Middle East Sampler (with a UK side-trip)
 

Background

Due to a distinct lack of variety in my travels over the past few months this is my first report in a good while. In the meantime I’ve been largely restricted to my usual Dubai - Riyadh and Dubai - London runs with a few side trips, almost exclusively on Emirates, with a bit of Saudi Arabian Airlines every now and again for a change.

Whilst still mostly focused on the usual destinations, the next couple of weeks look a bit more interesting as a tight schedule and the desire to get out of Dubai for at least a few days over the Eid holiday has resulted in the usual options not quite working out. As the itinerary will take me through numerous Middle Eastern airports, including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Sharjah, Bahrain, and Riyadh, and include a variety of airlines, I thought this would be as good an opportunity as any to write a report that might hold at least some interest for those who have to travel in the region.

This itinerary will start with a quick trip from the UAE to Egypt over the EId weekend, heading back to Dubai for a couple of days, before a trip down to the fair city of Riyadh for work purposes. From Riyadh, the trip continues to London to process a new visa for Saudi Arabia, before heading up to the Manchester to begin a leisurely meander around the UK to catch up with some friends and family. The last leg will cover the trip back from the UK to Dubai.

By way of forewarning, I’m afraid that unless there is some intervention from the upgrade fairy, (which given that I’m on airlines with which I have limited status seems unlikely) the entire itinerary will be experienced from the back of the bus. Hotels on much of the trip are likely to be towards the budget / mid-scale end of the market, particularly in the UK where my experience is that as a general rule almost all of the chain hotels (to which I am an unashamed points slave) are equally uninspiring regardless of market positioning. Those who prefer to read about the minutiae of the luxury end of the market (and I would probably count myself amongst you in spirit at least) should probably look elsewhere for their reading material.

Please feel free to ask any questions or make suggestions as I go along.

Leg 1: SHJ-LXR Air Arabia - Airbus A320

The decision to take a quick break in Egypt was taken at the last minute when plans to spend the Eid break in Dubai with a friend from the UK fell though after she suffered a concussion and was forbidden from flying for at least 3 weeks by her doctor. This set off a period of travel panic where I became obsessed with finding a workable option for a break in a period when half of the local population is trying to get out of town for a few days.

Not wanting to go down the much trodden route of a drive to Muscat and with flights to my preferred options of Beirut or Hong Kong priced off the scale, some of the random destinations considered included Kandy, Zanzibar, and Cebu. Luxor was eventually settled on as a destination after the intervention of my better half, who was growing concerned as my imagination span out of control and the potential destinations become increasingly random, and who has been lobbying in favour of Egypt as a destination for a good while. With my only previous experience of Egypt being a 12 hour work trip to Cairo last year this seemed as good an option as any.

After a crazy couple of days at work, I managed to get out of the office in time to get home and chuck some things in a weekend bag before my ride to the airport arrived. Whilst Sharjah Airport is only a few miles from Dubai, the ride from my apartment can take anything from 30 minutes to 2 hours dependent on traffic, so I had left plenty of time to get to the airport. Fortunately we had a decent run on this occasion and were at the airport within 45 minutes.

Any time saved on the run to the airport was more than cancelled out by the time taken to negotiate the scrum to enter the airport, then to get through the initial bag scan, then finally to check in. By the time we made it to security, which was mercifully easy thanks to my beloved e-gate card, I felt like I’d spent an hour and a half on the rugby pitch rather than in the airport. To be fair to Sharjah Airport this is the only occasion on which it has taken me more than 10 minutes to make my way from car to plane, I’d just forgotten to factor in the escape to the sub-continent that occurs here in the wee small hours, with planes from Air Arabia and Indian Airlines heading off to pretty much every major Indian city.

