Emirates Airline

[munchingfoo]

Wow.

These guys are amazing. If you can possibly fly with them and the price difference between other flights isn't too great, fly Emirates.

Top quality food.
Top quality service.
Free overnight stays in Dubai if you have a long transfer. (luxury hotel, not a simple bedroom)
Individual entertainment screens for every seat, even in economy class.

In the last two weeks I have experienced four 8 hour flights and one 15 hour flight with them and it was a pleasure.

[bdw]

I usually go to Oz by Singapore Airlines or BA/Qantas and have found BA compares rather unfavourably to SQ in the standard of facilities (they had VOD four years ago - BA only rolled it out last year) and service it offers in economy. The cuzzas you get on the Singaporean carrier are also heaps better than meat and two veg for 24 hours...
Having said that, SQ is rather parsimonious with the bevvies whereas BA stocks London Pride so it's still a tough choice.
How was your trip?

[munchingfoo]

Absolutely amazing. I'm just in the process of compiling 800 photos into albums on the facebook. Ages......

I was a tad surpised on a transit flight when I was in Dubai to find the air at midnight to be 35C. Jesus, that's hot, with the humidity. Australia is a lot more multicultural in Sydney than I would have thought, but the culture mix was interesting. Wandering through china town you could be forgiven for thinking you were on the east Asian continent.

Sydney harbour is fantastic. For such a busy harbour its relatively clean, and the surrounds are beautiful. Taronga Zoo is the best zoo in the world that I have seen. The bird show is literally undescribably good.

Caving was amazing. Apparently caves stay at the average temperature of the country all year round, so it was nice to pull myself through a 16C cave getting dirty.I don't think my body is designed for caving, or abseling, but they tell me it's all in the technique...

Beer is really expensive in Sydney, which wasn't so great. Some places charge $8 for a schooner (less than a pint) after 8PM at the weekends. Thats about £4. :S Mostly things are slightly cheaper though.

[bdw]

Sydney harbour is fantastic. For such a busy harbour its relatively clean, and the surrounds are beautiful. Taronga Zoo is the best zoo in the world that I have seen. The bird show is literally undescribably good.

Caving was amazing. Apparently caves stay at the average temperature of the country all year round, so it was nice to pull myself through a 16C cave getting dirty.I don't think my body is designed for caving, or abseling, but they tell me it's all in the technique...

Beer is really expensive in Sydney, which wasn't so great. Some places charge $8 for a schooner (less than a pint) after 8PM at the weekends. Thats about £4. :S Mostly things are slightly cheaper though.

Were you caving in the Blue Mountains?
It is a fabulous city, isn't it? Agree with you on Taronga - it's so photogenic with the harbour in the background (plus I am a massive fan of the North Shore generally). Did you get around the Rocks? There's a couple of pubs there (the Australian and the Lord Nelson) which actually do a proper pint in both volume and quality, which is a bloody rarity in Sydney...
Where were you staying - the CBD or outside?

[Lid]

Most Gulf carriers are excellent - Gulf Air, in particular, despite bumbling along doing their own thing, and not singing about it nearly as much as the other carriers, are brilliant.

Singapore were also fantastic when I flew with them, probably the best, but to echo a previous post, for BA, it seems that a lot of what they offer isn't a luxury product any more, and every time I fly with them, it seems more and more that travel is functionality, and only serves a purpose of getting you from one place to another - in my opinion, this isn't how flying should be.

Though, a lot comes down to individual experience, what version of cabin, and what airliner they were using on that day.

[harmless loony]

I've flown with Gulf Air too and had fab experiences. Also flown with Lufthansa a few times and always had good quality service. Swiss Air on the other hand....well the best bit was the chocolate we got when we finally landed!

[munchingfoo]

Were you caving in the Blue Mountains?
It is a fabulous city, isn't it? Agree with you on Taronga - it's so photogenic with the harbour in the background (plus I am a massive fan of the North Shore generally). Did you get around the Rocks? There's a couple of pubs there (the Australian and the Lord Nelson) which actually do a proper pint in both volume and quality, which is a bloody rarity in Sydney...
Where were you staying - the CBD or outside?

Yeah, I went to the Janolan Caves in the blue mountains. The bus journey down to this is crazy.

I walked petty much all of the center a number of times. I walked the route of the marathon around the rocks, and I also visited a few pubs (the australian hotel and a couple others). You can almost always get a pint of guiness, but the guiness sucks. Yeah, the Australian does pints but they cost about 9$.

I was staying Elizabeth and Wentworth, just between Hyde Park and Chinatown.