Dubai to Lisbon

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When long-haul flying it is sometimes hard to decide when one day ends and another begins?? I decided it seemed logical to finish recording Monday’s activities after dinner and record the rest of the flight as being on Tuesday. Flying west chasing the sun, I think Tuesday is going to be a very, very long day.

After dinner we both watched ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3’ seeing as we missed it at the cinema. Then we slept a bit and then I binged seven of eight episodes of ‘Colin from Accounts’. Oh, no, what is going to happen next? Episode 7 ended on a bit of a cliffhanger! Hopefully I can finish Series 1 on the next leg???

Bernie ate a small chicken and leek calzone when it was offered overnight, but I waited until the scrambled eggs were served for breakfast ‘this morning’ together with fruit, yoghurt, a muesli bar AND a small croissant with butter and strawberry jam.

Our flight stayed on schedule during the night, which had us arriving in Dubai on time. Thank goodness - with only a two-hour window to make our Lisbon connection we didn’t want to be arriving late! Luckily we didn’t have to change terminals at Dubai, just walk 1.75km to Gate C14 for our on-bound flight to Lisbon. We thought that was great for a Dubai connection, much better than having to take the train between terminals which we have done on previous flights through Dubai.

Just as our zone was called for boarding Ann walked by our gate so we had another quick hello and goodbye before making our way to the boarding queue. Ann told us that she has a few more hours to fill in at Dubai Airport before her connection to Croatia. It’s hard to know whether a short or long layover is better? On the one hand our journey will be completed in 24 hours BUT two hours on the ground is not much of an opportunity to stretch out the body before being cooped up again in an aeroplane seat!!

Well, boarding here in Dubai was the opposite of Melbourne when we snuck through from the Qantas Lounge! Unfortunately this time we had to plod along in the boarding queue just like everyone else. Our seating zone was one of the last to be called so the aisles of the plane were already congested by the time we were boarding. AND THEN, WHEN WE ARRIVED AT ROW 20, A WOMAN HAD ALREADY SETTLED INTO MY SEAT!!! Grrrr, why can’t people read their boarding cards properly??

All a bit of a drama as said woman in the wrong seat had a small child seated beside her and, yes, I get it, she wanted to be seated with her child, but for some reason her ACTUAL seats were in different rows and one was in the middle block and one was in the side block???? WHAT? Bernie booked our seats online weeks ago. Surely if you are travelling with young children you would do the same to ensure your family was seated together??? Or, even at check-in? What was the check-in clerk thinking to put a woman and child in seats not situated together? I be the cabin crew were cursing the ground crew!!! So, maybe I am a mean and unreasonable person, but I wasn’t prepared to give up our seats together for this woman’s lack of foresight.

The cabin crew went into full negotiating mode and had our seats vacated for us, then asked people in the row behind us to move to the row in front and a bit of other shuffling about which eventually had the woman and child seated together behind us. And all was looking pretty peachy with a vacant seat between me and a woman on her own on the other aisle seat in the middle block.

So, I was already completely paranoid about the fact that the woman who had vacated my seat was obviously unwell with some sort of respiratory disease and worried about how many germs she had left behind for me, WHEN HER OTHER CHILD WAS PUT INTO THE SEAT BESIDE ME AND HE WAS OBVIOUSLY UNWELL TOO!!! Ugh, what?! I thought my worst nightmare was being seated beside a child for a long haul flight but, no, it turns out that my worst nightmare is being seated beside a child obviously unwell with a cold/flu/COVID for an eight hour flight??? Not happy Tracey.

We recently read somewhere that it is not a good idea to have your air vent closed on a flight as the downdraft of air is actually designed to try to prevent the sideways movement of germs between passengers. So, I twisted our air vents to fully open so that we had a near gale force downdraft of air hopefully creating a cone of clean air around us??? I ummed and ahhed abut putting a mask on, but just how uncomfortable are you prepared to be for eight hours? Then, when you consider that you will have the mask off and on and on and off repeatedly when having a drink and eating, does it really make a difference? I HATE sitting in a draft so I decided that was enough discomfort to try to protect my health, I would take a chance on not masking up. Only time will tell if that was a stupid decision?!

And, as if the seating issue wasn’t enough, then the a-hole in the seat in front of Bernie (divided opinion on his origin – I thought arrogant American, Bernie was going for arrogant French-Canadian!) was looking for his back pack and SOMEONE HAD MOVED IT FROM WHERE HE HAD PUT IT. How dare they! He then proceeded to move Bernie’s back pack with all his camera gear in it so that his bag could be returned to where he originally put it. WTF? It’s not OK for someone to move his carry on luggage around, but he can move Bernie’s?? By this stage even mild-mannered Bernie was getting pretty wound up and we hadn’t even taken off yet. It’s going to be a long eight hours!!!!

