Not quite as poetic as the French version - J'arrive, but since I have arrived in Hamburg, German seemed more appropriate for the post.
I had a super easy trip over with one minor hiccup - nearly missing the connection from Dubai to Hamburg!! How did this happen?? I'll tell you...
So Qantas used to fly Australian to Europe via Singapore. You had one 7 hour flight to Sing and then a 14 hour monster to London (or whichever Euro city).
Now, Qantas codeshares with Emirates, so you have a flight to Dubai that stops in KL to refuel (7 hours to KL followed by 7 hours to Dubai). Then you take another flight to Europe, in this case Hamburg.
I take the time to explain this because in golden times of old, it was pretty hard to get lost/ lose track of time. Your stop in Singapore was pretty short and you were generally herded in the right direction. Plus you were checked in for the one flight the whole way so they'd be yelling your name on a loudspeaker if you weren't where you should be.
I haven't actually done the Dubai stopover before, but I had heard it was at least a couple of hours. I had also been told there were showers at the airport. And I thought, awesome - wouldn't it be nice after 14 hours of flying to freshen up??
So I had basically programmed my brain to expect (1) a 2-3 hour stopover in Dubai and (2) plenty of time to find a shower before my next flight.
This pre-programming might go some way to explaining my reaction when I arrived in Dubai at 2pm, saw on the giant screen that my flight was boarding at 2.20pm and thought "oh, that's probably not right". Yup, the board said "Sus, you'd better shift your ass to the gate because your plane boards in 20 minutes". My brain said, "Sus, you've got 2 hours at least - that board is mistaken". I was pretty tired, but when I say it out loud it really sounds like the musings of an imbecile!! But let's not interrupt the story.
So armed with the certainty that I had plenty of time to refresh, I found the showers. Good work Sus - all good so far. There are 2 taps in the shower - one for temperature and one for pressure. Still all good.
I turn the temperature to 36 degrees and then I turn the shower on... but the main shower head doesn't activate. Instead the second knob turns on a previously-invisible shower wand. A wand that is aimed directly at a fully clothed me. Aaaannnddd I'm drenched. Not good...
But I don't panic... No probs, these things happen. I spot a hairdryer on the wall - salvation!! This will be just fine. And it is... the worst hairdryer on god's green earth. I mean you move this thing too close to fabric and it cuts out - for like 5 whole minutes. Then, you start again...
By the time the clothes are acceptably dry, it's been 40 minutes. I'm still cool as though, finally shower, fix my hair, brush my teeth and feel a million times better. I head out to find the nearest departures board and my flight is... CLOSED. Yes, it reads, "Gate closed". Faaaaarrrkkkk.
So I run towards the gate, no longer a picture of zen, thinking yeah, probably should have trusted the first departure board. As I reach the gate, it's deserted. Not a single queuing passenger. I spot a staff member - she looks at me with mild disgust and says 'Palmer'?? So yup, I'm the last person on board, but the plane is still there!!!
It turns out the plane was waiting on some luggage as well as me, or I think I would have been toast. Or at least just really inconveniently stuck in Dubai!! Guess my luck is holding for now...
Hamburg has been such a lovely start to the trip. Hamburg airport is truly a dream to arrive in. No arrival forms, no queuing at immigration, no questions at customs. I was out of the airport in under 20 minutes!!
We're currently at Phil's grandmother's house and she is very welcoming... and feeding us 4 times a day!! The weather is cool (ok, 0 degrees this morning) but clear and great for walking around in.
Tomorrow morning we take a train to Rotterdam for what I hope will be the laziest week of my life!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Hamburg, Germany
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