Planes, Trains & Automobiles
Well the day had finally arrived and we had mixed feelings as we bid farewell to the remaining Joneses, lugged our bags down to the taxi and made our way to the plane that awaited us. We had to first fly to Melbourne and then onto Dubai and then London and it was a bit of a marathon! For whatever reason (we’re not complaining) we were allocated seats in “Premium Economy” and it was such a treat! I had enough room to be able to stretch out my legs fully straight and just touch my toes on the seat in front of me! Admittedly I’m not exactly of basketballer stature but there was loads of room! We had fancy padded headphones, soft, white pillows and woollen blankets too! Our flight attendant, Jackie, was so friendly that we were chatting all through the flight on first name basis and she even took Toby to a special seat for the landing in Dubai so he could watch the plane land on “tail cam”! She was amazing.
The whole trip felt like one massive feast, with a plethora of snacks, drinks, meals, desserts, fruit…you name it, we ate it and at all different times of the day! Can you believe we even got white starched table cloths on our tray tables for each meal? It was so posh! Real cutlery and a real linen serviette too! We all got a few hours’ sleep too which was great. Toby stretched frequently in his sleep and bopped me on the head a couple of times which was funny. We got to take in some good movies as well but Ross didn’t give “Pacific Rim” a very glowing review. I wouldn’t be rushing out to grab that one on DVD.
Landing in Dubai was a bit of a buzz. None of us had ever been anywhere near the Middle East and it was a real culture shock seeing all the rows of women in full black burqas and guys getting around in Yasser Arafat head gear (I know it’s not politically correct but they really do look like tea towels!). Alongside the women’s and men’s toilets there were his and hers mosques where Muslims could go and pray. They were packed out! I went to the ladies and found it funny that all the Muslim women were pulling off their veils and shaking their hair out and just hanging out in the toilets. It must feel so liberating for them to be able to get them off for a bit of breathing space, especially in that stifling heat. It was 26 degrees and 10 o’clock at night! After a while, they’d bundle up their beautiful, thick, long black hair, tuck it into their veils and then pull the elastic back over their faces so just a little slit for their eyes remained. It would be so challenging having to wear one of those full-time and I certainly don’t envy them.
Seeing all the signs written in Arabic, including McDonalds, was also strange and there was some local music piping through the airport. I’d been secretly hoping we could squeeze in a quick camel ride but the captain informed us when we landed that the airport would be our domain for the next couple of hours and while we didn’t really even leave the confines of the departure lounge, we got a very strong sense of the culture. Oh well, next time we’ll try for a camel ride and maybe even get ourselves a flokati rug!
The leg from Dubai to London seemed to go much faster (probably because it was only half the time!) and Tobes slept nearly the whole way. Before we knew it we were commencing our descent into old London town and to quote the pilot it was “a pleasant 11 degrees Celsius” on the ground. Now I’m sorry, but nothing is pleasant about 11 degrees! Our plane touched down, with a bit of a bounce, on British soil at around 5am London time. We’d just tucked into a chicken and pasta dish on the plane at around 4am (as you do) so we didn’t know if it was morning or night or whether we were Arthur or Martha! We just knew we had nine (yes NINE!) hours to kill before we were allowed to check into our hotel!! In hindsight, this was a ridiculous idea but we had hatched what we thought was a brilliant plan. Because of all of Ross’ work travel, he’s a member of the QANTAS Club and we were told that gave him reciprocal rights with other airlines around the world, to use their clubs and facilities too. We’d packed some warmer clothes in our carry on luggage and had planned to have a shower at the airport at one of these salubrious airline lounges. The only problem was…we weren’t sure which airline we were aligned with! The flight attendant had told us British Airways but seemed a bit vague so we followed Ross as he led us, at a cracking pace, with the promise of a hot, cleansing shower and a change of undies (it had been 27 hours in the same pair!) as his strong motivation, through the vast corridors of Heathrow in search of the British Airways Lounge. This involved a speedy journey on the Heathrow Express train and a few lifts of various sizes and colours. When we finally made it to a huge desk labelled “British Airways Departures” and confused the very unhelpful lady behind it, she suggested that we go back the way we came and see if they’ll let us use the Arrivals Lounge, “because we certainly weren’t welcome in the Departures Lounge”. To cut a long story short, we did have to go back on the train and back in the various lifts – I was so deliriously tired, I hopped out of the lift and thought I’d just been on a train! Upon reaching the long-searched-for Arrivals Lounge, we were turned away and sent to American Airlines who, incindentally, also had a very unhelpful lady at the desk who told us we’d only be welcomed if we’d travelled Business or First Class! “But, but, but….we were on PREMIUM Economy” we protested a little more zealously than we would have normally. Didn’t she know we were given TABLE CLOTHS?!! Surely she could have let 3 tired little Aussies shuffle in the back door for a quick spruce up and a splash? …Not on your life!
So, after a change into some warm clothes in the public toilets and a shower in a can, we were off with a bang on our European Vacation! Now, to kill the next nine hours….
