Back in November last year we visited family down under in Sydney. The trip was for 23 nights with 5 of those nights being spent on a short trip up to Hamilton Island where I have never been before. The whole holiday was more or less the trip of a lifetime. Hamilton Island was indeed the highlight of the whole trip.Our return flights to Sydney were booked with Etihad and I was really looking forward to flying on both the A380 (in the upper deck) and on the 787, both would be a first for me. I would later be gutted to discover that on the outbound flights the aircraft would be changed to an A330 to Abu Dhabi and then a 777.
Anyway, here we go. Our adventure started in the 1903 lounge at Terminal One, Manchester. A decent selection of snacks and good views airside.
Our first ride would be A6-EYI to Abu Dhabi.
Couldn't fault anything. Food was excellent as was the service. First class service throughout the flight. After 3 hours in Abu Dhabi it was time for the next flight.
Food, again was superb. And when flying Etihad it's customary to have their signature steak sandwich.
Nom nom! Cheese and biscuits.
Few pictures from Sydney.
After 5 days in the big city it was time for a holiday!
We would be flying JetStar to Hamilton Island. Not a lot to say about this flight to be honest. It's only a short hop from Sydney about 2 hours. We did get $10 each to buy snacks because we had luggage in the hold for some reason.
We stayed at the Beach Club. It's right on the beach, adults only with it's own private beach. Absolutely superb. I cannot begin to tell you how good this hotel is. You are treated like royalty and everything there is first class. I'd love to go back. It was paradise. The photos don't do it justice.
There are a few trails that you can follow around the island. I did one around 5am otherwise it's just too hot. Once at the top of the hill you get superb views of the runway. Takes about 40 minutes to get there but once you get up there it certainly has the wow factor.
I really didn't want to leave. It was heaven. You don't even touch your suitcases. The hotel drive you to the airport and you don't see your cases again until you get back to Sydney.
After the rest of our holiday in Sydney it was time to leave for the nice cold UK. I was pretty excited. My first A380.
This was the best banoffee pie I've ever had.
The crew were excellent. Nothing was too much trouble. Every time the guy walked past he would refill my wine glass. The food was top notch too. I watched a few movies, the one I enjoyed the most was Crazy Rich Asians which I watched twice I enjoyed it so much. When we arrived back in Abu Dhabi I just had enough time to get a shower and a quick drink before boarding my first 787-10 back to sunny old Manchester.
Flight was good. Crew again were very good. I had a sore throat. Cabin crew offered to wake me up before landing and make me some mint tea with honey along with a plate of fresh fruit followed by some yoghurt. Attention to detail was excellent.
A fantastic trip, thanks for reading.
I've heard very mixed reports about EY recently, but it appears they did a good job with your flights.