After my PER-DXB flight and my time in the Emirates Business Class Lounge in Dubai, I was ready to fly again. Honestly, I just really wanted to get to Lusaka at this point so that I could sleep. While the beds in business class are a gift from the flying spaghetti monster (or whatever deity you believe in), and they are very much appreciated on long haul flights, they aren’t a real bed. I was tired and cranky and just wanted a full sized bed with real pillows that I could just go starfish on. But I digress…
The boarding process was simple with priority boarding through the front door. Got offered a pre-departure drink pretty much as soon as I sat down. Again, they offered champagne or juice, and I asked for water. However unlike the previous flight from Perth to Dubai, they actually got me the water. Off to a better start…
After take-off, they came around to take drink and brunch orders. They confirmed my VGML was on board. I was simply hoping that it was actually vegan at that point. I ordered my obligatory Diet Coke to go with it.
The inflight entertainment had far fewer options than the Perth-Dubai flight as well. Less movies and less tv shows. It had The Avengers though, so I could still get my laughs. Tony Stark cracks me up every time. Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist!
When brunch was served, I wanted to cry. Bread rolls and pasta. The bread rolls had vegan fillings (capsicum spread, avocado and tomato), but the bread was obviously not gluten free, and nobody could confirm what was in the capsicum spread. So there was a spoonful of avocado and tomato that I could eat. Joy. I had a small packet of rice cakes in my backpack, but I was saving those for later in the flight just in case. The dessert was a few cake type things. Again, probably vegan, but definitely not gluten free. Which sucked, because one of them was mango flavoured, and everyone knows how much I love mango! Not Emirates’ fault of course, I was just really unlucky with that meal. They didn’t seem to get why my food went untouched, but such is life. I’m going to have to make sure that I pack some additional snacks for the flights home in case this happens again.
My VGML brunch…
The sweets that came after brunch
Stuck my headphones on for a few hours and did some work. Accidentally overwrote a critical file and just about crapped myself until I remembered I had a second backup. See, people call me paranoid all the time when it comes to backing up, but multiple backups are important for a reason! Hard drives die. Computers get stolen. Files accidentally get overwritten or deleted…
Roughly two hours before landing they served lunch. Drinks and warm nuts were served first. I bypassed the nuts as I was suffering from a migraine and I’d just taken some painkillers. Salty things tend to make my migraines worse. The entree was a salad with a slice of lemon which I used as dressing, and a mezze plate (eggplant and white bean topping, capsicum dip (didn’t eat), olives, cous cous, and a couple of little palm leaf wraps with rice in. Served with flat bread and regular bread rolls, which I left. The mezze plate was simple, but really good. Much better than the previous meal. That was followed by the main which was a vegetable curry with noodles (Thai style green curry by the taste of it). I ate the curry, but left the noodles in case of gluten. Curry was spicy, but awesome! I was offered Godiva chocolate, fruit and a cheese plate for dessert, which I declined. I could have just eaten the fruit, but I didn’t really feel like it. All in all, not a bad meal.
The mezze plate I got for lunch…
The VGML main lunch dish: spicy vegetable curry with noodles
Worth noting that even though the flight from Dubai to Lusaka is relatively long at just over 7 hours, they do not have flat beds in business class. The seats reclined a decent amount, which was nice, but still…I have kind of come to expect flat beds on flights over around 5.5-6 hours. Not the end of the world though.
Also, no amenity kit. I wonder what the threshold is for that to be honest? It’s very hit and miss in my experience. I’ve been on shorter 4 hour flights and got them, but this was over 7 hours and we didn’t. And it doesn’t seem to be dependent on the time of departure either. It actually seems to be more dependent on destination. It’s weird.
Another thing to note about Emirates in general, is that they allow the use of mobile phones in-flight. They still have to be off for taxi, take-off and landing, but once in the air it’s free game. They have a system set up for it, and while I’m sure it isn’t cheap, it’s possible. And people use it. This was always my concern about the use of phones in-flight: not safety, but people having really loud conversations and annoying the crap out of everyone else in the cabin. While I would be eternally grateful for wi-fi on flights so that I can keep on top of emails, the ability to make and receive calls is an annoyance. Because so many people can talk at sensible volumes in person, but have a tendency to shout when they’re on the phone. You can clearly guess what happened on the Dubai-Lusaka flight, can’t you? lol
The remainder of the flight was uneventful and we landed in Lusaka on time.
The Vegan Frequent Flyer 