By the time we made it into the terminal it wasn’t worth paying the entrance fee for the mediocre lounge so we found a quiet corner and grabbed a coffee. Boarding commenced shortly afterwards and was via one of the bus transfer gates. For anyone who isn’t aware of them, Air Arabia takes the single class, buy on board, single aircraft type in fleet approach to running an airline, but does allocate seats either on check-in or at time of booking (if you pay to do so). As this was a reasonably lengthy run by LCC standards, I had paid the eminently reasonable 50AED ($13) each to pre-book seats in row one, which offer marginally more leg room and the luxury of not having someone recline into you.

As we settled into our seats, it was pretty obvious within 2 minutes of getting on the plane that there wasn’t going to be a spare seat in the house, and that the one bag per person hand luggage rule had been somewhat loosely enforced. The hand baggage issue took a good 30 minutes to sort out, with at least 50 bags being taken down to the hold before all the overhead bins would close and we could depart. Post take off I settled down and slept for most of the journey so can’t really comment in any detail on in flight service. Entertainment was on drop downs and looked chiefly to consist of the standard ‘Just for Laughs’ visual humour type offerings which allow passengers of all nationalities, regardless of language spoken, to be united in their absence of amusement. Food /drinks service was buy on board but looked to be reasonably priced. Seat comfort was adequate, no better or worse than economy class on any short haul carrier, and the crew were reasonably efficient in processing passenger requests. My sole gripe would be the fact that the cabin lights were left on full brightness for the duration of the flight, which seemed unnecessary for a flight which had taken off at 1 am and which was thus full of people trying to get at least some sleep en-route.

Arrival in Luxor took some time, as the foreign exchange counter from which one must purchase a visa was clearly attempting to perfect the art of inefficiency. The counter had managed to divide the taking of the passport, payment for the visa, the peeling of the visa sticker from their stock, the return of any change from payment, finding a page to enter the visa into the passport, the sticking of the visa into the passport, and the returning of the passport into distinct tasks to be undertaken by separate people. Each passport had to complete all of these tasks before the next passport could begin the journey.

As everyone without an Egyptian passport was stuck in the visa queue security was a breeze and we were waiting for our bags within 2 minutes of getting the visa. The baggage situation was quite spectacular, I have never seen so much baggage come off such a small plane, it really is a miracle that the plane had made it off the ground. I had thought I had largely acclimatised to the luggage carrying ways of the region (I once checked in behind someone at Riyadh who checked almost 200 kg of luggage for a weekend trip to London) but I was genuinely astounded at the amount of stuff that came off the plane.

Having negotiated the ruck around the baggage belt we finally made it out of the airport and into a taxi just as sunrise began and the morning call to prayer was called.

In Luxor

As this is a flight based forum and I am prone to rambling on a bit anyway I shall keep my observations on Luxor to a minimum. Suffice to say it is genuinely impressive from a historical perspective, I personally found the tombs and temples utterly awe inspiring and was even mildly taken by a couple of the museums, which given my tendency towards abject boredom when faced with museums and the like is a resounding recommendation. My better half, who often despairs at my preference to seek out an interesting building or a decent restaurant or cafe in favour of an afternoon gazing at religious artefacts or paintings, was in her element.

Whilst in Luxor we stayed at the Sofitel in Karnak, which offers a decent compromise between proximity to Luxor itself and the advantages of an out of town location from a relaxation perspective. The hotel was perfectly pleasant, particularly the pool and gardens overlooking the Nile, and as long as you don’t take your expectations of what a Sofitel should be from their properties in London or Paris to this property you will be fine. Catering was, however, pretty woeful, particularly in the evenings when the options were hotel buffet, room service (omelette or burger) or starve. As we were also entitled to use the facilities at the nearby Sofitel Winter Palace, we also tried a couple of the restaurants there but were similarly unimpressed.

My main point of contention with Luxor as a destination was the extent to which it is focused on package holiday travellers doing the Pyramids-Nile cruise-temples circuit. Upon check in at the hotel we were asked who we were with, which it transpired was an enquiry as to which tour group we were part of. There was general disbelief that we weren’t with a group and we were referred to throughout our stay as the ‘independent travellers’. Whilst this does have its downsides, all the tour groups appeared to be on identical and predictable itineraries so could be avoided quite easily.

