is currently back in Sao Paulo organising the last part of the wedding and packing up her life to come to Australia after the honeymoon.

I have never flown F before but have experienced J class on both Qantas products and Latam. 9 months ago when we finalised the date for the wedding I jumped onto the Qantas website while in Brazil and saw a flight from Sydney to Sao Paulo via Dubai on Emirates F arriving ten days before the wedding, perfect! I live on the Gold Coast and have always wanted to experience the F lounge in Sydney so didn't want to waste a chance and leave from Brisbane and miss out on all the fun! Having always traveled the usual way to Brazil via Santiago I was ready for a new experience also!

I have enough experience of flights ranging from 11-14 hours in Y & J class so I am sure I can manage just fine with two long flights in F class :D The Sydney to Dubai flight on 26/3 leaving at 16:55 on the 777 (was originally an A380 but changed :() and arriving in Dubai around midnight. This is followed by a 7 hour layover in Dubai this won't bother me much as I can explore the lounge, shower, eat, catch up on work and update the trip report with some photos. Dubai to Sao Paulo is longer at just over 15 hours scheduled however, this flight being on the A380 should help with the shower being available at the end of the flight and also catching up on a bit of sleep :) Side note this will be my first flight on the A380 so a tad extra excited for this also.

Wedding in Brazil will be on the 6th April so will be a break in the trip report and I probably won't update again until I am back in Australia. 10th April rewards flight from Sao Paulo to Barcelona flying Latam J class. We then have a short turn around of 3 hours to get our bags and check in for our flight with Aegean to Santorini via Athens. I have been told we shouldn't have any problems getting from one flight to the other so lets wait and see :D Santorini - 6 nights at the Limestone hotel, we had friends stay here last year and they raved about it so very much looking forward to this!

I had then booked us on reward return flights from Athens-Dubai (Y class) and then Dubai-Bangkok-Sydney in F again the plane changed from the A380 to 777 after booking but oh well.
This plan then changed at the end of January. My soon to be wife is an architect so we started assessing options of staying in Dubai for more than the 4 hour transit on the way home. I spent a couple of weeks everyday logging onto the rewards booking tool but nothing became available until one morning we had a win! Athens - Amman Royal Jordanian J class, Amman - Dubai Emirates J class. *2 days in Dubai* Dubai-Brisbane Emirates F Class.

Me still being relatively new to rewards bookings I was still short on points of this new itinerary so called up Qantas and asked about cancelling my originally booking and when the points less cancel fee would be returned into my account, followed by my explanation of wanting to change flights and spend time in Dubai. The wonderful lady on the other line informed me ''oh no that's not a problem at all we can just change this current booking and we just calculate the points difference, tell me your dates and I will change all of this now for you while you are on the line'' From memory it was around a 15k point difference total which to me was totally worth it as we will now be spending 2 nights in Dubai, have booked the Shangri-La with a chauffeur service to and from the airport. I have read a few trip reports including Dubai on the forum so have a decent idea already but any recommendations as to top priority to do list from fellow members experiences would be nice :)

I think that is enough rambling on for now! Will check back in on the 26th March first flight down to Sydney from the Gold Coast, followed by a few hours in the Sydney F lounge, by the way does anyone know what time I can check in for this flight that is departing at 16:55 - EK417? I will also open this up and say I believe I can have a guest into the lounge as long as they are travelling on the same flight as I am a Gold member so if any AFF members are on EK417 let me know :) If anyone else is in the lounge around lunchtime until 16:00 on the 26th I always enjoy meeting new people so always available even for a quick hello :)
 
Hope all goes smoothly for the upcoming nuptials and always love a good TR. I know it's daunting doing your first TR but just do whatever you feel comfortable with. Good luck
 
Hi all,

First trip report here so go easy on me :D but I welcome all feedback, questions and most importantly recommendations!

So my first flight does not leave until next week, 26th to be exact but a bit of background information seems to be appropriate for a trip report. My fiancée is a Brazil national and she is currently back in Sao Paulo organising the last part of the wedding and packing up her life to come to Australia after the honeymoon.

