Day 40 - Thu 9 Jul: Frankfurt to Dubai

16-22 deg C, cloudy but fine. 

Our last day in Frankfurt started with a leisurely brekkie in the hotel. We had all day to sort and pack. Greg decided to walk to the Palm Garden and then take a look through the Botanic Garden. Wendy opted for a walk along the river and chilling out at the hotel. The gardens were excellent, especially the climate controlled tropical glass houses, some dating back to 1869. The Palm House is the largest building of its kind in the world.  On the way back to the hotel Greg happened upon a media scrum around the Euro symbol statue, an iconic sight in Frankfurt. It had become shabby over the years and it was being dismantled for renovation.  This happened to be done when the whole Greek crisis is putting pressure on the Euro's survival. So the media are very into its dismantling as it may be a "sign" that the Euro and the Euro statue are on the way out. 

Sadly it was finally time to pack up and go to the airport. The supposed maxi-taxi arrived at 5:30pm and after loading our two bike boxes there was only room for one passenger. Luckily Gunther and Yvonne's taxi was bigger (like we'd ordered) so Wendy went with them. We all met up at Terminal 2 Gate E and progressed to check-in which opened 35 minutes later. Stewart and Alison, who had come to the airport earlier, were also there. In no time at all we'd checked in, cleared immigration and were sitting down to dinner at Burger King. It filled the gap but wasn't all that nice. 

We boarded our Emirates Boeing 777-300ER at 9:20pm and pulled away on time at 10:20pm. 4,846km and 6 hours later we landed in Dubai, at 6:25am, 30 minutes early. Either there were no gates available, or the flight from Frankfurt does not warrant a gate, so we parked somewhere and were bused to the terminal which took 15 minutes!  After going through security, it took another 10 minutes, after taking the driverless train to Terminal A and then a short walk, before we were in the Emirates Lounge; Dubai Airport is huge! We didn’t have a lot of time to spare, so no shower, but we did have breakfast complete with good coffee.

Onboard our B777 flight to Dubai

Part of the Palmhouse

Rose section at the Palm Garden

Palm Garden


Cactus Garden

Botanic Gardens

The Euro symbol being dismantled for renovation


At the hotel - packed up and ready to go


At the airport waiting to check-in

Waiitng to board our flight




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