Day 10 – Sun 04 Oct: Dusseldorf to Dubai

For the first time in a week I was able to sleep in, but was awake just after 6:30am anyway.  I met Jane and Trudi for breakfast at 8am and we had a good old chat about nothing in particular.  After brushing teeth, etc, we met again for more coffee and planning for next year’s congress.  Trudi then left to tour the city, and Jane and I went back to our rooms.  I started packing but also did some “work” – started writing the post-congress report for the MEPS Newsletter.  We had lunch in my room and chatted some more.

I had been lucky enough to be granted a late check-out, so after a final shower, I check-out about 6pm.  Jane came down to say goodbye while waiting for the taxi.  If I had known it was only going to take 15 minutes to get to the airport, I would have left later.  I had to wait around at the airport for about 30 minutes for information about which check-in counter to use.  Finally it came up on the board, and I was checked-in soon thereafter.  After our experience in Frankfurt finding very few eateries on the other side of Immigration control, I found the same Maccas I had met Sylvain at last week and had dinner (QANTAS does not have many lounges in Europe any more, hence no free meal).  I lingered a while so that I did not have too much time to wait before boarding.  I made it through Customs and Immigration and spent some time wandering through the Duty Free shops to find my departure gate.  I had to wait about 45 minutes until we starting boarding, which was not too bad.  I found a good place to stand up as I knew the next 36 hours would be torture.   And then on the plane, I stood up until the very last minute.  I was lucky enough to have a spare seat next to me again for the leg to Dubai.  Despite the late hour and being quite tired, I managed to watch two movies: Hot Pursuit and The Forger.  I also managed a couple hours of sleep, which was handy.


My seat, right at the back of the first section behind Business





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