Leg 2 LXR-DOH Qatar Airways - Airbus A320 / Leg 3: DOH-DXB Qatar Airways - Airbus A330-200

After a relaxing couple of days in Luxor it was time to head back to the airport for the return leg. As Air Arabia have a rather limited timetable between Sharjah and Luxor, we had needed an alternative route back to the the UAE, and with limited flights from Luxor only had the option of Qatar Airways via Doha, or Jazeera Airways via Kuwait. With Qatar Airway being both better priced, more direct, and offering a better connection time, there wasn’t really much in the way of a decision to be made.

Check in at Luxor was incredibly quick and easy, although with only the flight to Doha and the aforementioned flight to Kuwait departing from the international section today, the place wasn’t exactly running at full capacity. In less than 15 minutes we were checked in though to Dubai, through security, and sitting in the international departures area. With the exception of the cafe and a single shop selling leather jackets the outlets in the terminal appeared closed, with no indication that they were likely to open ever again never-mind prior to our flight. The hour and a half wait for boarding finally trickled by and we were called to board what turned out to be another packed flight.

In flight service was perfectly adequate for a flight of this length, with a full meal service and drinks run and entertainment on drop down screens (not sure what this was, I noticed it had Eddie Murphy in it and chose to leave my headphones in their wrapper.) On the food front, by the time the catering trolley reached us only the seafood option was available, which I choose to avoid on planes as I have an occasional tendency to not get on with it. The attendant working the trolley said she’d see what she could do and came back with the meal she had set aside for herself as she said she was happy to swap. Given my regular recent experiences of indifferent service in the region on Emirates (with whom I have had Gold status for a few years) this willingness to help was refreshing, and in my recent experience is symptomatic of the service edge Qatar Airways is building over Emirates. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m no Emirates hater and some of my best flight service experiences have been with Emirates, these just seem to be getting fewer and further between. As I’m based in Dubai, it makes little sense for me to ditch Emirates as my primary airline, but if I were someone for whom travel in the Middle East was as a transit passenger I’d seriously be reconsidering my loyalties.

Arrival in Doha was on-time, with a bus transfer to the terminal. Transit queues were dealt with quickly and efficiently, and we were through to the departures area within 20 minutes of touchdown. At present Doha airport lags a bit behind the facilities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi but is nonetheless an easy enough place to transit, particularly if you prefer to avoid the half hour walk sometimes required in Dubai. That said, all my transfers here have been at relatively off-peak times and I can see that both the transfer and general terminal facilities could get overloaded during major flight banks.

Boarding for the flight to Dubai began within 10 minutes of us clearing transit security and we were back in the air less than an hour after arrival. Service on the Doha to Dubai leg, which again was full, was limited to a cup of juice and a warm pannini / snack sandwich type of thing. With a flight time of only 45 minutes this was fine, and the snack was actually quite tasty. The AVOD was turned on for this leg but no headphones were distributed. Arrival in Dubai was quick and easy, late afternoon is a quiet time at airports in the region so we were in a taxi within 30 minutes of arrival. Unfortunately taking the new metro wasn’t an option as neither the Terminal One station nor the one by my apartment is finished, hopefully it shouldn’t be too long before this is sorted.

This concludes the first section of this report, which will how go on hiatus for a couple of days until my trip to Saudi later in the week.

Really enjoying it so far...we just got back from Bali, where they manage to handle the one page visa experience with just three people!

