Day 1.2 : Luxury in the Skies

Emirates is the only airline that I know, so far, that has showers in their A380 aircrafts. It's only for First Class though, but still, come on! That is taking luxury to another level. I kept telling my family and friends that if I get bumped up, albeit very unlikely, I am definitely taking a shower in the skies. Regardless if I needed a bath or not.

Anyway, back to showerless reality, the Emirates A380 is an experience by itself. And in premium, it's even more fun! The 'VIP' feeling begins at the departure gate where the ground crew directs you into an elevator to go up ONE floor to the First/Business Class dedicated air bridge. Yes, the A380 is so gigantic that it has two decks. The top deck is only First and Business Class while the whole lower deck is Economy. 

The top deck also has a Bar at the tail end, which is exceptionally cool because, it's a bar in a plane! Also because they provide you with snacks while you wait to use the lavatories :)

Since I'm travelling alone, I chose a window seat and I absolutely love the seat! It is not overwhelmingly big (like the Boeing), but reasonably sized to provide comfort, privacy, and it is cosy! Also it has ample storage spaces that I need not use the overhead compartments. Each J Class seat has two windows, and beneath the windows are these deep cabinets to put the larger items, like the mattress, blanket, pillows, etc. Next to the seat, you have your personal space and shelf, mini bar, the two ICE devices and the power outlets. In front of you is the wide entertainment screen, a space to put your shoes and another space where u can stow your bag. This later becomes your leg space when you go into flatbed mode, so if you have long legs, putting too many things in this space is not a good idea.

For this 14-hour flight to New York, we get two meals: breakfast after takeoff and lunch before we land. In between there are light meals at all times and snacks from the bar. I had the mixed grill for breakfast, which was pretty good, and then decided to sleep so that I can acclimatize myself to my destination time zone (at that time, it was about 3:00am in east coast US. For one thing, flatbed makes sleeping a lot easier and comfortable on the plane, compared to the usual angled recline. I think I slept for about 4 hours (I was aiming for 7 hours - a proper night's sleep but didn't managed that) and woke up feeling pretty good.

Since there is at least 2-3 hours more before they begin serving lunch, I decided to order some food off their light selections. I had a Cherry Cloutis and a cappuccino. Also I nabbed a mini bagel with cream cheese and lox from the bar. That was yummy.

As I am writing this, it is now 10:30 pm Malaysian time, 10:30am New York time, and 6:30 pm Dubai time. Lunch will be served soon and in 3 hours' time I'll be landing in JFK where the Emirates chauffeur will bring me to Morristown, NJ. And that will be the end of the Emirates experience until my return flight in 2+ week's time.

All in all, it has been a great experience, and if all my flights are like this, I would never ever mind flying long haul at all :)

Next up will be my days with the Luv in the Big Apple! Stay tuned!

p.s. I just have to state this for record: one of the odd thing that I did the most during the whole journey was brushing my teeth. I've lost count but I think I've brushed my teeth at least four times in the last 20 hours.

Day 1.1 : The Bumpkin in Biznis Klas

Just like I promised in the previous entry, this is post is dedicated to my flight experience from KL to New York via Dubai on Emirates Business Class.

This is absolutely NOT a flight review. It's just me, a J-Class virgin, documenting my time in premium class travel.

The Business Class treatment began at the check-in counter of KLIA where I got to stand in a different queue, followed by the 2-hour wait in the Emirates Lounge. So for the first time ever, I found myself in a section of the airport which I've never been before. Not only the lounge, but the whole section of the Satellite building.

Waiting in a lounge of course beats waiting at the Departure Gate hands down. It's ironic that the premium class gets a whole load of free stuff, like food, drinks and liquor, while the 'commoners' most probably have to shell out money for inflated priced food at the airport. But then again, premium most probably cost 4-6 times more than Economy, so okay.

It was past 11:00pm when I arrived at the lounge, and honestly, I was just too exhausted to be over-excited of anything (I was running on two-hours sleep that day). The Emirates Lounge in KLIA is warm and nice. Reminds me of a hotel lobby. They had some snacks, and some hot food, several types of beverages and booze. At that time, my stomach was already half-asleep so I had some OJ, a creme caramel, and a teeny prawn and glass noodle salad.

When it was time to board, they made an announcement in the lounge and we proceeded to the departure gate which was not very far from the Lounge. After security, the next premium perk was enjoyed - immediate boarding. There was a queue for economy but everyone in Business and First just went straight to the front of the line, flashed our boarding passes, and proceeded to a dedicated airbridge to the plane.

