Do 05.11.2015 Airbus 380 at seat 66K

2015
Thu 05.11.

DOWN UNDER AND BEYOND
Airbus 380 at seat 66K

9:00 PM

a young woman sits next to me - starts well
quite appealing appearance...hmm... her companion seems to be busy...the better!
oh! she is a flight attendant at Emirates... I found out because I wanted to try all possible buttons in front of me and accidentally alarmed the boarding crew.

So I received a personal training on the 13 inch display, the console and all the other buttons that one can find
And after the ice was soon gone and I repeated the words 'awesome' and 'wow', we focused on less technical content: so I found out that her name is Natalia, she is 26 years old and a native Pole (but now a resident of Abu Dhabi) and has been working for Emirates for two years.
her English was a bit better than mine... my ego noticed stutters... but I still managed well...
When the stewardess comes, she orders beer and I order two small bottles of Sauvignon Blanc - one from South Africa, fruity and one from Gascogne, spicy... served with chicken and curry rice and vegetables and crackers and Piri Piri and and and... stainless steel cutlery! 'Wow'
- I decided not to have any red wine... one shouldn't overdo it on the first evening!
Half an hour later, the curtains were turned back on and I realized that we should fasten our seat belts again... whatever... Dubai calling! 03:45 +3h

Fri 06.11.

Dubai

09:43 OZ

according to Rolex in the waiting room
slowly I notice that I am more tired than I thought... I have a headache... maybe it's just because I drank 1 liter of Evian (which I actually bought for the flight in the duty-free shop) because throwing it into the bin would have been a waste - especially in a desert metropolis.

10:20

even after a relatively smooth boarding despite seat allocation, I am now on seat 78K, again by the window and next to two presumably Australians... (or maybe Kiwis?), a couple in their fifties... quite likeable actually.
So, the safety instruction is playing again... bla bla... as soon as that was over, I watched a movie.

16:30

phew...I still watch Mad Max Fury Road and then a three-part documentary about animal life in Japan... meanwhile, I have salmon with rice and vegetables... slowly I get tired, but I better realize that I should sleep, my back still feels the constant turning to the right... one more movie... what to choose?... - ah, a movie about 'foodporn' (that's what I call it), it's called 'Foodies'. .. a camera team follows several bloggers who apparently have nothing better to do than go to 2 or 3 Michelin-star restaurants and spend their money on premium food to then write a more or less positive article about it on their blog... they drink two (small) bottles of Cs/Syrah Cuvee from Argentina (Concha y Toro)
After that, the Australian lady sitting two seats to my left has a nice big cushion... I could hardly have said anything more.

The Beatles sing me to sleep.
Well, five hours of sleep - I feel quite good and just woke up for breakfast... scrambled eggs with a spicy tofu patty and baked beans... really good! also some fruit...
And when I look at the display where I am right now, it says Ayers Rock right below the plane... we flew past that rock!
And while Furious 7 is playing, the sun is slowly rising in front of us and eventually approaching Brisbane for landing.

Naturally, I got selected for an explosives test again... the officer asks me if I have done it before and I shake my head. So he takes some stick and goes around my soles and opens my small backpack and pokes around with said stick... tadaa... the device indicates negative! What a surprise.

Sat 07.11.

Melbourne ● Auckland

around 10 AM

Now they have fully cleaned and refueled the same Airbus within half an hour, and I'm back on 78K
Furious 7 the second time... there's not much time left... the last three hours have flown by! *haha*

16:00

Landing in Auckland!
It took a while until the plane stopped and I went through immigration and security check, so it took another hour - they were quite thorough!... but for that I already checked the bus transfer to Auckland City, as well as the hostel... The hostel is chaotic... the staff was overwhelmed and had no system... as long as the guy with his glazed eyes was studying my hotel voucher, I thought that something had gone wrong and I could look for another accommodation... because "without a reservation nothing is currently possible" he first told two others.

So, here I stood: I imagined a 6-bed room at least with a table and two chairs and that the bathroom is not dirty and the shower doesn't leak and the soap dispenser is not hanging out, but well - imperfections happens.
I quickly took a shower and went down to Queenstreet and strolled through the city... slightly annoyed by the exertions and the frightening hostel, I went straight to a Burger King with WiFi and let them know that everything is actually fine.
Now it's 9 o'clock and I'm going to sleep with closed eyes...