Travels Home - A380 version

I (Bob) followed the family to the US two weeks later, my journey had more ups than downs.

After a very fast ride in the rain to the airport at 2 am, (I found out three weeks later that our driver crashed our car coming home from the airport - future blog as that saga has still not resolved itself) I boarded the 4 am flight to Dubai alone, checked two half full suitcases and one small carry on. Nice and quiet three hour flight.

When I arrived in Dubai I found out that I would be flying on the new Airbus A380, the new two level plane that only Emirates and one other carrier have to date. I had previously joked with Chandra that I was going to pay to upgrade to Business Class if I was on the 380. As my layover was less than two hours, I had just enough time to go to the ticket counter to find out how much my upgrade would cost. $2300 for the one way upgrade to NY! It was a nice try but not for that much. I called Chandra in the US to let her know my plan was derailed by cost. She laughed a bit and said you still do not have the two kids and the long layovers so I do not feel the least bit sorry for you.

A funny thing then happened when I checked in at the gate, the agent scanned my ticket and then ripped it up, she then printed me out a new ticket. Why pay for an upgrade when they give you a FREE one! I was now smiling ear to ear as I redialed Chandra on the phone, for some reason she was not as thrilled as I was, go figure.

While the plane seats about 500-550 people the upstairs has only 14 first class "suites" and 76 Business Class seats. First Class has access to a shower and behind Business Class is a small Lounge, not a bad way to spend a 13 hour flight. Watched a few movies, had some nice meals, slept a few hours on my lay flat seat with small mattress and even found time to have some great conversations while spending about four-five hours in the lounge. Imagine that, the 13 hour flight flew by!

The Lounge

I somehow managed to finish off an entire bottle of Port by myself

After a five hour layover in NY, I boarded a very small commuter Jet to Mpls. The flight was going along just fine until we were diverted to Green Bay due to lightning in Mpls. After two hours sitting in Green Bay, we finished the flight by flying through the storm anyway.

My total journey was about 32 hours, I highly recommend the middle flight!

After sleeping for about three hours my first meal back was Cheese Curds at the MN State fair.