8/9/2015 St Petersburg-Dubai

8/9/2015 St Petersburg-Dubai (Travel)

(3.00 am) Paid my last Ruble and US$ notes to the Tour Guide (which worked out to be around US$ 21.00, close to the recommended "tip" of US$25 in the travel info sheet) and handed in my questionnaire.  She had done an excellent job. My airport transfer was organised for 1.00 pm, from the Hotel Lobby; I was to checkout by 12.00 am then wait a bit for the bus. The Qantas/Emirates flight did not leave until 5.10 pm, therefore I had a wait of a couple of hours at the St Petersburg Airport, then I had a 10 hour stopover in the Dubai Airport.

Up at 7.30 am for 8.30 am breakfast. No other tour group people up so after breakfast I went back to my room to pack and transfer photos from Camera to Computer. Took longer because there were multiple days (i.e., before and after midnight) and I either doubled up or "missed" transferring some shots. I will need to check my research photos for missing shots that may still be on the SD card and not transferred. Some of the anomalies in my data-set may be explainable, due to the idiosyncrasies of the transfer program, (given the initial problem with the Computer date/time setting).

Ran through the Internet info on Pulkovo Airport Terminal 1, St Petersburg, and had a basic idea of where to go for Emirates flight check-in. I am now packed and ready to go down to reception for check-out. Next stop Airport, via my prepaid transfer.

The transfer arrived on time but was by limo rather than bus (normally I would have simply organised and caught the hotel/airport bus, probably for a lot less than this cost me). The limo trip was comfortable and a surprisingly long distance, but at relatively high speed. Arrived at the Departure hall with tons of time to spare and got through all the customs, passport, boarding pass routine with no dramas. Only glitch was that they did not let me into the Emirates lounge at the Pulkovo Airport so had to sit out with the other "lowly" tourists until my boarding call.

As I had time I organised all my boarding passes right through to Cairns; so I do not have to run around the Dubai airport searching for the Qantas ticket/boarding pass booth again. I will still have to find the Gate/departure lounge for my Dubai-Brisbane flight but will have 10 hours to do that. I did manage to get Qantas Club member on all my boarding passes and for the Dubai-Brisbane one they gave me an "Emirates Business Class Lounge" pass as well. Given the 10 hour stopover this may be important.

Before the transfer limo came I was sitting in the lobby of the hotel and managed to say goodbye/good trip to at least two couples from the tour group as they passed through. Only three days but the group was quite reasonable travel companions. It was fun although I was pretty "travel weary" by that stage. Definitely "on the way home"!