Leg 4 AUH-BAH Gulf Air - Airbus A319 / Leg 5: BAH-RUH Gulf Air - Airbus A340-300

Travels resumed yesterday with a quick hop down to Riyadh for a couple of meetings. Based on my experience of the past couple of years this is likely to be the start of an extremely busy period as all the decisions that have backed up during Ramadan (when everyone in government who is senior enough to make a decision disappears without trace) will finally be made, triggering a bunch of work that all needs to be done yesterday. Normally this trip is a one hour hop on Emirates or Saudi Arabian but with Emirates (who appear to run a random fare generator on this route) quoting $1600 for a one way, and the usual fall back of Saudi Arabian full at the times I needed to fly, I had to deviate from plan. As LCCs were also full I ended up booking onto Gulf Air, who are viewed as a bit of a laggard regionally but who I’ve never had any issues with.

The drive to Abu Dhabi airport from the office is generally a good one, with no real need to drop below the speed limit the whole way there. When Dubai traffic is having one of its off days, it’s often just as quick to drive the 100km to Abu Dhabi as the 20km to Dubai. Upon arrival at Abu Dhabi check in was a breeze as the airport was deserted and I couldn’t help noticing that my boarding pass was sequence number 2, despite me having arrived at the airport within one hour of take-off. Security was equally quick and I was through into the terminal within 5 minutes of arrival.

Whilst I love the idiosyncratic design of Terminal 1 in Abu Dhabi, which is the epitome of 1970s Arab-chic and a perfect antidote to the effective but somewhat soulless glass and concrete boxes springing up around the region, it is not a good place to arrive hungry. With the kitchen at Piano Bar unable to commit to producing food in less than one hour, and the flight being called for boarding 30 minutes earlier than indicated on my boarding pass, I ended up grabbing a takeaway coffee and a muffin (although it later transpired that these were in fact a cup of gravy and a small rock). Upon boarding, the desire to get us all on board early was clear, as I was the last of the four passengers to board and we were able to leave the gate 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

The anticipated A320 had been substituted for an A319, which I was under the impression prior to boarding were new aircraft. Based on the interior it seems that these are just new to Gulf rather than factory fresh as they look a bit worn around the edges. On board service consisted of a snack box containing a sandwich, cake, and a carton of what passes for orange juice on a plane, and a choice between a can of Coke or 7up. TV screens, which were situated only every few rows rather than in seat backs, were left blank. Given the 45 minute length of the flight, and the price Gulf charged relative to its competitors, I was satisfied with what was provided.

Arrival in Bahrain was ahead of schedule, with transfer to the terminal by bus. There had clearly been some sort of communication breakdown as 3 buses were sent to service the plane, which was somewhat unnecessary given the passenger numbers. The terminal transfer bus won the race to the gate with another transferring passengers from another Gulf Air flight so I was through transfer security and into the terminal almost without having to break stride. Whilst not a particularly large or modern facility, the terminal in Bahrain seems appropriate for the volume of traffic handled. On my visits I’ve always found it to be neither over-crowded or deserted, and have been happy with the range of services (food, beverage, shops, business facilities, etc) provided.

On this occasion, with the early arrival and an indicated delay in the onward connection extending my time at the airport, I decided to try out one of the contract lounges. Having quickly scouted around for options, I settled on the Dilmun lounge, which is upstairs in the terminal adjacent to the Cathay Pacific lounge (is it really worth Cathay Pacific having their own lounge in Bahrain?). This turned out to be a decent decision, with the lounge having won Priority Pass lounge of the year for the Middle East for the past couple of years. I passed the next hour or so enjoying a couple of cold Grolsch beers, which soothed considerably the pain of trying to decipher some particularly impenetrable contract clauses. Boarding was from the gate directly underneath the lounge so I was able to wait until the last minute before boarding rather than negotiate the general boarding scrum. All in all I felt the entrance fee, whilst more than I’d have paid for equivalent drinks in the airport bar, was money well spent.

Upon boarding the Riyadh bound plane, it was clear that this was going to be somewhat busier than the previous flight, with every available seat taken in economy and the majority looking taken in the forward cabins. Irritatingly we were told within 5 minutes of boarding that the problem they thought was fixed (the pilot’s chair was broken) actually wasn’t so we would be delayed by another hour or so - why they couldn’t have worked this out before boarding and allowed everyone to spend another 45 minutes in the airport rather than sweating it out on the aircraft is beyond me.

