Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: Round The World 2006-07
By BA First to Dubai
For once, no need at all to be up
early
I enjoyed a good rest after my exertions over
the last three days, then had a refreshing shower and a traditional
English breakfast in the hotel's ground floor dining room. Not
wanting to take any chances, I then just got my things together,
checked out and left for the airport. Even the Hoppa was
co-operating this morning, my wait being less than five minutes. On
arrival at Terminal 1, I descended into the bowels of Heathrow and
took the HEX to Terminal 4. I soon found the dedicated First
check-in area, which was queued out! A member of staff was on the
case, however, and extra staff were very quickly summoned up to
clear the small backlog. To be honest, I hardly noticed the wait.
Once airside, I made my way to the main BA Lounge Pavilion and was admitted to the Concorde Room, where I relaxed for a while and wrote up some of the story of the trip so far. I decided to head for the gate as soon as it appeared on the screens, rather than wait for the flight to be announced. I'm one of those people who's never happy until I'm aboard and settled into my seat.
(Link to flight log in side panel)
My first impressions of Dubai airport were very positive indeed and, perhaps in a foretaste of the city itself, the place seemed to be oozing wealth. Although there were large numbers of people arriving considering the time of night, immigration and baggage reclaim proved to be no problem at all and soon I had found my driver, who would take me to the hotel. The transfer was fairly speedy and I was soon checking into the InterContinental Hotel for another Royal Ambassador experience. Because of the time change, I didn't feel sleepy at all, so I caught up on e-mails, FlyerTalk and the like until about one o'clock in the morning.