February 13, 2017
Emirates 725, DXB-DAR
777-300ER, A6-EPF
Depart: 10:30am
Arrive: 3:30pm
Duration 5:30
Seat: 1E
After a couple nights in Dubai to break up the trip, we were ready to continue our journey onward to Tanzania. After a brief trip through the “A” first class lounge and a foot massage, we hustled to the “B” gates to board our 777-300ER for the “short” flight to Tanzania. We again boarded through 1L and were quickly setting in to our seats in Row 1. We were offered our choice of drinks from the bar as well as newspapers, magazines, slippers, and eyeshades.
Despite both being 777-300ERs, this airframe and a considerably more modern interior than the one we took for the long flight from LAX, including an HD screen, an HD touchscreen for seat controls, and an HD handset for IFE controls, as well as the impressive fiber-optic stars in the floor which our previous plane had lacked. The more modern controls weren’t just fancier, but also made the system easier to control.
The captain came on the p/a to announce the completion of boarding and a 5 hour flight time about 10 minutes before our scheduled departure and the crew hopped into action offering the traditional Arabic coffee and dates before we pushed back.
After the door closed, we waited another 20 minutes to pushback due to traffic and spent another 15 minutes taxiing before we took off from runway 12R. The crew had used the time on the ground to distribute landing cards for Tanzania and as soon as the seatbelt sign was turned off launched into action distributing menus and taking drink orders.
Menu
More of the menu. Unlike DXB-LAX, cheese gets a full page.
Wine list
It was a bit of a bumpy climb-out (so much so that a glass was dropped in the aisle). Having had my share of nibbles in the F lounge, I started out with some canapes and a cheese plate which were a perfect accompaniment to the movie, the Accountant.
Canapes
Way too much cheese.
The service on this flight was a cut above our outbound from LAX and the personable purser and his staff made sure everyone was comfortable, hydrated, and well-fed. I ordered a late lunch towards the end of the flight and tried the seafood duo appetizer and the lovely Bzar Fish which was not at all bizarre.
Seafood duo
Bzar fish
My meal concluded with the praline cheesecake and a hot towel and before I knew it we were descending into Dar es Salaam.
On an airplane, there's always room for dessert
We landed from the east and pulled into our gate just a couple of minutes behind schedule due to our slow departure out of DXB. Upon arrival, we waited nearly two hours for visas in a hot, stuffy, immigration hall and quickly headed out the arrivals door and back in the departures door to catch a FastJet flight from DAR-JRO where our safari would begin.