Despite the generally negative comments of colleagues on the condition of Gulf Air’s A340s, my previous experiences of these have been fine and I’ve never really understood the fuss. It now appears that I’d been lucky enough to only get the refurbished aircraft until now, as this one was pretty poor. Economy class seats were an interesting combination of pinks and browns, with a carpet in which all the stains had combined to create a uniform shade of grey. Entertainment was via a single screen at the front of the cabin which flickered so badly that it was almost impossible to work out what they were actually showing on it. Business class was trimmed in the sort of blue fur last seen on Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster and appeared to have a different carpet on each side of the cabin. My general distaste for the ambience wasn’t helped by the somewhat fragrant gentlemen sat next to me, who appeared to have been involved in the preparation of fish up until a point immediately before he boarded the plane.

Suffice to say, I was glad when we finally managed to get on our way and the air conditioning was turned on. Once underway, the previously invisible crew appeared and passed out snack packs. These included a small sandwich, slice of cake, and a bottle of fresh lemonade, each of which were the nicest of their type I think I have ever enjoyed whilst in the air (in any class of travel). I can only assume that they had come straight from the food prep facility as everything was incredibly fresh and they really were a significant redeeming feature of the flight. I wish Emirates would follow the lead of Qatar and Gulf and start passing out snack packs on runs under 60 minutes or so rather than trying to gallop through a hot meal service on a 350 seat aircraft in this time - the only outcomes I’ve ever had from this have been indigestion or having my meal taken off me before I’ve made it even half way through. Descent began almost immediately after the packs were handed out with eventual arrival in Riyadh about 90 minutes behind schedule.

Arrival in Riyadh has been an arduous affair since the introduction of finger-printing for those using a visa for the first time about 6 months ago. As this has corresponded in timing with the Saudi Arabian consulate in Dubai starting to issue only single entry visas to everyone I know who travels to the Kingdom who is under 35 (even when the visa application is approved for multiple entry at the Saudi end), I have spent a lot of time in queues at Riyadh airport over the past 6 months. As we taxied into the terminal I could see an Air India 747 which looked like it had just arrived so I was preparing myself for a long wait at immigration. It was, however, surprisingly quiet and I was through in less than 15 minutes for the first time in months. Bag was luckily one of the first out and I was on my way to the hotel 10 minutes later.

Hotel stock in Riyadh is fairly limited, both in range and quality, with probably less than 20 or so hotels of any quality serving a city of 6 million people. As a slave to Priority Club I have a choice of the InterContinental or of 4 Holiday Inns. Whilst there is no doubt that the InterCon is the nicest of these, the difference is not as wide as you might expect so I tend to go with one of the Holiday Inns if I’m here for more than a night or two as it works out a lot better from a points collection perspective. Since it opened last year I have mainly based myself at the Holiday Inn Al Qasr, which is a nice enough property in a good location, and which offers suites to corporate customers for only a small supplement over the normal executive rooms. With the exception of the catering, which is edible but uninspired, it’s probably the best option in central Riyadh for those whose clients won’t stomach expense bills featuring rooms at the Four Seasons.

Next leg involves a flight back to London in a couple of days time for a new (hopefully multiple entry) visa.

So very true - and nicely put :)

Leg 6: RUH-LHR bmi British Midland - Airbus A330-200

Although I have flown several times between Riyadh and London, this is actually the first occasion I have flown direct rather than using Emirates via Dubai. As this was also my first time flying bmi longhaul, I was actually really looking forward to the flight despite the ungodly hour of departure and the prospect of trying to sleep on an overnighter in economy class. I’m normally more than happy to be at the back of the bus, the thrill of just being on the move generally overriding any concerns over lack of comfort, but I won’t pretend I’m normally thrilled by the prospect of overnight runs with a full day of work planned for the next day (this is after all surely what business class is designed for).

