An Airbus A380

Mandy arrived home from school about 4:30, and we set about finalising all the last minute things on our to-do list, and zipped the cases shut as Ashley arrived. Took a visit to our rubbish bin by both Ash and Evan with full arms to get rid of enough stuff from the back seat so that we could fit in, but we eventually did, and were chauffeured in style out to Tulla.

All went like clockwork, and we were checked in within 5 minutes flat, so we ended up lots of time to kill, though our attempt to logon to the supposedly free wifi at the airport was an exercise in frustration. All we got for divulging all of our personal details (just why do you need to specify your postcode to access the internet?) was a perfunctory 'Service Unavailable' message. Ah well, I suppose I might as well get used to it - I'm on my way to Africa.

The real excitement of the night was realising that we were booked onto one of the new Airbus 380's, and probably the actual one that we have been watching getting delivered and commissioned for the Melbourne run on 'Ultimate Airport Dubai'. Gosh they are huge machines. Not only was our 'main deck' large, you then realised that there was an equally big deck both above and below you. Took 3 ramps to load the plane from the various lounges. Lots of leg room, nice meals, 1200 on-demand entertainment channels, but the best thing of all was the funky lighting in the cabin which changed from pink to blue to orange to white every so often. Not really sure why, but I'm sure that there is a reason. Departed on time.