Mumbo Jumbo - QF Big Bird
Jan 21, 2012, 3:27 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: AVV
Programs: QF, HH
Posts: 1,112
Mumbo Jumbo - QF Big Bird
I wrote this trip report as part of an email home to family and friends whilst overseas in Europe. Recently, I put it up on my blog. I hereby put it on FT too, albiet somewhat small and not terribly detailed, for those who'd like a read. If you want a few photos to go with it (sorry for the lack of, however), then you can view the original blog post which also has the pictures. Suggestions, comments, questions, praises and/or criticisms appreciated! 
It is no doubt rather obvious that I enjoy travelling to places and flying around on planes. Dare I, for one thing, go so far as to mention my account with FlightMemory.com?! In that case, therefore, it only seems proper that I do a trip report for Qantas flight 9; my first ever flight aboard the A380 'Super-Jumbo', back in June last year from Melbourne to Singapore. I find it interesting to read trip reports of others, both on Flyertalk and Airliners.net, to find out what can be expected on an upcoming flight or even when curious about what other airlines or aircraft are like. So: here goes, one from yours truly...
A friend of mine dropped me off at Melbourne Tullamarine airport the day I was due to fly out. We figured that arriving early would be best, as it always is with airports and airlines, but having only just finished packing that morning about thirty minutes after we were due to leave, we still arrived too early to check-in. Not long after noon, however, after a short stroll to pass the time, I was ready to find my gate for my 3:30pm flight, and to enjoy another chapter or two of my book. My mate walked me as far as he was allowed, to the security checkpoints, and we then shook hands, waved goodbye and I said something about sending him a bar of Kendal's mint cake because he'd never tried it before.
I must say, it really did feel rather weird to hear the lady say that I would not have to worry about my bag until London... until LONDON? That's on the other side of the world; surely, I thought, this must be all a dream! A good dream, nonetheless. But no - it was, in fact, the reality. I was about to set off on a two month-long adventure all around Europe, before which I was to meet up with my parents in Durham for a week.
The chap letting flyers through into the pre-airside security area, and telling other non-passengers to get lost (well not quite, I'm just keeping this short and sweet), said he felt like he was at the cinema, what with having to check all our tickets and such. Only, the smell of popcorn was replaced with the rather industrial smell of aircraft and airports.
Security turned out to be a breeze actually, unlike Helsinki, but we'll get to that another time. I was through, with a quick wave of my boarding pass and my brand new passport, and soon discovered even more duty-free with which to loosen one's wallet. I changed some Aussie dosh, now no longer needed, save perhaps for a rip-off Lipton's ice-tea and a focaccia. A few Singapore dollars might come in handy during layover, I had then thought. However, in the end, it turned out to be rather useless as I really only had time to jump off Qantas, walk several kilometres through Singapore's terminal 1, find my next gate, and disappear into Finnair.
Whilst waiting to board the whopping great Big Bird of a plane, I got chatting to some old lady (as you do). Both she and her husband were flying business class - oh la la! - to Frankfurt to see some of the rellies. By and by, boarding commenced and we went our separate ways; them through the tunnel to the Upper Deck, with me all the more envious.
Upon entering the Lower Deck myself, I found the colour scheme rather inviting, with half the seats green and the others red. It turned out that two girls behind me were also going on to Helsinki on the same connecting flight, and then on to Madrid and Russia for a tour. What a small world it is!
There were not many passengers, considering it was holiday season in Australia at the time. Both seats opposite me were completely vacant, which was absolutely lovely because I got to spread out and pile my junk on the seat next to me. Water, head-phones, pillows, blankets, snacks, camera...
A small suggestion for anyone flying around out there: take your shoes off. It is so relaxing and gives them a chance to breathe, and, after all, it does take a good twenty four hours to get to Europe. A little more when you fly via Helsinki, despite whatever their advertisements get you to believe. I'm over six feet tall, and even without a bulk-head seat I found the legroom to be rather reasonable aboard Qantas, and was able to stretch out (although not quite to the same extent as that old lady and her husband upstairs though). Comfy seats too, for economy (not that I'd know what I'm missing out on upstairs), and you get fed non-stop. I swear, every chance they had, the flight attendants came around and dished out drinks and snacks and ice-creams. And, of course, the famous Qantas hot chocolate which is so beautiful and rich and creamy and chocolatey that it is altogether just, simply, perfect.
Speaking of food, it all seemed pretty dang good. I was bracing myself for the worse, from what I've heard about airplane food, but instead I quite enjoyed the braised lamb with anchovy sauce. Anchovies, you cry? Whatever the sauce was, it was not fishy like the anchovies you pick off your pizzas, which was yet another thing to give praise for. At the rear of the aircraft there's a bar, where you may happily help yourself to drinks, muffins and cookies.
During the final stages of descent, I switched the in-flight entertainment screen to the sky-cam, which shows continuous live footage from a camera positioned in the plane's tail. Returning from an overseas trip, my Dad had once told me about this new thing on planes in recent years, and how scary it can be to actually see the plane trying to line up on the windy runway. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how one views it), there must have been no such windy gusts in Singapore that particular evening. As we dropped lower and lower in altitude, I could see the lights of the runway on the screen, dead ahead, all the time. As we came to a nice smooth touchdown, the plane was straight as ever could be. I was officially overseas.
