33 Hours in the World's Best First Class

This is absolutely insane.

Today we're traveling 33 hours from Auckland to Dubai, then onward to Belgium. Our first flight will be in the A380 and it'll be our first time ever flying on the upper deck. Also, it's the only plane in the sky that has a shower and there's an onboard bar. Once we land in Dubai, we'll check out the world's largest first class lounge. If I could describe Dubai in one word, it would be over the top.

It's been a long day and last.

But not least, we get to spend seven hours in what Emirates calls their game changer suite. It's the only suite in the world that has floor to ceiling closing doors, which makes it a completely private room.

I'm not sure how it gets better than this.

We are currently at the Auckland airport and that gigantic plane that is about to be our home for the next 17 hours as we fly to Dubai.

But the first class experience started before we even got to the airport. Because flying first class, they sent a chauffeur to pick us up at our hotel and bring us here to the airport. And we spent a little bit of time in the lounge and drank a bunch of coffee because tonight's flight isn't bored until 9:15 and we want to make the most of it.

Hot.

No sleeping. Well, it is 17 hours. We woke up probably.

Thank you.

I cannot believe that after traveling for seven years straight that I'm about to board the longest flight of my life.

Getting an escort to my sea set.

Oh my gosh.

I just have to get my energy out. I can't believe this is happening. I already feel this energy. The beginning of the year when we're starting our travels no matter what, and the fact that this is kicking off 2023.

Thank you.

Thank you. Once you get underway. 16 hours in two minutes.

Can't take her anywh.

Finally taking it off.

I have flown on a handful of really awesome airplane seats, but trust me when I say none of them compare to this experience.

It's good to be back. That feels absolutely ridiculous to say, but about a year ago I flew first class for the first time and it was on Emirates in a seat very similar to this. This is Kara's first time ever flying Emirates first class and I know she's super excited, so I'm. I'll probably leave it up to her to show you around.

To my left I have an iPad which.

Is.

Attached. It's pretty much a small TV screen so I don't have to reach all the way up here to use the touchscreen on my gigantic television. This is my wine glass. Yeah, it's big. If touchscreens really aren't your thing. And the armrest. There's an old school remote behind my iPad is probably the most iconic part of this seat, honestly. And it is the.

Minibar.

There are some buttons on my right that I have not pressed yet. One of them has a plate and a fork. Maybe that calls the flight attendant. I'm gonna hold off on pressing that one. This button lies my flat.

It's past my bedtime. This button lays my seat down completely flat.

This is gonna be awesome. Obviously, there is heaps of legroom. And there even sparkles on the floor. Just the little details, like, oh, they're on the ce. They're also on the ceiling. This might be the best day of my life. There's a real orchid in a vase. They gave us a cute little snack basket. And then in here, how cute is this? And beneath it, there's some amenities. Facial toner, eye cream. Don't mind if I do. Pillow mist. There's pillow mist.

I will be spraying pillow mist on all my pillows for the rest of my days. Also, there are not one, not two, three lights in the suite. Or if you count the little mirror light. And this one, you can even adjust the brightness. There are four buttons here on my little control center. If you press the first one, all three window shades that are in my suite, which is crazy by the way, they all close at the same time. This button says press. Should I press it? I'm gonna press.

Released my iPad. Last but not least that I know of at this moment is a branded Emirates notepad and pen. Thank you. Oh, my gosh. It's so shiny.

Wow. This table is huge.

Thank you.

He's into it.

It's nice.

When we have happiness. I am very happy. You're amazing.

Don Perignon champagne. I'm probably not even saying that right. Oh, my chair scoots up with the plate. But to eat.

This is one of the bumpier flights I've been on so far. My entire tray table is soaked. I'm just going to drink it so it stops spilling.

We still have 16 hours remaining in this flight, and I already don't want it to be over.

Okay, so the last button that I've not pressed yet does this.

I have my own room with the doors closed.

That was delicious. How weird is it that, like, the fanciest thing that you can eat is fish eggs?

Well, that was fun. I ate the whole Thing, I kid you not. Our flight attendant, Helen, just came by and asked if I wanted a second portion of caviar.

Of course I said yes.

Of course I said no, because I'm gonna save room for the rest of the flight.

Thank you.

There's a gigantic menu and it's a la carte, so I can literally order anything I want at any the entire 17 hour flight.

