Edinburgh was the last stop on our trip and the journey home to Brisbane begins. We are flying out of Glasgow and we catch a mid morning train from EDI. We were then going to get the airport bus but it was actually cheaper for two of us to get an Uber to the airport than to get the bus!
Our preference would have been to fly out of EDI but there was no availability using our QFF points, so GLA it was. The other option was LHR but obviously GLA is a lot closer. Flights are with EK in F as there was no J availability (I would have been happy to save points and go J but hey
). Our flights are GLA-DXB-BNE (both on the 380) with a 9 hour layover in DXB.
The EK lounge at GLA is one of the better ones I reckon. It's open with natural light, good views and a really good food offering.
And a little video of our plane arriving -
Service on the first leg GLA-DXB was a bit hit and miss and the crew disappeared a lot but menu was amazing. I had the Tomato Consommé with lobster medallion (a bit more lobster would have been nice) which was one of the tastiest dishes I've had on or off a plane. Next up was the Crab Quenelle followed by the lamb cutlets. All delicious.
The lamb came with Biryani rice and veges but I swapped the rice for a salad.
I didn't shower on this leg but did change in to the PJ's. Also scored a Wimbledon towel as Emirates is a Major Sponsor and were handing these out on flights departing UK.
The flight time is about 7 1/2 hours but the time difference meant we landed at DXB around 1:00am local time. I love the meet and greet at DXB when you're transiting in F. It makes life so much easier and quicker as you're driven on a buggy and fast tracked through security.
We then had a 9 hour wait till our flight to BNE. Whilst I enjoy lounges 9 hours is way too long, even in the EK F Lounge! We found a couple of lounges in the quiet area but they're not the most comfortable and I didn't get a lot of sleep. I looked at booking the transit lounge but baulked at the cost but in hindsight should have done it. I didn't take any photos as i was just too exhausted.
The crew on the DXB-BNE leg were super friendly, nothing was too much trouble and they really looked after us. The menu on this leg in my opinion wasn't as good as the first leg but still OK. I had the beef tenderloin which was nice but the standout was the beef sliders I had later in the flight (plus an espresso martini as it was early morning!)
At one stage we were at the bar and got chatting to a guy who, it turns out, was one of the pilots. He was on his break and didn't feel like sleeping and instead preferred to sit there. He was quite engaging and we spoke about aircraft, but particularly about flying the A380. It was really interesting for a plane nerd like me! Just before we landed he came out to say thank you and goodbye to me.
I did shower on this leg about 2 hours before we landed in BNE, and it really makes a difference to how you feel after travelling for so long.
Our arrival in to BNE was early morning at around 6:00am and luckily a friend had offered to pick us up to take us back home to Marcus Beach. We were a little tired and not completely with it by the time we landed and got through immigration and customs so suffered a little mishap. We had purchased some duty free and placed it on the floor while we rearranged the luggage on the trolley. We then started walking out of the terminal when Mrs Scash suddenly asked did I have the duty free!
She quickly raced back inside and fortunately it was still where we had left it.
We feel very privileged to be able to do a trip like we did, and it can become a bit of a chore to keep going with a trip report. AFF is such a wonderful sharing community and I enjoy the comments from you all which helps motivate me to keep going.
Thank you all for following along. Until next time.
