Western Europe 2018 Trip – Part One: Sydney to London

In late 2018 I travelled to Europe to attend a friend’s wedding in Germany. During the trip I also visited the UK and Portugal.

Usually I travel to Europe on Etihad, but for this trip I went with Emirates as I was travelling on part of the trip with other friends as well.

Previously I’ve flown Emirates across the Tasman and I expected a lot from their service. Unfortunately, I was let down. Firstly, there was no hot towels to wash hands and face before the meal service. Second, for the flight from Sydney to Dubai there was very little food served, with no snacks or water served between the two main meals. On the flight from Dubai to Stansted the meal service was not until two thirds into the flight. This meant that between the last meal service on the flight to Dubai and the connecting flight almost ten hours had passed.

The trip did have some positives, the flight to Stansted was almost empty and I got a row of four seats all to myself. Once I got to Stansted, after waiting in a massive immigation queue, the train into London was quick. I then managed to go for a short walk and had dinner before falling asleep at 6.45pm

Final note, Dubai airport is simply massive! To get between my flights I had to go on both a train and then a bus to get to the most remote gate in the entire airport. It took well over an hour, but the tour of the airport by the bus was fascinating.