Okay, we are going to take a quick break from meal service and go check out the bar. This has been on my bucket list for so long.

Thank you. This is so crazy. We just walked to the bar on an airplane and they said, have a seat. It's like rent a restaurant.

I don't understand why more people aren't hanging out here. I mean, the suite's amazing, but this is a bar on an airplane. Like we're sitting in a booth like you would at a restaurant.

I just had a really exciting moment. After all the flights we've taken over the last seven years, we've never had a flight attendant who watched our videos before until just now. I just met a flight attendant named Alex and he follows our videos. And I think we've just made this.

Thank you.

Cheers.

We got espresso martinis so that we could stay awake as long as possible.

One of us is holding up better than the other. It's past midnight.

They also have chocolate cake.

Thank you.

Some people don't say no to extra caviar. Other people don't say no to chocolate cake.

This is the best ride of my life.

All right, back to first. Ah, home sweet home.

I'm still so sick. We came back to find that our flight attendants had already kindly converted our seats into a comfy bed, which probably means it's time to get some sleep. But instead, I grabbed some of the snacks they had laid out and stayed up too long watching TV.

It's 1:30. We still have 12 hours and 40 minutes left of this flight. So I'm going to set my alarm for six hours from now, and then I'll still have six hours to enjoy the flight when I wake up.

Also, this bed is even more comfortable than I remember.

Unbelievable. This tote bag has slippers, pajamas, cute. And last but not least, amenity kits, which includes tissues, hairbrush, dental kit, conduct mirror, deodorant, and buzzard, which includes cleansing towel, hydrating body emulsion, which I think is a fancy way of saying lotion. I have no idea what this is, but it's metal and very heavy. Oh, I think it's cologne and hydrating face Emulsion.

Wow.

There we go. I'll see you in a few.

When I'm flying in economy, all I can think about is how great a live flat seat would be. But when I have a lie flat seat, all I want to do is stay awake and enjoy this experience.

Good night.

Hello, Kara from the future here. I'm clearly not in first class anymore. This is a little sneak preview of an upcoming adventure. If you stick around till the end of the ad, I'll give you a big clue as to where we are. But first I have a few questions. Would you like to have your identity stolen? Do you enjoy being watched and tracked as you browse the Internet on public WI fi? Raise your hand if you love it when Netflix takes away your favorite show of all time. If you said no to any of those questions, you probably need a vpn. Actually, you definitely need a vpn. Everybody needs a vpn. Let me explain. We've been using Surfshark for over three years now and we think it's the best. One of the things that sets Surfshark apart from the other VPNs is that you can have unlimited devices under one account. So Nate and I have surfshark on both of our phones and both of our computers. If we had 500 computers, we could use Surfshark on all of them for no extra charge. And in case you're unaware of what a VPN is, it stands for Virtual Private Network and it encrypts all the information sent between your devices and the Internet so that nobody can steal your personal data. Who doesn't want that? Also, if I'm in the us I can't watch my favorite show of all time on Netflix. But with surfshark, I can change the location of my computer and tell them that I'm in Australia or London. Refresh the page and boom. The office is back.

Beats Battlestar Galactica.

Hopefully I've convinced you by now. So if I did, click the link in the description below and use our code karanate to get 83% off and three extra months for free with Surfshark. There's also a 30 day money back guarantee so there's no risk to try it out. Also, we are currently on a road trip in this van which some of you may recognize. This wig is also another hint. Back to the flight.

It.

How'd you sleep?

Great. Oh, sorry. Oh, sorry.

Sorry. This doesn't seem like you're sorry.

Morning. My body thinks it's about 8:30 in the morning now, so time to coffee.

Still dark.

How Cute. Is that last night kind of feels like a dream. Send a little Christmas envelope.

Sorry you squinted that right? To buy eyeballs.

Wow.

Thank you.

The dinner menu looked better than the breakfast menu. And since we skipped dinner last night, I thought, why not have dinner for breakfast? I got the Arabic meze platter, which is three separate plates and also a gigantic bread basket.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Hi. The weird eating mushrooms for breakfast.

It needs a little salt, but other than that it is fantastic.

This is the moment of the trip that I have most been looking forward to.

Yes, a shower on an airplane.

Look at the size of this bathroom. We are on an airplane. There's even a screen so you can see exactly where you are.

