Day 32 – London – Transit – Dubai – Transit – Perth

The end. Woke up in London, packed all the last minute stuff, and had out last continental breakfast. Also 5 minutes for my last errand, leaving behind the contained mum’s ashes were in. Took this to the church around the corner, St James. Tried to find someone to speak to, in the end I wrote a note, lit a candle, and put my remaining coinage into the donation safe.

Had a miniddrama at the airport, as Emirates wanted to slug us extra for the upgrade (apparently the UK has a tax on upgrading to business class). Us, being simple, honest folk who believe if we’re quoted a figure, we’ll pay that figure, and if it turns out it should be a different amount, that’s not our problem. So, after sometime explaining, they eventually  believed us that we had been quoted the lower figure by someone within their organisation, and wandered up to the business class lounge for a proper breakfast.

Ah, Business Class, how I missed you. I guess, if nothing else, it’s the shorter embarking queue that makes the difference. Sure the whisky, champagne, leg room, fully reclining seat, service, food, entertainment options are fine, but I think that I wouldn’t mind cattle class so much if I didn’t have to line up for ages and wait ages to get to my seat. Sure, it could be bigger, but having to queue for this kind of experience? I’d prefer to pass.

Made it to Dubai in style. I’ve reached the conclusion that I don’t like Dubai airport. It’s hot. It smells a bit funny. They make you queue for no good reason at irrelevant security checkpoints, causing stupid bottlenecks. The duty freee shopping isn’t that great, for whisky it’s overpriced and lacking range. The customer service would put England to shame. There are too many people. They have reclined lounge chairs that add to the slum look of the place. And they can’t get their act together over getting planes in and out on time. I rate DXB a solid, and slightly generous 4/10.

Then it was time for the last leg, cattle class, and home. Slept maybe a little, ate some, had a nice smooth landing, where the first shock was realising that it was after 6pm and still light. Declared my shoes and chocolate for customs, both fine (shoes from all that trudging through semi-rural England), and it was an easy find for the driver and home.