Melbourne to Dubai

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We enjoyed our holiday in NSW so much that when we arrived home just over six weeks ago we (Bernie) booked tickets to fly to Lisbon, Portugal today. But … not until 9.15pm, which made for a long day of killing time until we were due to head out to the airport. Our good friend, Cathy, picked us up just after five and delivered us to the departures zone at Tullamarine before 6.00pm. We were so early we thought that check-in for our flight might not have opened yet. All OK though, we were able to tag onto the end of the, at this stage short, queue for Flight QF8407 (operated by Emirates) to Dubai.

While waiting in the queue we saw a staff colleague from our volunteer roles in the queue. We had heard a rumour that Ann was going to be on the same flight as us, but we weren’t sure if our paths would cross. After competing her check-in, Ann spied us in the queue and popped over to say a quick hello to the two of us still waiting in the line.

With check-in completed we were on our way through the International Departures gate by 6.03pm!

Ha, for this trip we purchased some non-metal belts because we are so sick of having to take our belts off to go through the security screening. Now, our belts are identical but, somehow, Bernie was passed through the X-ray machine without any problem, but me and my brand new non-metal belt were pulled aside after the full body X-ray and the female attendant had to check that I had nothing secreted under my belt.

On the other side of the body scanner we had to wait for the tubs containing the rest of our gear to come through the luggage scanner. So, my belt failed at the X-ray, but my tub was cleared. Bernie’s belt got the all clear, but his tub was shunted off to the side for closer inspection! Honestly, if it’s not one thing it’s another. They always want to check out all of Bernie’s camera equipment more closely.

Next stop the immigration e-gates where someone left his passport in the reader and had to be sent back to retrieve it. Ah well, the attendant assured him that he is certainly not Robinson Crusoe in that regard, apparently it happens all the time.

With all of our check-in procedures completed we made our way to Qantas Club to while away a couple of hours until boarding time. I am always very relieved when our boarding passes are accepted into the Qantas Lounge. Having been rejected a few times due to not flying on a QF number when flying with a partner airline I was happy to be let into the club today! At boarding time we proceeded to Gate 9 from the lounge and effectively skipped the boarding queue which was an added bonus.

The only downside to getting into the plane early was then waiting for the whole, interminable boarding process to be completed. That was a bit boring! Fortunately everyone made it aboard in a timely fashion for an on-time push off from the airbridge. We were barely in the air when the crew served us a late dinner. The choice was beef or chicken. We both opted for the tomatoey beef dish with mash and about three green beans for our dinner. That seemed preferable to the chicken and rice dish.

After dinner it was time to settle in for the long-haul – 14 hours of flying time to Dubai!



Steps: 11,490 (8.22 kms)

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