Canberra to Dubai

After two weeks worth of work in one, a significantly reduced ride calendar (my fleet of girls are very sad to be inactive) over the last week (which did however include 4 dinners, 2 lunches and 2 coffees out - so maybe it wasn't that bad) and achieving a clean house with freshly washed floors (a rare miracle a 31 Meldrum), it was time to say my farewells to Skyla and Knox (who knew something was up the moment my suitcase made it up from the garage and were sad with me). I do hate leaving them but am confident that their sitter will keep their food and general welfare interests well taken care of.

So..to the travel side of things... JJ arrive on time, the taxi was early (yes, I know there are fans of Uber out there, but Canberra Cabs have been good to me) and the Qantas checkin at Canberra airport was a dawdle. A happy hour (no, not alcohol fuelled, it was 10am after all - as determined by an OK coffee and a plate of liquorice all sorts (one of my favourites) and emailing up to date) was followed by an on-time departure and a pleasant flight to Melbourne.

Then an easy transfer to the international terminal (the short walk is so easy in Melbourne - why do we fly out of Sydney) and a near empty lounge for a few hours filled with a bit of work (yes I know, but my clients are worthy) and into a few preliminary drinks (am saving myself for the red wine on the plane) before boarding time.

The Emirates A380 did us proud...in cattle class but in the front section down with the masses. JJ and I had seats across the aisle from each other but JJ was the only one in the centre 4 so soon after takeoff we quickly spread out and I established a presence in the middle of the spare 3 seats (much to the delight of the couple who were between me and the window!). Any likely challengers (such as the sad looking lady on the other side of the aisle) were quickly deterred from making a move and we made the most of the space. This is the firs time I have flown Emirates and I happily logged into the on-board wifi and got everything internet based tidied up while listening nostalgically to Neil Young's Harvest. Then on to the next movie and who knows who the Singapore stopover will bring to snaffle our turf!

The actual stopover in Singapore was quite uneventful - the initial wave of high humidity air that Singapore does well, a few laps of the C wing of Changi airport, then into the holding pen and finally boarding. Damn those business and first class passengers for getting on first! Plenty of space for the flight to Dubai - besides, once you get start the plan of reading, dabble in some work writing, listen to music, doze and a movie or two, a seven hour flight goes quite quickly.

Just about to land in Dubai at 5.15 am (and enjoying the tail camera, and seeing the plane be parked... I thought parking but Betty was challenging but space is a must here), then a few hours and a freshen up... before 6 hours to Venice (airport only this time.. the original plan was to go straight on Dubrovnik but 2 months ago Croatian Airlines cancelled their direct twice-weekly flights, so there were some quick new flights and accommodation changes... but all good thanks to booking.com's functionality that allows for paying on arrival and changes without penalty, same thing with our car hire).

But now we are on a planned path (mostly) and just edging into our Day 2 - on to Venice.