Arrival Switzrland

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So far everything has gone like clockwork. The limo arrived at home as planned - a very smooth large Chrysler driven by a courteous young guy - the trip to Brisbane airport very enjoyable - no traffic worries.

The Emirates staff at Brisbane were great - Joan rode a wheelchair and we were whisked through immigration/customs at the speed of light and on to the Brisbane Emirates lounge which was as you would expect, very plush. Priority boarding - again by wheelchair.

Brisbane to Dubai in an Airbus A340-500 - Emirates business class superb. The seats converted to beds, and Joan had a choice of about 1000 movies to lull her to sleep. On board meals (dinner at 1030 QLD time and breakfast at 0330 Dubai time) were as you would expect, but I had made a tactical error in requesting a low calorie meal when I checked in by Internet - my dinner was definitely low cal (fruit and veg) and I gazed longingly at Joan’s choice. Made up for it with camembert, biscuits and port! A smooth flight with some spectacular lightning displays over the Bay of Bengal.

Landed Dubai at 0430 local - what an enormous airport!!! Bus to the terminal which took 15 minutes. Again, wheelchair waiting for Joan and we were taken to the Business Class lounge even though we had booked Economy Dubai to Zurich. When the duty wheelchair arrived for Joan to board we were told we had been upgraded to Business Class. The Indian wheel chair driver said “long walk” and he wasn’t wrong. He moved at the run with me just managing to keep up, carving through the terminal crowd with cries of “out of the way”. Transport to the aircraft by special wheelchair vehicle which then rose to the right hand entrance door level where Joan actually got to walk to her seat!!!

Dubai to Zurich in a B777 - 300. Similar seats to the Airbus but much narrower and not as comfortable. However, the flight was smooth, more movies and yet another breakfast and lunch. Arrived Zurich at 1330 local, met by a delightful Swiss lady with wheelchair, who moved us through immigration and customs with great rapidity - using crew pathways. We were met by our Elite simulator Sales Manager friend who drove us to our hotel, joined us for a drink and has arranged tomorrow for us - visit the Elite factory, a military aircraft museum which is supposed to be one of the world’s best. Dinner at his home tomorrow night.

Hopefully the next episode will contain some pictures.

Take care

Chesty and Joan

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