My flight attendant set out a towel for me. Look at all of these amenities. There's a hair dryer on a plane. Also, this is the only flight that you get a tote bag and it's so that you can bring your stuff to and from your shower.

The way it works is when you get on the plane you have a 30 minute time slot and there are two showers, one on each side of the stairs. And it set up a little spa wall to make it feel more like a spa. Once you actually get in the shower, there is five minutes of walk. Just check this out.

I am standing in a shower on an airplane.

It's actually even bigger than I expected.

I can't believe this is happening.

Showering in a new place. I have officially knocked off my biggest aviation related bucket list. I.

Didn'T even use all the water.

Still going, still going.

It was everything I hoped it would be. All right, I guess it's time to head back. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention two more things. The floors are heated. Amazing. And in case of emergency, there's actually an oxygen mask in the ceiling right here. He said if there was turbulence you could also sit down on the seat in the shower.

I know this is really weird, but I've shaved my armpits in a lot of weird places and I just kind of wanted to add airplane to the list.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and very warm welcome to Dubai International Airport.

At a local time.

It's quarter past five in the morning.

Well, that was the fastest 17 hours of my life. Also, we like followed the darkness around the world. So it was dark the entire flight and it's still dark. Thank you so much.

I can turn around and do it all again right now.

So fun. I'm so sad it's over. No way. It's golden.

I had no clue that this was going to happen. And this is not your standard airport golf cart. This is the nicest airport golf cart I've ever seen.

Hello, fellow golf cart driver.

You know, I like some people that have the same cars, have a cool way for each other. I feel like it's the same in the golf carts. Thank you so much. Welcome. We are just escorted all the way from the plane to the first test lounge. And there are water features, fountains inside of the lounge.

I feel like I'm in a luxury hotel.

This is crazy.

This whole thing is the lounge all the way.

Sushi.

Sushi. My God.

Thank you. Wow, that is quite the platter.

Okay, so I was really sad for like five minutes when our flight was over, but now I'm really happy again. We're eating sushi for breakfast. 6:15 in the morning. I have a free back massage scheduled for about 45 minutes from now. Life is good.

Tone on coffee.

Thank you. Wow.

Thank you.

I was really relaxed.

I never wanted it to.

Like so much black.

Remember when I said it couldn't get any better? The chef watches our videos and made us this fruit plate.

Well, we had a lovely morning in that lounge. There's probably no need to go anywhere else but the largest first class lounge in the world is one terminal away. And I was like, it would be a shame not to see it when we're this close. So we're heading to terminal A. Wow, there's a waterfall.

We're going to make you next stop, pet.

Okay, this lounge is huge. There is an entire duty free store inside of the lounge.

So we have a little map here. Looks like there is a business center, a children's playroom, fine dining, mother and baby care, a prayer room, quiet lounge, showers, a cigar bar and toilets.

Ah, there's even a private dining room room. Okay, this is probably the most impressive part of the lounge is there are gates in the lounge so you can actually board your plane without ever leaving the lounge. So I just learned that this lounge is actually the entire second floor of Terminal 8. So it's pretty much like a private terminal for first class passengers. It's over a hundred thousand square feet, which is.

Just huge. But I think think the only way that you can truly appreciate it is if I just walk you around the entire lounge.

It's a very long walk to go all the way around.

You were gone forever. I didn't think you were coming back.

So this plane that we're about to board is the only plane in the world that has suites with doors that go floor to Ceiling. Ceiling for complete privacy. Arguably, the Singapore Airline suite could be nicer, but this is definitely one of the top two airline seats in the entire world.

How are you this afternoon?

This seat, this, this room, this hotel room on an airplane is insane.

I purposefully did not look at any photos or videos of this plane before boarding, and my mind is completely blown. I had pretty high expectations based on how Nate talked about it, and it's way better than expectations. I'm so thankful for a husband who's such a nerdy travel hacker. He is the only reason we're here.

Also, these windows are not real. So there's a video camera filming what's actually outside. And I'm sitting in the middle of the plane right now, but it looks like. Like I'm sitting in a window seat. What?

Thank you so much. Our flight attendant just brought me some slippers for the fly and also some pajamas.