I have never flown F before but have experienced J class on both Qantas products and Latam. 9 months ago when we finalised the date for the wedding I jumped onto the Qantas website while in Brazil and saw a flight from Sydney to Sao Paulo via Dubai on Emirates F arriving ten days before the wedding, perfect! I live on the Gold Coast and have always wanted to experience the F lounge in Sydney so didn't want to waste a chance and leave from Brisbane and miss out on all the fun! Having always traveled the usual way to Brazil via Santiago I was ready for a new experience also!

I have enough experience of flights ranging from 11-14 hours in Y & J class so I am sure I can manage just fine with two long flights in F class :D The Sydney to Dubai flight on 26/3 leaving at 16:55 on the 777 (was originally an A380 but changed :() and arriving in Dubai around midnight. This is followed by a 7 hour layover in Dubai this won't bother me much as I can explore the lounge, shower, eat, catch up on work and update the trip report with some photos. Dubai to Sao Paulo is longer at just over 15 hours scheduled however, this flight being on the A380 should help with the shower being available at the end of the flight and also catching up on a bit of sleep :) Side note this will be my first flight on the A380 so a tad extra excited for this also.

Wedding in Brazil will be on the 6th April so will be a break in the trip report and I probably won't update again until I am back in Australia. 10th April rewards flight from Sao Paulo to Barcelona flying Latam J class. We then have a short turn around of 3 hours to get our bags and check in for our flight with Aegean to Santorini via Athens. I have been told we shouldn't have any problems getting from one flight to the other so lets wait and see :D Santorini - 6 nights at the Limestone hotel, we had friends stay here last year and they raved about it so very much looking forward to this!

I had then booked us on reward return flights from Athens-Dubai (Y class) and then Dubai-Bangkok-Sydney in F again the plane changed from the A380 to 777 after booking but oh well.
This plan then changed at the end of January. My soon to be wife is an architect so we started assessing options of staying in Dubai for more than the 4 hour transit on the way home. I spent a couple of weeks everyday logging onto the rewards booking tool but nothing became available until one morning we had a win! Athens - Amman Royal Jordanian J class, Amman - Dubai Emirates J class. *2 days in Dubai* Dubai-Brisbane Emirates F Class.

Me still being relatively new to rewards bookings I was still short on points of this new itinerary so called up Qantas and asked about cancelling my originally booking and when the points less cancel fee would be returned into my account, followed by my explanation of wanting to change flights and spend time in Dubai. The wonderful lady on the other line informed me ''oh no that's not a problem at all we can just change this current booking and we just calculate the points difference, tell me your dates and I will change all of this now for you while you are on the line'' From memory it was around a 15k point difference total which to me was totally worth it as we will now be spending 2 nights in Dubai, have booked the Shangri-La with a chauffeur service to and from the airport. I have read a few trip reports including Dubai on the forum so have a decent idea already but any recommendations as to top priority to do list from fellow members experiences would be nice :)

I think that is enough rambling on for now! Will check back in on the 26th March first flight down to Sydney from the Gold Coast, followed by a few hours in the Sydney F lounge, by the way does anyone know what time I can check in for this flight that is departing at 16:55 - EK417? I will also open this up and say I believe I can have a guest into the lounge as long as they are travelling on the same flight as I am a Gold member so if any AFF members are on EK417 let me know :) If anyone else is in the lounge around lunchtime until 16:00 on the 26th I always enjoy meeting new people so always available even for a quick hello :)
Sounds like a great itinerary and congratulations on the upcoming nuptials.

In regards to checking in for EK417 in SYD, are you travelling down on QF? If so, even if on a separate PNR QF should check your bags through and issue you with a boarding pass at OOL.
 
Congratulations for the wedding.
Well done on the rewards bookings. Sounds like a great trip. I will look forward to reading all about it.
 
Sounds like a great itinerary and congratulations on the upcoming nuptials.

In regards to checking in for EK417 in SYD, are you travelling down on QF? If so, even if on a separate PNR QF should check your bags through and issue you with a boarding pass at OOL.

Yes travelling down on a QF flight in the morning and on a separate booking, I didn't realise they would do this I wasn't really fussed about taking bags over to the international terminal but this saves some time so will request to do so when checking in at OOL thanks for the tip! :D
 
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The journey begins!

Currently in the air on the way to Sydney. Check in was a breeze at the Gold Coast however the check in agent assured me he couldn’t book my bags through for my Emirates flights not a big concern for me anyway. Forgot how much of a dungeon that Qantas Club is but decent coffee so won’t complain. Boarding was chaotic but once in the plane smooth sailing, cabin crew immediately took my garment bag before I had a second step onto the plane.

