Saturday July 12th 2014
Well we have now been home for 48 hours after our wonderful holiday ended in Prague on Wednesday. Here is a summary of our trip home.
Our transfer arrived on time at the hotel and we were delivered to Prague airport at around 1pm. As we had done our on-line check-in the night before from our hotel, the process was very smooth & we didn't have any wait at all. My large suitcase which weighed in at 19.5kg when we left Sydney in May now weighs 26.5kg, however, much of the excess belongs to Mike's toiletry bag & a few other items I kindly carried for him as his suitcase was full. I also checked in my "carry on" suitcase to save lugging it around & still came in under the allowed weight! As I said previously, very few souvenirs were purchased this trip. Emirates do not have a Business Lounge at this airport, however their passengers do have the use of The Menzies Lounge which, although quite small, has plenty of snacks, tea, coffee, wine & spirits (self serve) to keep you occupied whilst you wait for your flight.
We boarded promptly & the plane actually departed about 15 minutes before schedule, which is unusual. The plane did not seem to be full & we counted 12 empty seats just in our section of business class. So there goes the theory of being upgraded if empty seats in first or business class! Of course it was good for us as there seemed to be heaps of staff around. The flight was very smooth & we landed in Dubai at 11pm, almost an hour early.
We spent approximately 2 hours in the Business Lounge in Dubai which is enormous. They have several different areas serving complimentary meals, snacks, sweets soft drinks & alcohol. We didn't feel like any food as we had not long eaten on the flight from Prague, so just had a couple of soft drinks.
Our flight to Sydney on the A380 Airbus left on time at 2.15am & this time the plane was full in all classes. It was actually a codeshare with Qantas. We were upstairs and it was very comfortable with the new "pod" setup. It was fun playing with all the buttons for the seat recliner tray table, TV etc. They have a full bar at the back of the plane where you can sit & have a drink or three if you wish. They also serve snacks etc. Because of the time of our flight we actually declined any alcohol the entire time. Most of the first 12 hours were spent napping, reading & watching movies. I think Mike watched about 7 the entire 2 flights (between naps), I managed to see just one (Saving Mr Banks) which I enjoyed. Tried to get interested in a couple of others but turned them off after a few minutes. The food served is very good quality, except you soon learn that the less you eat the better you feel. We just made sure we drank lot's of water & fruit juice.
Arrived in Sydney around 9.50pm, a little early, and breezed through duty free, luggage collection & customs. We had a trolley so just pushed our luggage across the road from the International Terminal to the Rydges Hotel where we had pre-booked a room for the night. It was a simple process to check-in & we were in our room by 10.30pm. Luckily we had placed anything needed for this short stay in our small bags, so no need to open our large suitcases. Of course the first port of call was a shower!
After a reasonable sleep, considering our upside down body clocks, we had a nice breakfast, collected the keys to our rental car & headed for home around 9.30am. It was very cold (looked like it was going to snow) in the Blue Mountains when we stopped for a coffee, so decided to make sure we arrived home before it started. We made good time arriving home in Bathurst at 1pm.
All was well at home as our house sitter had done a wonderful job. Buffy, our dog, was surprisingly underwhelmed to see us. I suspect she has been very spoiled whilst we were away.
After dropping off the rental car & grabbing a few basic grocery items, we came home for a much needed rest. We were (& still are) feeling quite jet-lagged as well as fighting off the colds we have picked up for the 2nd time this trip. So it is now Saturday afternoon & we have not left the house since Thursday. I can't wait to get back into a decent sleeping pattern!
No photos today folks, I had great intentions of taking some on the plane, but obviously forgot.
I am hoping to do a summary of our trip with some more photos in the next week or two, so stay tuned.
Thanks to everyone who has followed this blog. I really enjoyed receiving emails from many of you.
Until next time.
Betty & Mike
