The 2015 Trip

I left Taos late afternoon on Sept. 29 and drove to Albuquerque to stay at the Nativo Lodge. I booked it during a flash promotion on Orbitz where they offered $100 off a $100 or more room. This room was priced at $101.25... So I only paid $1.25. It was just fine for the price.

Since I was only able to book the award flight to Dubai out of DFW, the next day I caught my positioning flight from Albuquerque to Dallas on American.

I love flying in and out of DFW so I can take advantage of the lounge benefit on my Amex card. After landing I found my way the the Centurion Lounge. it was dinner time and chowed on some salmon, beef brisket and roasted Brussels sprouts. I also sucked down 3 delicious cocktails

Then I caught the shuttle to my room in Dallas. I stayed at a Hyatt place, booked with 5,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points.

Hyatt places rock. The layout of the rooms is so well planned. I've often thought I could live in an identically designed space.

OK... The next morning is when shit got real. I arrived at the airport at 9:30 for my 12:15 flight. I strolled up to the Emirates First Class check-in and handed over my passport. I was sure the rep was going to tell me there was an error, a misbooking, something.... Because it seemed far too good to be true that I had actually booked a ~$10,000 flight for ~$300. This is what it cost me in annual credit card fees and the cost to transfer the additional Alaska Airlines miles I was short. I used 100,000 Alaska Miles which I mostly earned with 3 separate credit card sign up bonuses.

.....back to the check-in counter..... Within moments the rep handed me my boarding pass with FIRST clearly printed on it. I was left giddy and nauseous with disbelief.

FIRST! Off I went to the Centurion Longe to wait it out until flight boarding. The cappuccino did not help my nerves... A chill pill would've hit the spot. I headed to the gate a few minutes before the stated boarding time, and first class boarding was announced right when I got there. The ginormous A380 was obscured by the 4 jet bridges that were connected to it, so no pic. When I entered the plane, a flight attendant took my boarding slip and personally escorted me to my home for the next 14 hours.

It was so big that I had to take a panoramic shot of it!

Super blinged out and full off amenities.

Geekiest picture of me since the third grade.

Huge TV screen.

And that snack basket full of stuff... Yeah I took it all at the end of the flight. Can't take the white trash outta me!

Uhhhh.... I took this stuff, too

But, I did not take this little lovely.

The flight attendant came back, introduced himself and handed me this amenity kit along with pajamas, slippers and an eye shade..... Along with a full size tote bag to put all the shwag into.

Still on the ground, dates and Arabic coffee.

Very cool cameras on the plane are viewable in the screen

The flight map.

Once in the air, I started hittin the champagne. 2005 Dom Perignon with hot hot nuts.

Onto some cold canapés and more Dom

Hot canapés.... And uh, yeah, more Dom

Then my table was set real fancy like.

And the caviar was served...

Along with a shot of Russian Imperia vodka.

After the caviar, I headed to the back of the plane, where there's a LOUNGE! This is on the upper deck and only accessible to first and business class passengers. I hung out for about an hour, chatted with some folks and had a mojito.

Then I made my way back up to the first cabin to use the loo. I didn't realize lavs on a plane could be so big. Here I present the shower!!

Back at my seat, I order the Arabic Mezze. F'n delish. Along with a glass of Yde Yquem white Bordeaux and of Dominus cab. Officially tipsy.

Pushing way past tipsy with a cognac testing/comparison between Hennessy Prive ($300 a bottle) and Hennessy Paradis ($800 a bottle!!).

I felt just like this!!!

After the cognac......What to do, what to do?? Back to the lounge, of course. I downed at least ten glasses of water and chatted with a heart surgeon from Oklahoma, who was, of course, sipping only green tea. I sobered up and did some eavesdropping on drunken conversations.

At this point it was about 9 hours into the flight, so I decided to change into my not-at-all-flattering pajamas.

There's a tv in the lav, too. Hmmm

Here's a better shot of the sink and shower

The amenities

And the little touches

I went back to my seat and tried to sleep for a couple hours, but mostly just stared out the window. This is the Zagros mountain range in Iran.

Once I'd had enough of that trying to sleep silliness, I ordered some breakfast, a cappuccino and a blueberry smoothie.

And then, it was time for my pre-landing shower! It was absolutely surreal to be under running water at 40,000ft. Dare I say, life changing? Or was it completely absurd.... Tough to say.

Yep.

After the shower, there was this little fruit plating waiting for me at my seat.

A mere 45mins left in the flight, but I wanted it to last forever.

Near Dubai from the air.

I didn't get any good pictures of the city from the air. The sky was super hazy.

Then when we landed, I felt crazed all over again... DXB is massive. I just followed the crowd to make my way to passport control. Emirates provides free chauffeur service from the airport, so I hopped on my ride to the Radisson Royal.

After a bit of a confusing check-in, I dragged my butt up to my room. I used a free night certificate and Club Carlson points to book 3 nights. I'll be paying a total of ~$18 in fees.

Comfy bed where I spent much time from my arrival until the next morning