We are on our way…I got up at 4.30 am as I had to lead a Zwift ride for Trek, called “Ride Bikes, have fun, feel good”.
By the time I hit the sack again, over 51 hours will have elapsed.
Next task was the hardest. Khaleesi. The guilt and sadness I feel is huge. She was keen to get in the car with Tony, as the word ‘car’ is one of her favourite.
Once at the kennels, she turned and grabbed hold of her lead in her mouth not wanting Tony to leave without her. It cut him up. I was glad that I was working as I would have bawled.
I worked until 3 pm, with a maxi taxi scheduled for 3.30 pm. It was late….we started to pack our car either gear…it turned up. Things like that annoy me….
First flight was the short hop to Melbourne with a few hours to kill before boarding the big bird.
When my four kids were young, their dad and I lashed out and purchased dual Qantas Club lifetime membership. It cost $11,000.
It was super handy travelling with the kids as we could pop in and feed them. Three of the four kids were happy with that arrangement. One wasn’t. He wanted Maccas!
You can’t buy these life memberships anymore. Mine now has an end date too. My membership will cease when I am I. my 90’s so I do hope Qantas has some insight knowledge I do not!
Now I am sans children but still travelling it is still beneficial. I get extra weight limits meaning we can travel within our 72 joint kg without penalty. We can manage that with two bikes.
It also means we can get into Emirate lounges and here we are now, sitting in Dubai in one of their many lounges.
We have a killer 10 hour wait after the 14 hour leg from Melbourne.
I am not a big fan of the Melbourne to Dubai leg. It is to be endured, and you just have to suck it up.
I did watch a movie on Napoleon, as we will be on Elba Island, where he was exiled to at one point. Bit slow moving, but an interesting perspective on his relationship with Josephine.
We have found a quieter section away from where most people seem to congregate. We have showered and had a nice breakfast.
Pushing two chairs together, Tony is chilling.
On a nearby TV there appears to be a Zwift esport competition on.
The food choices are huge, catering for various cuisines. There is a dessert bar at 6 am, along with an operating icecream bar.
The board near us shows 112 flights leaving in a seven hour window, with 56 of those within a two hour range. That gives you some idea of how busy this airport is.
This map is interesting, with the blue dot showing our location at the airport. Offshore are the manmade islands created by the UAE.
We will leave this lounge after lunch and head to an Emirates lounge closer to our next departure gate on Concourse C.
Sleep evades us.
Next I will practice some Italian…time is passing s.l.o.w.l.y……
Just after I published the blog To y returned with this selection.
yakkablog 
I know what you mean about leaving the dog. I also have a German Shepherd and I find it hard enough leaving her with my daughter when we go away as it means long hours alone whilst she is at work. Better than kennels though I guess, as at least she is comfortable with my daughter and grandchildren.
You should see some of the videos of our reunions when we have returned after weeks away. I always hide somewhere and she has to detect that I am in the vicinity and then track me down. Does it easily.
Anyway, enough of that. I hope your remaining flight goes okay.
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wish we had the emirates lounge pass Makes waiting so much easier
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Certainly does. we book via Qantas code share flights to get in.
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So glad to hear Khaleesi is safe in kennels. It’s tough leaving them. Now that mine are all senior citizens, it is getting harder. I am trying not to worry about ailing health (theirs, not mine).
What a bonus having that Qantas Club membership. I have 2 free passes now per year but it is proving to be useless. My trip with QF in Aug to HK is followed by a Turkish Airlines flight. I would have loved to use the pass in HK during the long layover, but that is not allowed. On the way back I have a long layover in HCM and flying Jetstar. That would have been a great benefit too, but they don’t have a lounge in Vietnam…. My third option to use a pass was in Perth before a red-eye back east, but that is not available either.
What is your landing time at destination? Hope you don’t have to stay awake for any length of time before you can hit the sack.
Travel safe.
Cheers
Cherie
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8.30 pm into Milan.
When we flew to Osaka last year the last leg was on Cathay but could not access the QF lounge same reason, plus it was closing.
On our return via HK we picked up the QF flight and HK Qantas lounge best I have been in.
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You are looking a bit hairy in that first photo Shaz!! You could have put Tony in the kennel too – rover would be happy then!
Pity the person that sits next to you on the flight after 51 hours up – you’ll be sooo grumpy!!
You know you can actually pay for your flights and get proper seats with short lay over times …. you dont have to take the ‘parcel post’ option – looks like you have ‘DHL’ or ‘FedEx’ tickets!!
Bon voyage for your big adventure
Mark
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Oh dear, typical Mark….it is our longest layover in Dubai period, but there were no options at the time of booking. Ben actually sent me an interesting link that Emirates will put you up in a hotel FOC over 8 hours (needs to be pre booked) but anyhow…we are here now.
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Good to hear you have arrived in one piece!! Await ‘tall tales but true’ as your new adventure unfolds.
Ride safe eh … and dont forget to feature your husband in the daily write ups he’s the star attraction of the crusade!!
Mark
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Well maybe you need to read the latest…
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