- Today I'm going back to flying.
(indistinct) just like a ghost town.
(bright music)
Wow!
- Because of COVID, we don't do so many things.
- This the way to travel, Lufthansa First Class.
Scrambled eggs freshly made, tastes so much better.
(aeroplane engine humming)
(gentle music)
It's actually better than my expectation,
there's at least food.
It's not just packaged cookies and chocolate and stuff.
There's actually real food here
but it's actually served behind the counter.
- [Short Blonde Man] That is potato sauce.
- [Sam] Potato sauce, okay, very good.
- [Short Blonde Man] Okay.
- Oh my God!
My beer pouring skill is terrible,
I need better training.
Look at how much form I've got.
I'm already exhausted.
I think it's about 3:00 a.m in L.A time
and I'm at the Senator's Lounge at the concourse here.
I've tried to go to First Class Lounge
but it's not open to the B23.
There's a selection of food out there
which is little bit better than I expected
because I have seen a lot of pictures on other lounges,
all have packaged snacks, chips, cookies.
So here is actually, has some really good food.
I have that chicken schnitzel which is great.
And they have wrapped pretzels
and I'm enjoying a beer here.
Ready to go for my next flight to Dubai in about an hour.
Look at what's behind.
I think Dubai is really calling me
but today I'm going to continue flying Lufthansa to Dubai.
And hopefully when i return to the U.S
in a few weeks to continue my PPL training,
I'll be flying Emirates direct.
Since when they opened?
Before they didn't open. - [Blonde Lady] Three days.
Just three days.
- Just three days ago, they opened?
- [Blonde lady] No two days, yesterday.
- [Sam] Since yesterday they just opened?
Yeah. - Nice.
Last minute I came here and then, surprised
to get showers actually open.
But it's too late I have to board my fight now.
- [Announcer] Flight LH630 to Dubai is ready for boarding.
(gentle music)
- Well, this floor is actually busier than I expected.
A lot of people, you see that?
The boarding process has changed.
You just self-scan your boarding pass.
There's no one touching your boarding pass,
it's all contact-less.
- Hi this is Oliver.
And today we're flying to Dubai.
The flight is LH630.
It's going to be a flight of six hours and 30 minutes.
We will be a little bit late
due to the fact that we are flying over Saudi Arabia.
With me, my other Captain Andreas.
And we going to bring you as quick as possible
to Dubai, have a good flight.
- [Sam] What would be the flight altitude cruising at
and speed?
- We will be at about 39,000 feet and 0.80 today.
- [Sam] 0.80?
Quite slow, no tailwind?
- We have to save some fuel.
It's expensive enough so we keep a slow speed.
- [Sam] Hm-mm.
1976 I did my, - [Sam] Before I was born.
- Yeah, I flied solo on a Beechcraft,
Aeroplane Beach 33.
I did three patterns as usual.
And it's a stop and go.
After the last takeoff, my door opened on the side
and I was, "Oh!" - [Sam] Oh!
- But keep calm, keep calm.
I did my pattern,
- [Sam] AVA, AVA, navigate, communicate.
- (indistinct)
- [Oliver] You know the basics already.
- Yeah.
My teacher listened to the to the ATC
and he knew what was happening
because the noise in the cockpit.
- [Sam] Yes.
- But after landing everybody was happy
and my flight, my crew member,
my flight members came to me,
and in Germany we did this habit after your positive solo,
you have to bend over the leading edge of the Beachcraft
and everybody of the flight is coming
and clap one of the big hands,
is a strong hit on your,
what do you tell it here?
- [Sam] A strong arm on your ass.
On your bottom.
You have a clap on your bottom.
- [Oliver] Bottom.
- [Sam] What a weird habit in Germany?
- And you can imagine if 10 or 15 people,
- Yeah, so your ass is on fire.
Everybody clapping on your ass.
- Okay, that was a long time ago
but I remember. - [Sam] You still remember
because you have such extraordinary,
you saved the aeroplane.
You came back to land in one positive (indistinct).
- Yeah, that flight, navigate, communicate.
- [Sam] Awesome.
Well, I don't know what this is.
Every seats there's a box.
I think maybe it's food.
There's a box on the seats just like that.
I asked the purser, the purser told me,
they're serving this box meal is because of the UAE,
United Arab Emirates country regulations.
It's not the typical Lufthansa catering.
(gentle music)
We are already 30 minutes late and still at the gate.
I think we're waiting couple more passengers
but I'm getting seriously tired.
It's about, 4:00 or 5:00 a.m in L.A time.
I think for this flight, since the food is just in a box,
I'm just going to take a break and take a nap after takeoff.
(aeroplane engine humming)
(calm music)
This seat goes fully flat.
I think this is pretty average, honestly.
You have to cross your neighbour to get out
and also it's pretty narrow.
But I think the biggest challenge right now
is there no pillow, there's no blanket.
We just have to sleep like this.
(calm music)
(aeroplane engine humming)
The time here is 11:50, we just arrived Dubai.
I flew nearly 22 hours from the U.S via Frankfurt.
Glad I arrived safely, in one piece.
But this fight was a contrast to my last 747 flight.
This flight literally has no service.
It actually reminded me, flying right now is not for fun.
It's actually for people who needed to get there,
to get home and to get things done.
I'm rather glad.
I know there's a lot of formalities waiting for me ahead
but I'm just really glad I made it at the end.
Because of all the quarantine and border restriction,
entering Dubai right now,
we need to have self-help declaration form.
- Thank you
- Alright, see you next time, thank you.
- All the best, take care.
- Here I come Dubai.
(lively music)
It looks like we are coming to Terminal 3
to go through the formalities
which this is the Emirates Airline terminal.
Very interesting, it's actually in the Emirates terminal
and I remember this giant escalator.
Let's go inside.
Different lines, this one is for residents
and visitor don't need a test.
I guess the good thing is that there's so many people
returning to Dubai, it's coming alive.
But after a 20-some hours flight,
I'm so tired and just so long the queue.
The process is pretty fast.
I waited about 10 minutes in the queue
because there's a fast track queue.
And I registered and they gave me a specimen bag,
I guess it's for the COVID PCR test.
And I went through the immigration
and now I guess I'm heading to the test room.
Hi. - Hey.
I'm getting my first COVID PCR test taken.
(dramatic music)
(heart throbbing)
I got tears coming out.
(simple music)
After the COVID test,
came to the baggage claim, get my bags.
The whole process is not bad,
it's probably just taking about 30 minutes.
Thanks for that fast track I had in Business Class.
Looking forward to go out to the street in Dubai right now.
Just came out of Dubai Airport,
I met um Ahmed and Ibrahim.
Look at how cute it is.
Are you waiting for your families, relatives?
- Yeah.
- Who's coming in?
- My father's sister.
- Father's sister, okay.
Happy holiday - You too.
- Take care.
Just came out the building,
crazy hot here, crazy humidity.
Just the Dubai I remember.
But I'm so glad I made this long journey home
and thank you so much for watching again.
(gentle music)