As the departure time for this flight was in the wee small hours of the morning I extended my room reservation by a half day until 10pm, which at half the standard day rate was money well spent. The run to the airport took quite a while due to an unusually high number of check-points en-route but I was still in the terminal within two hours of scheduled departure. At first glance the terminal looked to be overloaded, with a queue snaking the full length of the concourse. It turned out, however, that the queue was mostly for the Jet Airways flight to Mumbai with bmi representatives picking their passengers out of the queue and escorting them through the bag scan to their deserted check in desks.

Bags were checked efficiently, and following a bit a discussion in a language in which I am not conversant, the supervisor came across and I was handed a business class boarding pass with ‘sincere thanks from bmi for my valued custom.’ Given that I hold only the lofty status of blueplus on bmi (which I think entitles me to a free biscuit on flights but little else), and no status on any other star alliance carrier, this was a surprise to say the least and I was sufficiently taken aback that I almost forgot to thank the check-in chap for this unexpected bounty. With boarding pass in hand I skipped through security and headed to the lounge, which I know from using it on numerous Emirates runs is First Class in name only. Although I’ve used this facility many times, this is the first time I’ve been in it since it completed the refurbishment that has been going on for the past couple of months, The makeover appears to have involved a coat of paint and the addition of even more chairs to a room which was already overly endowed with furniture. On the plus side they now have a Nescafe machine which dispenses coffee which one can recognise as such, which is a significant step forward.

After sampling a couple of ‘malt beverages’ (non-alcoholic beers), one of which turned out to be somewhat bizarrely flavoured with pineapple, boarding was called and I headed off to the gate. Boarding took a considerable amount of time due to bag searches and pat downs being done in the jet-way, the first time I have experienced this in Riyadh. Once onboard I was pointed in the direction of seat 5K where my jacket was taken and drink offered. Interestingly, bmi offer a choice of orange juice or water as a pre-departure drink but also take your order for a ‘proper’ drink, which is brought to your seat as soon as the crew can get moving post take-off. This was a first on all my flights to and from the Kingdom, which have been dry on every other occasion, so was a welcome surprise.

With no previous experience with bmi long-haul I had no set expectation of what their business class offering would be like and was pleased to see that the seats were full lie flats rather than older style seats. The cabin, and the business seat in particular, was very similar to that which I experienced recently on Jet Airways. As with Jet, I found the seats a little uncomfortable in their fully upright position, mainly because the seat bottom didn’t feel like it extended far enough along my legs, but as soon as I could play the position I was much happier.

While we were still on the ground the chef came to take my order for dinner and breakfast, both of which I chose to partake in despite the late hour more out of curiosity than hunger. Dinner choice (if I recall correctly as I didn’t think to collect the menu) was between a chicken with creamy tarragon sauce, lamb with rosemary crust, and spiced paneer with Indian bread. I chose the paneer and it was really rather decent, I would have happily eaten it on the ground, which is about as enthusiastic a verdict as I am ever likely to offer on in-flight catering. I passed on the wine offering and enjoyed a London Pride with the curry (the eternal student in me will forever equate curry with beer) but the list was quite interesting and had the flight been a tad earlier there were definitely some that I would have liked to sample.

I passed on desert (which was a simple offering - fruit or ice-cream if I recall correctly) and reclined the chair into bed mode. Prior to turning in I completed the required ablutions using the bmi amenity kit, which was a bit on the basic side (tacky nylon pack and contents far below the standard of VS / EK / BA) but which nonetheless contained the essentials. In bed mode the seat was extremely comfortable but as usual with leather seats I struggled to keep from over-heating and gave up on sleep after a couple of hours. As the chap next to me had his eyeshades on and was unlikely to be disturbed I tried the entertainment at this stage but as it was non-AVOD and was mid-cycle there wasn’t anything worth watching so I read my book until breakfast.

