Events of Friday 28th/Saturday 29th February 2020
I was booked to leave Cairns for home on the noon flight to Melbourne. Most of the Noble Caledonia passengers were travelling later that afternoon but a few, with different flight arrangements, were leaving earlier so a transfer to the airport had been arranged for 09:45 which I joined.
There were brief "good byes" as we were dropped-off outside Departures then I had a brief struggle to get my luggage to the right check-in queue. Fortunately, it didn't take long to complete the fomalities and then, with plenty of time in hand, I made my way to the Quantas Lounge to await my flight at the end of my very brief, but interesting, visit to Cairns.
The relaxed atmosphere in the spacious Lounge was just what I needed and, for once, I was glad of the effective air conditioning as the day was rapidly warming up.
Business Class Lounge, Cairns Airport, Australia
View from Business Class Lounge, Cairns Airport, Australia
I faced a long journey back to my local airport, Birmingham in the UK, comprising four 'legs' with changes in Melbourne, Singapore and Dubai:-
CNS-MEL 3h 15m 1432m 2305kmThis amounts to over 1 day actually in the air and, allowing for transit times, well over 30 hours from Cairns to Birmingham. This is really a minor hardship compared with the journeys travellers in previous centuries had to undertake.
MEL-SIN 7h 40m 3743m 6024km
SIN-DXB 7h 30m 3633m 5847km
DXB-BHX 7h 00m 3482m 5603km
The short leg to Melbourne was in economy class. I was already tiring on arrival but managed to find my way to the departure gate successfully for the Emirates Business Class leg to Singapore.
Melbourne Airport, Australia: View during taxiing, with city in the distance.
I was looked after very well on the flight to Singapore, during which I learnt that the same aircraft would be continuing from Singapore to Dubai, after a crew change at Singapore, but that all passengers would have to disembark, transit through security with their hand baggage and then re-board. I'd also been told that there was a new Emirates Lounge at the airport so I thought it might be an idea to have a look at it. Despite the comfortable flight to Singapore, I was starting to get exhausted so I had some difficulty locating the lounge after quite a long walk. I was warmly welcomed and, when I mentioned that I was a bit worried about the walk from the lounge to the departure gate for re-boarding, they insisted on arranging 'Assistance' in the form of an athletic young man pushing me in a wheelchair, which made resuming my previous seat on the waiting aircraft simple and quick.
Having flown Melbourne-Singapore in this aircraft, I transited two security checks to re-board and continue to Dubai!
Safely back on board the two-engined widebody, we took off on our long flight to Dubai. The new crew were as attentive as the earlier crew and I managed some reasonable sleep during the flight. The massive airport in Dubai is a noisy and confusing place at the best of times but, after three flights that day, I was particularly confused but managed to navigate to the relative quiet of the huge Emirates lounge near my departure gate to await boarding.
The Emirates flight from Dubai to Birmingham was on an four-engined Airbus A380. Although I loved the long-lasting Boeing 747 design (now retired from service by major airlines), I've never warmed to the even-bigger A380, although I can appreciate the technical achievement. Boarding involved a lift from the lounge to Departure level, then a short walk to the three air bridges connecting to the waiting aircraft. Waiting to board the lift, I took the picture below.
Boarding the A380 from Dubai to Birmingham in 2020. Note the three air bridges.
Although I love travelling, I always experience a thrill on returning home so, as we lost altitude approaching Birmingham and the familar landscape of England appeared on a dull, February morning, I started to become alert with excitement (and, perhaps, a little relief). We landed safely, I retrieved by luggage without incident and reported to Emirates, who were providing a car home. There was a minor delay waiting for the car, because flights at Birmingham had been subject to some dislocation that morning, but soon I was speeding back home after a fairly serious journey from Australia.
Within three weeks of my return, England had imposed a full lockdown in an attempt to delay the spread of the Coronavirus Pandemic. A three-month lockdown was followed by a plethora of frequently-changed regulations, culminating in a further full lockdown in November 2020 (when I finally managed to complete this post).
Related posts on this website
This post is in the series labelled 'Tropic of Capricorn’. The first post is here.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link (where shown) will display the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Tropic of Capricorn reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Tropic of Capricorn reports
My pictures
Cairns Airport, Australia
Singapore (Changi) Airport
Dubai Airport, U.A.E.
Birmingham Airport, England
