Day 1: At the pointy end of the plane

It's here at last! We're on our way to Europe. Nearly didn't make it though. Just about to zip Chris' suitcase closed at home and disaster!!! The zip split in two and then froze. Thank heavens we had another suitcase of Sarah's that we could borrow. A quick repack and then we were off.

The experience started with check-in at the First Class counter thanks to Chris' platinum status. Family saw us off, then through the express lane - by-passing the winding queue through immigration. Pretty smooth until the scanner thought there was something sinister in Liz' bag - just makeup - phew!

Just finished lunch in the QANTAS first class lounge. Wagyu beef and Lamb tagine were very yummy. AND just to get us in the mood for Paris later in the trip a little sip of Verve Cliquot. Now time for a cuppa and relax before boarding QF 5 bound for Frankfurt via Singapore.:)

It’s a great feeling when you walk across the airbridge to your plane and they greet you by name and ask you to turn left. We were in the first cabin – not first class as this QANTAS 747 is only a two class plane. We were in business and it was full.

A glass of champagne to celebrate the beginning of the trip, then it was off into the air. I joked with Liz "you can't get off now, you'll just have to let me take you to Europe!".

A lovely three course meal followed. Absolutely delicious. Then we settled back for the nine hour flight to Singapore. The Video On Demand system had lots of choices which let us while away the time.

I checked the flight path every now and then and it showed that we were on our way to …. Adelaide? Interesting flight path. Eventually we turned northward.

The landing into Singapore was at night and we could see the lights. We had to take all our cabin luggage with us off the plane.

It was only a short stop in Singapore, enough time to wander around the terminal and look at the shops, stretch the legs. Singapore has an interesting security measure – everyone gets scanned at the gate. So we queued to get in, someone checked our boarding pass and passport, we had our carry on luggage scanned, then police checked our boarding pass and passport, then the airline clerk scanned our ticket. If I didn’t know who I was before this happened…

Our cabin had emptied out for the flight to Frankfurt. Supper was served then we reclined our skybeds for some shuteye.

Two hours out of Frankfurt and we were served our freshly prepared scrambled eggs – nothing like breakfast at 4:00am.

Touch down Frankfurt!