Heading to Karachi Day

Today, we all set off for the second part our adventure, the Wedding in Karachi.

Katie, Cheryl and I were travelling together from London to Karachi via Dubai.

I set up the blog from the lounge at Heathrow, while we were waiting to board the aircraft to share our adventures with all off you.

First time on a A380

We flew on an Emirates A380, and this was the first time I’ve ever flown on one.

We were seated in the first row, by the exit door. as an extra leg room option. In reality, it was crazy as there is a huge space in front of us to the bulkhead, unlike a regular aircraft. Katie was sitting about 7 rows behind us and it turned out that she had a seat open beside her, so not too bad either.

As this was the first time flying with Emirates, I am pleased to report that it was a very good experience. I would rate the airplane and trip as A-;

The food was very good, the staff were very nice, and the aircraft, obviously was very new.

The washrooms were a good size; nicely appointed. As we were at the front, we were using the washroom around the pilot cabin door and it had more even space than the rest of the ones in the same area.

The A- rating was because the seats are still cramped. 3-4-3 in economy in spite of the size of the cabin. Huge number of rows in economy with well over 480 seats on the bottom floor. The 1st and Business Classes are on the top floor of the aircraft. We are not allowed up there from economy, but we’re upgraded going home, so we might be able to report back later on those!

I found the night lighting at the front too bright to sleep, and it was likely at that level because the crew needed to access the control information on the panel in front of us. I do have to say that there we lots of crew members on the flight to take care of us, There was even a very nice lady who went around tidying up after us while the plane was in flight!

Captain from Canada

We had a nice chat with the attendant who was working our door, and it turned out that she was from Guildford, where we had been staying with Cheryl’s relatives, Ailsa and Stephen.

Chatting with her some more turned up the fact that our Captain from Canada and was from St. Catherines, where Meg our oldest lived while at school.

The flight was very smooth and we only had a few bumps. Flight altitude was about 39000 feet.It turned out that most of the noise up front was wind noise as we could not hear the engines at all.

I got up out of my seat up several times to take a walk. Approx 100 steps to back of economy and back and that was a nice distance to stretch one’s legs.

Flight was about 6h30m and was about a hour faster than scheduled due to. Some very helpful tailwinds!

And then we were landing in Dubai!