Welcome to our trip – because Liane and I both like to travel and then to remember and revel in our memories of travelling this writing of daily trip experiences is really mainly for ourselves, but also of course family and friends who want to join us on our travels. As Liane said in the blog of our last trip together, there will be times when there’s a double dose with us both telling the same tales but that’s kind of interesting even for us as we read what the other person wrote. Sometimes different things leave different impressions and given our rapidly aging brains it’s also handy to have two people reminiscing! Larn said she’ll be putting in (L) and (D) in front of daily bits and also in the middle if she wants to add a bit etc….. And so here we go with my beginning……

(D) Though Liane and I have been talking about this trip for ages and there have been periods where we were constantly emailing and/or on the phone with one another making decisions and tossing up choices etc it still seemed to sneak up on me out of nowhere. I think just because I’d been so busy with work and various other things going on I didn’t have that normally delicious time of build up and anticipation. Nonetheless everything came together in the end; I finished off everything I had to accomplish beforehand and drove up to QLD ready to meet up with Liane at 
Patrick and Sarah’s the morning of our departure. 

When she arrived we had coffee and something to eat and chatted etc but neither of us could really settle so we happily agreed that we’d rather just get to the airport and hang around there. We hopped in her hire car, which was our transport as we were returning it to the airport, and very soon we were missing Gwendols on this trip already because….. well OK I’ll admit it though I know she will crow with laughter at her aging mother and aunt and their attitude towards technology, because at that stage we took a wrong turn.....already!!!
 
In Greece, Liane and I made Gwendoline throw her hands in the air and sigh on many an occasion because we were sure we knew better than Jane, our trusty GPS lady with the smooth reassuring voice, so would ignore her instructions for our instincts and we’d go off blithely and end up taking ages more to get to our destination – much to GJ’s amused irritation.
 So on this trip, on the way to the airport not 5 minutes from Patrick and Sarah’s house, I’d done a google map path just to make sure I knew where we were going even though it’s technically an area I actually KNOW sad to say, but yet when it said “turn here” we both went “oh no that’s not right” and willfully and irresponsibly decided that we knew better than Jane and of course we ended up taking a “long cut” which involved WAY more traffic than was necessary….. sigh!! We told ourselves though that it was a very good lesson to learn at the very beginning of the trip as hopefully it will be a reminder that we should follow instructions!

Once we arrived at the airport we had ages even before check in opened but amused ourselves easily (and only a couple of drinks were involved I promise) until finally it was time to check in. For some reason I got picked for the go through imaging machine with your hands in the air scenario but other than that it was all smooth sailing.To be honest we were tired already I think by the time we got on the plane but the BUSINESS CLASS….OMG!!!!....... experience soon brought the oomph back into our grins!

It was a wonderful world to be in and everything about it was sublime – from settling into the comfort of our fabulously wide and private booths and enjoying a glass (in an actual glass!) of Moet whilst the general boarding process was happening to the flicking of a white linen tablecloth over the table and the formal and timed presentation of our meals from a flight attendant on either side so just getting your dinner you witnessed a presentation, to of course the amazingly fabulous lie flat beds that at a press of a button reclined and “voila” you were in bed.

The attendants were extremely professional and thoroughly lovely and waited on us hand and foot. I think our pure joy and appreciation of the luxury was in turn appreciated by them – we were told by the cabin supervisor that we were his “favourites” which truth be told he may tell everyone but I like to think our constant thanks etc were a nice change from jaded rich people! The end result of course is that Liane and I are totally ruined for life when it comes to air travel now, as the tales our next leg when we join our natural order and return to the world of economy, will demonstrate…..
 
(L) - Finally!! Finally the day is here and we're off to Ireland today.....

I woke up at 5am as I always do but did manage to stay in bed napping until around 6 when I just couldn't lie still anymore. It's a long time until takeoff ... the plane doesn't leave until 8.45 pm! I had repacked my bag with Heather yesterday as she's lending me her backpack and packing cubes so we rearranged and repacked leaving me with nothing else to do this morning than get myself dressed and out the door! Heather was called in to work so being left on my own just after 8 I decided I may as well drive down to Brisbane now and meet Deb at Patrick's place. 

We spent the day just waiting for the time we could go to the airport and finally at about 2.30 we couldn't wait any longer. Dropping off the hire car was super easy and the lot is right at the door of the International terminal so no problem finding our way up to Departures .... only problem is it was only just after 3 and check in won't be open for hours!! Well there's nothing else to it but to go find a bar and have a drink - we had a G & T at great expense, you know how those airport $$$'s are - $10 for one drink. After that we had a red wine each, also $10 a glass, and an antipasto plate which was very yummy but @ $23 probably not the best value for $$. As Deb said we blew our entire days food and beverage budget with that and we hadn't even got through check in and security yet.

We had managed to score an upgrade to Business Class at very minimal extra cost - I couldn't justify spending $7000 on a Business ticket but the plane was almost empty so I reckon they thought anything they could get for the seats would be better than nothing. I've never flown with Emirates before but I must say all their pre flight communication was great, no unexpected flight changes this time!

Of course with the upgrade came the fast track through checkin and immigration lines - we were a bit disappointed that there wasn't any big long lines that we could just breeze past waving our Business class boarding pass as the masses looked on with envy!! We did get priority boarding however which was nice as it meant we could be in our posh seats longer! OMG what can I say about Business class except WOW... from the moment we sat down we were treated like queens ( or Princesses? ) the staff were all so friendly and ever so attentive... lots of Moet served with plates of nibbles, bowls of peanuts etc. The meals were all served with white linen tablecloths, silver cutlery, real wine, juice or water glasses, salt and pepper shakers ... and I think you get the picture. There was also a lounge bar at the back with all sorts of nibbles - olives, mini panninis, baklava, nuts etc.

 We were also given the most gorgeous grey silk purse full of all sorts of fabulous goodies which I won't list but you can check out the photo! We were a bit "Beverly Hillbilly" esque but we didn't care - WE'RE IN BUSINESS CLASS!! I would recommend everyone have this experience if only once (lets hope I have another go round - Rodd deserves to try it once... doesn't he??)

Even the entertainment system was an upgrade, huge huge screen with an iPad or handset to control it! We did manage to get a fair bit of sleep on this 14.5 hour leg from Brisbane to Dubai. Those lay flat beds are amazing - the flight attendant had come around also with a "mattress" which was a thick donna type thing shaped for the bed. 

All too soon (which is something you don't often hear said on a long haul flight) our upgrade experience came to an end and it was with heavy hearts we bid goodbye to our swish little pods with the lie flat beds! 

We did get one last benefit though of our upgrade..... we had been given Fast Track cards onboard to get through passport control for our connecting flight. When we approached the line we had taken out our passports and boarding passes and because they were Economy we entered the very long line however after a minute we heard one of the Customs Officers saying "Fast Track down this way" so I said to Deb "that's us... we're in the wrong line" .... we pulled out our bright red Fast Track cards and waving them at people we crossed under the line tape across several lines where we got straight through - Yay for upgrades!! 

Next stop - Dublin!