No doubt the excitement of my first international trip in almost ten years is partly the reason for why I enjoyed this flight so much. The only major drawback that I really remember now was a sore neck, apart from a little tiredness.
It is no doubt rather obvious that I enjoy travelling to places and flying around on planes. Dare I, for one thing, go so far as to mention my account with FlightMemory.com?! In that case, therefore, it only seems proper that I do a trip report for Qantas flight 9; my first ever flight aboard the A380 'Super-Jumbo', back in June last year from Melbourne to Singapore. I find it interesting to read trip reports of others, both on Flyertalk and Airliners.net, to find out what can be expected on an upcoming flight or even when curious about what other airlines or aircraft are like. So: here goes, one from yours truly...
A friend of mine dropped me off at Melbourne Tullamarine airport the day I was due to fly out. We figured that arriving early would be best, as it always is with airports and airlines, but having only just finished packing that morning about thirty minutes after we were due to leave, we still arrived too early to check-in. Not long after noon, however, after a short stroll to pass the time, I was ready to find my gate for my 3:30pm flight, and to enjoy another chapter or two of my book. My mate walked me as far as he was allowed, to the security checkpoints, and we then shook hands, waved goodbye and I said something about sending him a bar of Kendal's mint cake because he'd never tried it before.
I must say, it really did feel rather weird to hear the lady say that I would not have to worry about my bag until London... until LONDON? That's on the other side of the world; surely, I thought, this must be all a dream! A good dream, nonetheless. But no - it was, in fact, the reality. I was about to set off on a two month-long adventure all around Europe, before which I was to meet up with my parents in Durham for a week.
The chap letting flyers through into the pre-airside security area, and telling other non-passengers to get lost (well not quite, I'm just keeping this short and sweet), said he felt like he was at the cinema, what with having to check all our tickets and such. Only, the smell of popcorn was replaced with the rather industrial smell of aircraft and airports.
Security turned out to be a breeze actually, unlike Helsinki, but we'll get to that another time. I was through, with a quick wave of my boarding pass and my brand new passport, and soon discovered even more duty-free with which to loosen one's wallet. I changed some Aussie dosh, now no longer needed, save perhaps for a rip-off Lipton's ice-tea and a focaccia. A few Singapore dollars might come in handy during layover, I had then thought. However, in the end, it turned out to be rather useless as I really only had time to jump off Qantas, walk several kilometres through Singapore's terminal 1, find my next gate, and disappear into Finnair.
Whilst waiting to board the whopping great Big Bird of a plane, I got chatting to some old lady (as you do). Both she and her husband were flying business class - oh la la! - to Frankfurt to see some of the rellies. By and by, boarding commenced and we went our separate ways; them through the tunnel to the Upper Deck, with me all the more envious.
Upon entering the Lower Deck myself, I found the colour scheme rather inviting, with half the seats green and the others red. It turned out that two girls behind me were also going on to Helsinki on the same connecting flight, and then on to Madrid and Russia for a tour. What a small world it is!
There were not many passengers, considering it was holiday season in Australia at the time. Both seats opposite me were completely vacant, which was absolutely lovely because I got to spread out and pile my junk on the seat next to me. Water, head-phones, pillows, blankets, snacks, camera...
A small suggestion for anyone flying around out there: take your shoes off. It is so relaxing and gives them a chance to breathe, and, after all, it does take a good twenty four hours to get to Europe. A little more when you fly via Helsinki, despite whatever their advertisements get you to believe. I'm over six feet tall, and even without a bulk-head seat I found the legroom to be rather reasonable aboard Qantas, and was able to stretch out (although not quite to the same extent as that old lady and her husband upstairs though). Comfy seats too, for economy (not that I'd know what I'm missing out on upstairs), and you get fed non-stop. I swear, every chance they had, the flight attendants came around and dished out drinks and snacks and ice-creams. And, of course, the famous Qantas hot chocolate which is so beautiful and rich and creamy and chocolatey that it is altogether just, simply, perfect.
Speaking of food, it all seemed pretty dang good. I was bracing myself for the worse, from what I've heard about airplane food, but instead I quite enjoyed the braised lamb with anchovy sauce. Anchovies, you cry? Whatever the sauce was, it was not fishy like the anchovies you pick off your pizzas, which was yet another thing to give praise for. At the rear of the aircraft there's a bar, where you may happily help yourself to drinks, muffins and cookies.
During the final stages of descent, I switched the in-flight entertainment screen to the sky-cam, which shows continuous live footage from a camera positioned in the plane's tail. Returning from an overseas trip, my Dad had once told me about this new thing on planes in recent years, and how scary it can be to actually see the plane trying to line up on the windy runway. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how one views it), there must have been no such windy gusts in Singapore that particular evening. As we dropped lower and lower in altitude, I could see the lights of the runway on the screen, dead ahead, all the time. As we came to a nice smooth touchdown, the plane was straight as ever could be. I was officially overseas.
No doubt the excitement of my first international trip in almost ten years is partly the reason for why I enjoyed this flight so much. The only major drawback that I really remember now was a sore neck, apart from a little tiredness.
Aug 23, 2012, 10:11 am
#2
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: The far north
Posts: 49
Good descriptive T/R, I was almost up there with you. Pity you have not included the photos you took, which would have added quite a bit to your report. You can only get better
I'm now going to read part two, thanks.
I'm now going to read part two, thanks.