Dubai: Departure day!

Scared about what is going to happen the weekend came closer and closer. It was sunday the 17'th before i even knew it. I had to pack my things and re-check everything i had packed for my trip. My 3 new suitcases were deliverd a few days earlier and some thing were already packed. We planned to go a day earlier to an area around the airport to chill and relax. From my home to the airport isn't far, but i wanted to be very relaxt on the day of departure.

My boyfriend came to me on saturday afternoon and sunday morning we woke up. The first thing i said was: 'We're going on our dream trip!'. Nervously i ate my breakfast and finally closed my bags. We were going with my boyfriends car because that one is a big 4x4. We both had 2 big suitcases and ofcourse both some hand luggage. Do we have our passports? Do we have money? Right... bye bye mom, i love you. After the last trip i'm quite emotional. My boyfriend was driving and we left Rotterdam heading to Amsterdam, Van der Valk A4 hotel.

On our way to the airport i knew the Emirates flight EK148 was inbound at that time. My father looked on the flight radar. Qatar dreamliner.. wait.. behind it, its EMI!! (As i call her). The massive A380 airbus came over the roof of the car to make the last turn to the 06 Runway, the Kaagbaan. It was a massive start from our trip. See the plane we were supposed to be flying the day after!

After arriving at the hotel we did a goodbye 'dinner'. We ate something with my dad and we checked out our room at the hotel. I loved it, it was the new part of the hotel. It was time to finally say goodbye. Goodbye dad.. i promise i won't make you jealous. We just chilled around at the hotel and took a swim at the pool and relaxed at the wellness. We came by some other people who had the fly the other day. Iceland... that sounds great. Maybe next year.

I slept very good but i was quite nervous. I took some pill to relax my stomage and against headache. This is it... after breakfast we again packed our bags. The bus was arriving in a minute and we were off in a few minutes. This is it, we're going to Dubai!

It's a 10 minute drive to the airport. Before we reached the last exit of the highway, you can see the runway 24, Kaagbaan. They were departing from there, and for the first time i saw our KLM dreamliner. Second scenery i would'nt miss. When we looked left the other new dreamliner just arrived. It was sceduled to fly to Dubai that same afternoon.. i hoped to see it at the gate later on.

A other friend of mine, who i haven't seen in years, was accently on the same flight. She was going to Japan for months. I looked around for her at the check-in, but i couldn't find her. Finally we were there... Check-in 29. It was real: Emirates. It became more real when i even got my own boarding pass. Its time to go to the security, we don't have anything to do here. That went really smooth, behalve my boyfriend let his camera inside his bag. The x-ray noticed it as a strange object. It wasn't a problem at all.

We walked around at the F gates. There she was! The KLM dreamliner. She's beautiful. I hope to fly her one day. After walking around at the F gates we decided to walk to the G gates. The Gate where our Emi was waiting at us. I already saw, at night haha, that we were flying the A6-EOO. That's a new A380. It was at G9, at the corner of the gates. After being at the toilet for a 40th time we finally saw it: Our flight to Dubai. After dreaming about it your almost a year it was now the truth: i was going to board one of the biggest planes in the world to the #1 bucket list destination: Dubai. I was nervous but didn't took the medication the doctors gave me to calm down with my anxious problems. I wanted to see it all by myself instead of laying down like i've done some drugs.

We could finally board when area D was called. There was my seat. Seat 74K, a window seat!. We walked into the plane and it's wauw. The seats are wide. The ICE system is so amazing. So many channels, movies and other great stuff. I loved the webcam.

Because i is January, and mostly the winters in Amsterdam are cold, the temperature was about -1 degrees. That means we had to get through the De-ice department. It was massive to see 6! sprayers around the plane. Afterwards i heard there were 8! I asked around of anybody was at the airport to make some pictures. It turned out that some of those were able to come, and i want to thank them for the great pictures they made!

I was nervous when we turned up to the Runway. The engines were fully set and it was like the Avro RJ85 feeling, but much bigger. 4 engines running at the same time. We took off and the plane was amazingly stable! After our last flight to Frankfurt i wasn't that exited any more about taking off.. The A380 is massive and it flies amazing. That's no lie.

The food on Emirates flights are amazing. The cabin crew is very nice and willing to help you every moment of your flight. Our expected flight time was about 5:50. When we finally reached the end of the Gulf we had to hold. It was busy around Dubai. I was pleased i could have some Wifi and we were guessing who was going first. Lhr or us. We went in front and just the sight of dubai at night is amazing. The Burj Kalifa standing out is just crazy. Landing at Dubai felt memorable. It's so big. After we left our beloved A380, we came into the Arrivals. So clean, So shiny and offcourse big!. It was still 21 degrees when we touched down. That's hot for us! We found our way quick and we had to go by the new build train to the baggage delivery. We had experienced that in Frankfurt before. After some time waiting we got our bags from belt 14. The last belt in the row.

We went through security which was very easy! Which suprised me.. We looked for alternative transport and finally found the airport Hotel Shuttles. We immediatly saw our pink shuttle. Thats for us! The busses are really old and you get a feeling of being in India. The driver is very attend and wants to do everything for you. In packed shuttle we went to our hotel opposited to terminal 3. It was a 10 min yourney. We saw the Burj Kalifa in the dark. Nice view. We checked in into the hotel and after a shower and fresh up we finnally felt asleep... curious about what's going to happen when the sun comes up....