The flight from KL to Dubai is a Boeing 777-300ER and I had an aisle seat. I know it is Business Class and all, but I didn't really enjoy that flight. The seat pitch is huge and you have a bunch of buttons, but all that big space was very overwhelming to me. In fact, I felt rather small and really bumpkin-y! For one, my feet can't reach the seat in front of me, that's an indicator of how big the seat pitch is. Also, I can barely reach the overhead compartment where I needed to stow my handcarry because, ironically, all that overwhelming space and I didn't have much storage space for my stuff at the seat. So I was all crammed in with my handbag and pillows and blanket.

The Boeing also has less privacy so I kept having embarrassing bumpkin moments when I tried out the buttons! I made the reading light on top go on and off a couple of times, I accidentally made the partition that separates me and the next seat go up and down a few times too! And maybe because I was really sleep-deprived, I tried to go into an occupied restroom and took me a while to figure out why the door wouldn't open *puts head in sand*

I slept for about 3.5 hours of the 6-hour flight, and had the Banana Pancake breakfast before we landed in DXB. I might've been still in a daze and the appetite was asleep, because I didn't enjoy my breakfast at all. Well, except for the fruit platter. So when I was in DXB, I headed straight to the Business Class Lounge to see what they had in their food spread.

The Business Class Lounge in DXB is, in contrast from the one in KLIA, like a convention-centre-hotel buffet, and is very large. You have the resting/sleeping area at one end,the couch and armchair area in the middle, and the dining area at the other end. Among all that, there's a shoeshine stand and a spa. Buffet counters are dotted in intervals along the whole stretch.

And again I am so thankful for being in Business because the lounge provided free WiFi throughout. DXB has free WiFi but only limited to 30 minutes and one has to sign up for it.

My transit was about 3+ hours, and in that time I had a yogurt, a mini turkey slice sandwich, some fruits, and tea. Yea, it was too early for my appetite to handle anything more. So I spent the time updating the Luv and friends about my first leg of the flight.

I think I will stop here for this entry because it is getting way too long. Also, I think the next leg of the journey deserves an entry on its own because, it's the Emirates A380, baby! The part of the flight trip that I was really looking forward to :)

Cheers for now,

Day 1 : Welcome to the Big Adventure!

Am writing this with 4h 54m left in my flight and I really have to say, I LOVE Emirates Biznis Klas. But of course, I've nothing to compare it to and this is a first time experience. However, this is making a long haul flight really, really good. Firstly, it doesn't feel like I've been in a giant enclosed luxurious tin can, at 38,000 ft in the sky for the past 7 hours. And secondly, I'm in freakin Business Class baby!

Since I have several more hours to go and don't feel like sleeping (again) yet, I will write about the Big Adventure. This will be like the prologue before the first entry about a Bumpkin in J Class :)

I am on my way to one of the 'Greatest Cities on Earth' for a 2-week adventure with the Luv. We'll be hitting the Big Apple and her neighboring states, so expect entries on The City that Never Sleeps, Smithsonian geek fests, and a road trip up north to Seneca country.

And all this is happening because, in the words of the Luv, "I sold my soul to the devil." Luv is on a 6-month short term assignment in the States and his employers have generously allowed him to fly me over on his 'home leave' allocation. Hence the premium class travelling. And I am so grateful for this, because it is a freakin almost-24hr journey from KL and I get to do it with style, comfort, and yes, Free!

I have 4.5 hours before I land in JFK, so I will settle back in my flatbed, watch some shows on the IFE, and enjoy the last few hours in the lap of luxury.

Looking forward to the Big Adventure and most of all, looking forward to the seeing the Luv again after 3 months apart :)

Come, join me in my escapade, and welcome to my Big Adventure!

♥ from 38,000 feet,

Teaser #4

'Cos #3 is on Twitter (see Twitter Feed on right).

Not much to 'tease' actually. I am so busy trying to finish all that I need to do before jetting-off on my Big Adventure that I don't even have the time to do more planning and be excited. Instead of enthusiasm, I have been on tenterhooks lately. The kind of stress where you get nightmares about your work when you are asleep.

That's fine. The excitement will come on Friday evening. Just hope the pent up excitement doesn't explode inappropriately.

Apart from the long-haul flight, I look forward to having a guy holding my name on a sign at the airport when I arrive (note to self: try to get a photo of that on that day). Also I wonder if I would be sharing the same cabin with anybody famous? You know, like this:

♥,