Breakfast offering was good, with a choice of various cooked options as well as pastries, cereal, etc. I opted for the porridge with dried fruits, which was cleared just as we were beginning our descent into Heathrow (which for the first time in ages was accomplished without doing 3 laps of southern England - result!). Despite having flown in and out of Heathrow many times over the years, this arrival in Heathrow was my first ever experience of Terminal One, which made me feel like apologising to all the non-Brits I saw in the terminal as, for want of a better word, it sucks. Passport control was nonetheless mercifully fast and I was soon on my way to the bus terminal to catch a coach to Victoria. Whilst I would normally take the train over a bus if at all possible, given that my destination in London is usually walking distance from Victoria Coach Station the margin by which the coach is the easiest option trumps my aversion to buses on most occasions.

All things considered, I was impressed with bmi business class (although clearly I was ecstatic with what I received given that I didn’t pay for it). I would certainly consider them again on the same route over the usual Emirates / Etihad option if it fit with my timetable.

Leg 7: LGW-MAN British Airways - Boeing 737-400

After a few days in and around London I needed to get up to Manchester to meet up with the better half who was arriving into Manchester on Etihad from Abu Dhabi (I was originally on this flight with her before plans changed). Rather than try and get up to Manchester in the early hours to meet her I flew the evening before on BA. This was pretty standard domestic flight fodder; left on time, enjoyed a tea and a biscuit en-route; arrived on time, happy days. As I write I am now in the Crowne Plaza at Manchester Airport, which is about standard for a UK airport hotel. On the plus side I received an upgrade to a club room (with free drinks in the club) and two free drinks in the bar (hence any spelling mistakes) despite having booked using points. On the negative side the internet is exorbitantly priced and the hotel bar is full of people whose holiday package to Cancun includes a night here prior to their 5 am departure and who clearly intend to be in the bar singing until that time.

This concludes the trip for now. Next flight is back to Dubai on Emirates in a week on so, which I shall post for the purpose of completeness.

Leg 8: LGW-DXB Emirates - Boeing 777-200

After a few days in the UK catching up with friends and family, with a few meetings shoe-horned in-between, it was time to head back to work in Dubai. Travels in the UK have included such accommodation highlights as the Holiday Inn Lincoln (finally demoted from Marriott status) and Ramada Bristol, both prime examples of the lodging delights on offer in your average UK city. On the plus side an honourable mention goes to the Hotel du Vin in Cambridge, which was a very decent hotel in a city where the hotels don’t really have to try very hard to fill up, and to the Express by Holiday Inn chain, which is consistently better than its big brother in the UK (probably because they’re all new rather than reincarnations of old Forte Post Houses).

After the budget hotel marathon we had managed to finally spend a night in our own place in Sussex the night before flying home so were only twenty minutes or so from Gatwick and didn’t have to be up too early for our 10 am flight. Check-in for Business / Gold Card holders was surprisingly busy but we were ushered across to the First Class desk once that was free and on our way to security within 5 minutes. The Fast Track desks were closed but there was no queue so wasn’t a problem and we were through 10 minutes later despite an argument between the woman in front and the security agent as to whether butter constituted a liquid and was thus not allowed on the plane (out of interest for anyone with a similar inclination to carry a pound of butter with them the consensus was that it certainly wasn’t a solid so therefore wouldn’t be allowed but she was welcome to eat it if she wished). I have no idea why Emirates bother paying for the Fast Track stickers at Gatwick as I can’t remember it ever being open for the 10 am flight.

After breaking my 18 month streak at Gatwick of not being selected to have my shoes scanned we were through and on our way to the Emirates Lounge. Unlike the new Dubai lounge, which I find huge and impersonal and which almost without fail has a fire or door alarm going off, I love the Emirates Lounges at their major outstations. The lounge at Gatwick never seems more than half full and is a great place to while away a couple of hours before a flight. I particularly like the area around the back away from the food, which no-one ever seems to go in but which has its own small drinks station stocked with the essentials (Veuve Cliquot and coffee).