To try to get a bit more relaxed, I finished watching the first season of ‘Colin from Accounts’. Hmmn, the Episode 7 cliffhanger was resolved, but then the season ended on another cliffhanger. Of course! They want you to tune in for the next season don’t they.

I slept a bit more. The child beside me slept nearly the whole flight. For a small person he took up a lot of space while sleeping, occasionally lolling across onto my shoulder which had me leaning over into Bernie’s space trying to avoid contact with this small, germy stranger beside me!! Actually, I have to say that he really wasn’t too much of a problem. In fact, I even felt a little bit sorry for him because his mother barely interacted with him for the whole eight hour flight and the poor little bugger missed every food service due to being asleep and I don’t think he even had any water during the flight?

Aside from eating meals when they were delivered and dozing off and on, Bernie watched a weird Finish ‘spaghetti western’ and I watched some early Black Adder to fill in the flight.

The best part, we arrived in Lisbon on time, possibly even a few minutes early. So happy to finally arrive at our destination. It is such a long way to Europe from Australia!

We cleared immigration super quickly with our e-passports then had to wait a-g-e-s for our bags at the carousel. At least with modern tech we could tell Bernie’s bag had arrived in Lisbon so we could stop worrying about our bags missing the connection in Dubai! Finally, with our luggage in tow we made our way out through the Nothing to Declare lane and to the meeting point to find our driver. Hmmn, no driver waiting with a sign for BERNIE GAFFNEY, but there was a board up with Bernie’s name on it.

When we asked the guy coordinating things at Meeting Point 3 he assured us that he would ring the driver and have him come to the airport right away. Groan! They had our flight details why could the driver not be here to meet us on time when we arrived as scheduled?? Anyhow, I think we were told something or other about restrictions on cars waiting at the airport and then some excuses about how bad the traffic is in the centre of Lisbon but, we were assured, our driver would be here to collect us very soon.

Finally, the driver arrived and whisked us out to the air-conditioned Kangoo. Thank goodness for an air conditioned ride into the city as it is HOT today in Lisbon, over 30°C. It was a quick drive into the city where we were dropped off at the apartment we have booked for the next nine nights. All the codes worked to get into the apartment complex and then into our apartment. Such a relief that the codes were good and we didn’t have to call anyone to let us in.

We have a lovely little apartment in the Baixa area. Only one slight problem, both the air conditioners – one in the kitchen/lounge and one in the bedroom – are purely decorative! Oh well, at least we have pedestal fans I suppose … and we won’t be spending heaps of time in the apartment as we will be out seeing the sights. Bernie has sent and email asking about the a/c. Perhaps it will be working before we leave?

On the plus side we have a fabulous rain shower which we both used almost straight away to freshen up after being on the go for the last 24 hours. Freshly showered and with our teeth cleaned we headed out to find a few supplies. Hmmn, just around the corner from the apartment we happened upon a gelato shop. To celebrate our arrival in sunny Lisbon we treated ourselves to the first ice-creams of our holiday. Bernie opted for lemon and I had a passionfruit. Both super tangy and delicious.

We negotiated the road works on the way to the supermercado where we purchased the basics. We hauled our water, juice, milk, fruit and cereal back to the apartment so we’ll be good to go for breakfast in the morning.

Bernie Googled where to eat tonight and we walked to the street behind us for paella. It was a tiny restaurant packed to the rafters. We didn’t think we’d be able to get in, but the tout (owner?) on the street assured us if we waited a few minutes he would fit us in. Good to his word, a couple left, he cleared and re-set the table and we were seated. We started with some garlic prawns and then enjoyed a paella misto and a paella negro. The first was chicken and seafood, the second was coloured with squid ink. Both were delicious.

We returned to the apartment to collect our cameras. Despite the fact that I had been nearly falling asleep into my dinner, Bernie thought we should have a bit more exercise and a bit more of an explore before going to bed. OMG, all of a sudden I was so, so tired. I was just about asleep on my feet and had to hold onto Bernie to make sure I didn’t all of a sudden pass out. And then the other cliché applied. I managed to get my teeth cleaned and then I was asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow!!



Steps: 11,420 (7.61 kms)

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Comments

[Maree]

When long haul is a long haul
Been a while since I have done the long trek to Europe and hearing your description does not have me racing to buy my next ticket. YES people are stupid and can't seem to read boarding passes let alone so stupid that they can't manage to sort their seat together with their minor children. Can't help but wonder if the later were a deliberate ploy to rid themselves of the resposibility for at least a few hours though. Glad to hear you have finally landed and kicked it off with paella and ice cream. Perfect! Enjoy.

[Joy Woolston]

Looking forward to reading more about your latest adventure. I do hope you have a great time.