Touchdown

The twelve-hour plane ride was almost painless. Emirates Airlines left Nagoya, Japan at 11 p.m. sharp with very few passengers, a delight to know we’ll have the chance to have some seats to ourselves, enabling us to stretch while sleeping. We got on the plane last. What’s the point in getting on it on a hurry anyway? Pristine would just be restless inside and take out all the magazine in the seat pockets and demand to make a paper airplane out of the emergency manuals. Besides, Maki and I were busy making phone calls to friends, saying good bye and thank you’s.

Only 5 minutes after they announced boarding, an airline personnel told us we should be boarding by now because the plane will close doors and only waiting for us.

Shortly after takeoff, they served hot meals but Pristine didn’t make it. She dozed off, tired after playing for hours inside the airport pre-departure area. Nagoya International Airport have a kids playing area complete with slides and a jungle gym to exhaust the kids to the maximum.

Emirates airlines did not only have friendly staff, the plane was new and clean and lots of in-flight entertainment. We had a choice of tv channels ranging from Disney to all sorts of movies, including Philippine and Indian movies! We can even play some computer games using their game consoles. These people certainly know how to keep passengers entertained and survive the butt-painful 12 hour ride.

I really couldn’t call my flight pain-free. Sleep-wise, I lacked lots of it. How could I sleep while watching my daughter toss and turn? She was comfortably sleeping, having all the 3 seats to herself but then, she could fall right to the floor with the limited plane seat width.

After a few hours, we walked up to the smell of early breakfast served inside the plane. Pristine already woke up too and ate like crazy.  In less than an hour, we will be touching down and the pilot was announcing in English and in Arabic.

Dubai looks so beautiful from the sky with its brightly lit streets. Maki and I looked at each other as if saying good luck to the new life we are about to start in a few minutes.