Once landed in Sydney will wait for the checked bags to arrive then make my over to international terminal and check in for the flight to Dubai. Looking forward to my first experience in the Sydney F lounge
 
The journey begins!

Currently in the air on the way to Sydney. Check in was a breeze at the Gold Coast however the check in agent assured me he couldn’t book my bags through for my Emirates flights not a big concern for me anyway. Forgot how much of a dungeon that Qantas Club is but decent coffee so won’t complain. Boarding was chaotic but once in the plane smooth sailing, cabin crew immediately took my garment bag before I had a second step onto the plane.

Once landed in Sydney will wait for the checked bags to arrive then make my over to international terminal and check in for the flight to Dubai. Looking forward to my first experience in the Sydney F lounge
You definitely should have shown him this on the QF website
upload_2019-3-26_12-34-37.png
 
I probably should have but this was pre coffee and care factor was minimal haha. I have arrived in the First lounge now. Waiting anxiously for salt and pepper squid everyone seems to rave about!
Enjoy!!
 
I probably should have but this was pre coffee and care factor was minimal haha. I have arrived in the First lounge now. Waiting anxiously for salt and pepper squid everyone seems to rave about!


If there isn't a photo it didn't happen :D
 
First flight in first class and to do it with Emirates was fantastic. Cabin crew excellent. Those slippers were ridiculously comfortable haha. Food was great especially the apple cream cake had lasagne for dinner. After a movie and dinner I slept until 2 hours remaining. It is a very comfortable bed, I am 6’2 and I had no issues at all. The headphones were great hardly any external noise. Breakfast was the muesli which was fantastic. Arrived in Dubai terminal A straight off the plane and through security within 10 minutes.

By the time I arrived in the first class lounge it was 1am leaving me 6 hours until the next flight which is also leaving terminal A. Two espressos ordered from a lounge area down near gate A3 (it was 5:30am in Australia so I needed this)
Walked around and found the showers this was great as I was on the 777 flying over I don’t like to have a very hot shower but can understand why some people say the ventilation could be better. More staff then customers in the lounge it’s very quiet only noise being heard is from the upstairs business lounge.

Fine dining area is fantastic staff asked me twice when I was boarding to make sure I wasn’t in a rush to get some food. Omelette and hash browns followed by another espresso hit the spot. Really enjoying the layout of the lounge. Lots of random comfortable seating areas on both sides.

Next flight is on the A380 and looks to be full in first class so will be interested to compare the difference between the two types of airplanes without the obvious difference of their being a shower in the A380!
 

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Congratulations on the wedding, this was us 12 months ago but in the McLaren vale not Brazil :p
Look forward to the rest of the report
 
First flight in first class and to do it with Emirates was fantastic. Cabin crew excellent. Those slippers were ridiculously comfortable haha. Food was great especially the apple cream cake had lasagne for dinner. After a movie and dinner I slept until 2 hours remaining. It is a very comfortable bed, I am 6’2 and I had no issues at all. The headphones were great hardly any external noise. Breakfast was the muesli which was fantastic. Arrived in Dubai terminal A straight off the plane and through security within 10 minutes.

By the time I arrived in the first class lounge it was 1am leaving me 6 hours until the next flight which is also leaving terminal A. Two espressos ordered from a lounge area down near gate A3 (it was 5:30am in Australia so I needed this)
Walked around and found the showers this was great as I was on the 777 flying over I don’t like to have a very hot shower but can understand why some people say the ventilation could be better. More staff then customers in the lounge it’s very quiet only noise being heard is from the upstairs business lounge.

Fine dining area is fantastic staff asked me twice when I was boarding to make sure I wasn’t in a rush to get some food. Omelette and hash browns followed by another espresso hit the spot. Really enjoying the layout of the lounge. Lots of random comfortable seating areas on both sides.

Next flight is on the A380 and looks to be full in first class so will be interested to compare the difference between the two types of airplanes without the obvious difference of their being a shower in the A380!
Ohhh this makes me excited for our trip to the US in Nov/Dec with EK F there and back, only 237 days to go :p

Looking forward to the rest of your trip report!
 
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