This suite feels almost twice as big as the one that we just rode in. And it actually could be so on the A380, the configuration is 1, 2, 1. And on this plane, the configuration is 1, 1, 1. So I am in the middle seat, and on each side of me, there's one. Another seat. Okay, just to give you an idea of the width of the suite, I have a little more than a hand sticking out, so I would say it's five and a half feet wide. Like a dance.

Even the seat itself.

Okay, before we even take off, let me give you a quick tour. This is your vanity. This is the largest TV screen on any airplane. Mini bar on this side of the TV. Mini bar on this side of the TV. Gigantic iPad that can control everything in the suite. All the buttons, your own air vent. I chose the middle seat just so I could try out the virtual windows. This seat was inspired by Mercedes Benz and NASA. More on that later.

Here's my closet.

Has my bedding in here. Noise canceling headphones, storage.

This is the floor to ceiling closing door. And this is what they call a service window. So you can leave your door shut and they can slide in food or drink.

Can I tell you my favorite part?

Binoculars. They have the caps on them. These binoculars came in my seat.

Of course, this orchid is real. And I just realized that there are real curtains. If I get tired of the virtual windows, I can literally close a real curtain.

No way.

I'm changing the color of the lights in the wall.

Okay. So I just opened this armrest to find what might be my favorite feature of this entire suite. Might not seem like a big Thing. Deal. This is the first wireless remote that I've ever had on an airplane. Ooh.

This remote feels like an iPhone. It's metal.

No more annoying wires to have to pull out of your armrest. I feel like it'd be so easy for someone to walk off the plane with this.

Are you famous? I'm so happy to be sitting here right now, but honestly, it's a little uncomfortable with everyone who's walking to the back of the plane has to go by my suite. They're all, like, looking in here, and.

I'm just like.

There is an insane amount of leg room. My feet barely even reach the desk. And then there's another two feet underneath the desk to the wall. And my entire backpack fit in this compartment.

On board this bike today, just finalizing paperwork up here in the flight deck.

Baggage, including laptops, should be stowed in the overhead lockers. So far, I'm not a huge fan of the digital windows. They seem to point down a little far. Like, I'm just looking at the tarmac. I feel like I need to lean down so I can see up, but the screen doesn't change, so that doesn't matter. But I assume once we get up in the air, that makes sense because then we're kind of looking down at the ground.

Goodbye, Dubai.

That's pretty crazy that it's a virtual window.

I think the best part of having a closing door so far is I don't have to go to the bathroom to change into my jammies.

Yay.

Same as the last flight.

This is what the suite looks like when it's fully enclosed. 3, 360 Privacy.

Once again, the meal started with caviar. I'm pretty sure this is my first time having Caviar twice in 24 hours. For my appetizer, I had this cute little avocado salad. And for my main, I had baked tofu, which I can honestly say is the best tofu I've ever had.

So I was told that the look of these seats was inspired by Mercedes, and this position that I'm reclining to right now was inspired by NASA.

This is called the zero gravity position.

Kind of just feels like reclining.

Maybe we'll get to space one day and get to do that. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Brussels. The local time is twenty past six. Thank you for flying. Emma in partnership with Q.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much. 33 hours later, we have made it to Brussels. I had such high expectations for that entire trip and not a moment of it. Disappointed I'm so sad is over.

Our bodies think it's 6:30 in the morning. Basically missed an entire night of sleep. I'm never gonna get used to this wig. Before you go, if you found yourself watching this video thinking oh it would be so nice to fly in first class, you can actually fly in Emirates first class for less than a hundred dollars using miles and points. And we have written an entire post about exactly how you can do this at the Daily Drive. So we will leave a link to that post in the description below. Also, don't forget about turf shark.

It would also make us so happy if you read the Daily Drop, figured out how to fly first class and then sent us a photo. Nothing would of you and Emerson first class. Do it. Please do it.

Are you in business class like or just you taking a free flight using miles and points? That's exactly how we got started in our travels and we just want to spread the love and help as many people do it as possible.

Nothing makes us happier than getting those messages. Sadly, our plane leaves from B, so we won't get to experience this magical feeling of just walking onto the plane from the lounge.

You look blue. Da ba dee da ba da.

Would you like any extras on the side?

A little pancake? Yeah, Clingies. That sounds much fancier than pancakes. Of course. I hate that somebody recognized this. Oh I hate that somebody just recognized riding to the airport on a golf.

Cart while I was waving.

This armrest.