Emirates

First impressions of Emirates flight: at the last minute I purchased an upgrade to Business Class, my excuse being that I'd been suffering from a terrible cough for the last 2 weeks so not in the greatest shape for a long haul flight!  The B Class cabin was absolutely enormous, taking up virtually the whole of the upper deck. There were plenty of cabin crew to look after us and the Purser greeted us individually. I got a window seat that was also an aisle seat, which will convert to a full length bed when the time comes. All the drinks and meal orders were taken by a stewardess on a mobile device, and my G&T came with a bowl of warmed nuts, most of which were secreted away as emergency rations for later. On the late night dinner menu was smoked salmon followed by beef tenderloin with mushroom sauce and colcannon potatoes. All delicious and nice to have the courses served separately. Also, there were no trolleys trundling about as the individual trays were carried from the galley. Best of all was the seat that reclined to an absolutely flat bed. Toiletries by Bulgari.

I managed about 5.5 hours sleep before sounds of breakfast being served woke me up. Fresh fruit and a cheese omelette with asparagus went down well. On arrival in Dubai my life of luxury came abruptly to an end! The airport was absolutely packed and it grew more and more crowded as time went by. Long queues for coffee and even longer ones for ladies toilets. Boarding the Barcelona flight was incredibly slow and generally disorganised and very very hot. I imagined all kinds of new bugs entering my body already weakened by my chest infection and dose of antibiotics. The second leg of my flight, now in Economy, was a real come-down. The crew were run off their feet looking after a full plane. I tried to take my mind of it all by watching two films: The Queen of Spain (in Spanish) with Penelope Cruz as Isabella, and later The Circle with Emma Watson.