If my previous flights would have been any good indication of what I had to expect on this flight, I probably should be stranded somewhere in Timbuktu after missing half my planes… But I didn’t. I actually arrived in Christchurch on time. And am pleasantly surprised by Emirates.

So my route actually consisted of three separate flight, all operated by Emirates:
* EK052: MUC -> DXB
* EK412: DXB -> SYD
* EK418: SYD -> CHC

The first two planes were both Airbus A380. And they are big. And are fully packed with entertainment. Which I really didn’t expect, for the Economy class. But every seat had a 11″ touch screen integrated into the front seat, which gave access to about 500 different movies, TV shows, music and some small games, that could be played with an remote control, which is stored under the display.

However, I had the display switched off most of the time and fluctuated in a state between reading, sleeping lightly and eating. The food was one thing that really surprised me.

The food was quite good and I would have expected something cheaper. Flight personal regularly came by and offered free drinks (water, apple/orange juice) and some cheese snacks.

The switch-overs between the flights worked both great. Gates were easy to find. Waiting at the Dubai airport was quite comfortable, as they offered deck chairs, next to the gate. I was shortly confused about the display of the destination at the Gate, because it said “EK412 to Auckland”. So the flight number was correct, but it had the wrong destination. But as I found out later, that was just due to the case, that this plane continued from Sydney to Auckland. So it wasn’t the cause either, that the plane had an intermediate landing in Hong Kong, but flew straight to Sydney.

Over 13 hours of straight flying… It was very, *very* luckily, the plane wasn’t that full and I had a whole 3-seat row for myself. So I was able to stretch my legs across the seats. Next time however, I should remember not to book a window seat at the same level with the wings, as you won’t be able to see much… 🙁 Not that I would have seen much anyway. While over land it was night, and once the day began, we were over seas anyway. So not much to see there either.

The last flight, from Sydney to Christchurch, seemed to be pretty much fully booked. So no way to stretch legs. But I just slept most of the time anyway. Basically, just to be woken up for another round of lunch, which was the third within 30 hours. Next to the breakfast omelet and a potential pizza snack I declined. I certainly was not going to starve anytime soon.

After arriving at Christchurch Airport, I took a SuperShuttle, that should take me to the YHA Christchurch. That’s were karma struck! The flight just went far too smoothly, which wasn’t right and karma had to be compensated for. So it happened, that we were nearly (and with nearly, I mean not that nearly) struck by a landline or electricity post, which was torn down by a crane coming the other way.

Fortunately, there was only a little bit of damage on the cars body and nobody outside was hurt either.

And so it happened that I arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand. Upside down. On the other side of the world. For (up to) one year.