Having skipped breakfast, I grabbed some eggs with hollandaise and some hash browns on my way past, just as they were being put out. It seems that I had inadvertently skipped an invisible queue for the eggs (which were admittedly rare in their appearance) and was treated to a look of undisguised hatred from the pin-striped suit sitting opposite the breakfast station at every possible opportunity for the remainder of my stay in the lounge. I’m ashamed to say that the early hour saw me adulterating my champagne with orange juice for the first glass or two before a quick unsullied glass just prior to boarding.

Boarding was called from the lounge about 25 minutes after it first appeared on the screens so was well underway by the time we reached the gate. A strange beep from the boarding card scanner had me hoping for the best but I was disappointed to find this was because the gate agent had scanned it upside down rather than a last minute intervention from the upgrade fairy.

The 777 operating today’s flight was one of those still to receive the business class upgrade and the thinner economy seats but did at least have the ICE AVOD system installed, albeit the first incarnation with the enormous under-seat boxes. The flight was about 90% full with only a few empty seats, all of which seemed to be next to people I recognised from the lounge so were probably blocked as a courtesy to higher tier fliers. I’m yet to sample the reputed delights of SQ and CX so for me ICE is the best entertainment system in the sky, particularly on runs to London where BA lags far behind. I would rate it significantly ahead of Etihad’s entertainment options, which I find glitchy at best, and the programme offering is generally better than that available on Qatar Airways (although I’m yet to sample their 777s so I may be proven wrong).

Catering today was the best I’ve had on Emirates in economy for some time, although the failure to load menus or to brief staff on what they were serving meant that the meal service was something of a lucky dip. I ended up with a chicken breast with tomato sauce served on a bland but pleasantly textured risotto, which went quite well with the Montana Sauv Blanc served with. The second meal service saw the welcome return of the afternoon tea complete with scones and clotted cream, which has either not been served or I have managed to miss out on for the last few months.

With the exception of the welcome return to form on the catering front, the flight was another example of Emirates lost service edge in the last couple of years. Crew were competent but somewhat disinterested, nothing to complain about but nothing to set them apart from the competition. It may just be me but I think there is a marked difference between Emirates service on runs to Heathrow (particularly that on the A380 which in my experience has been exemplary) where I have always been acknowledged and thanked by the Cabin Service Director and the service has been informed and proactive, and the Gatwick runs where I am yet to be approached by a CSD and the service seems mainly reactive.

Arrival in Dubai was about 30 minutes ahead of schedule and, despite the 2 km walk that is required to get out of Terminal 3, we were through passport control and baggage claim before the scheduled arrival time. Luckily our driver was running ahead of time so was waiting patiently in the cavernous arrivals hall and we were on our way home within minutes.

This is the last leg of this particular trip (although the EK ticket actually ends in Osaka as LGW-DXB-KIX with a 6 week stopover in Dubai outbound and a 4 week stopover inbound was only £40 more than a LGW-DXB ticket). In the lead up to the Japan trip I am likely to be back to the Dubai to Riyadh milk run for travel entertainment unless a potential trip to Munich comes off so will be back to reading on the forum rather than contributing for a while.

Thanks for an interesting range of trip reports.

Thanks for an intresting report from an area I have no experience of, I also really liked the English hotel guide at the end.

DMF

Any photos?

This is a great trip report - thanks for writing it all up! You had me chuckling in a number of places with your dry, witty and yet unerringly accurate remarks on the little things that happen while travelling. The butter comment was great!! ^

Thanks for all your comments

SFflyer123 - I have some photos of the non-travel components of the trip but rarely take any photos of the actual travel. Part of this is because I'm often in countries where whipping your camera out is not advisable but frankly is mainly because I find that documenting the travel process by photo diminshes my enjoyment of it at the time. I can see how this might seem a bit selfish with respect to compiling a trip report for others to enjoy and have thought about including photos but as my enjoyment of other's reports is largely based on the effort they put into the words rather than photos I decided to focus on this.