Stars in the Ceiling

Dubai Int'l Airport - We almost didn't make it off the ground. There was an electrical problem and they had to shut down the entire plane. No lights save for flashlights and because the JFK power unit failed, no AC either. After an hour and a half, problem fixed, we began our flight on the Airbus 380 – billed as the largest passenger plane in the world. And was it amazing. I felt like I was flying business class! I could finally cross my legs, we had our own personal movie screens with movies on demand (free), and there were 110V outlets built right into the seats!

Emirates, as an airline, treated us like hotel guests. We received an actual dinner and breakfast menu! They gave out stickers that you could put on the top of your seat to let them know to wake you for a meal, for example. We had dinner, snacks (twice sandwiches and fruits/snack bars once) thrice and breakfast. Not to mention the half-dozen? times they served us soft drinks. Yep, all free. Free headphones too (and not those annoying ones that go into your ears).

For dinner I had 'Lamb korma': 'tender pieces of lamb cooked in a fragrant and creamy sauce, served with steamed basmati rice and assorted vegetable korma'. It was excellent and did not taste dehydrated at all. They also had smoked salmon available and grilled chicken breast. Vegetarians had the option of the aforementioned sandwiches, though I noticed that vegetarians also received some of kind of salad. The desert was quite good as well: “Bluberry crumble”: 'served with vanilla sauce'.

For breakfast you had the option of either scrambled eggs or paneer bhaji (they pronounced it pah-NEAR bunGEE). I chose the latter. It's Indian fare, and it most closely resembles an American food that you'd find at brunch. The description was 'with filled paratha and aloo bhaji'. Don't know what that means but it was good.

Other things of note: the bathrooms were really nice – something you'd find on at least a 40' sailing vessel. They had wood trim! You could have literally spent the entire flight glued to your movie screen – it also had games, TV (The Simpsons, The Office) and radio. We flew over Iraq at 41,000 feet. Thought that was interesting. The Flight Information feature was unique – it was much like Google Earth showing where you are in 3D as well as whether you're flying in night or day. You also had live feeds to the front, bottom (no more jostling for window seats!) and tail cameras.

Oh, and when they turn the lights off at night, you can see stars in the ceiling... :)