At 4:40 AM on May 28, I, along with some relatives and friends, took an Emirates flight from Terminal 3 of the Capital Airport to the Republic of Malta.

The moment we boarded the plane marked the beginning of our first trip to Europe in four years.

As mentioned in the previous episode, since there are no direct flights from Beijing, China to Malta, we chose to fly with Emirates, transferring in Dubai, UAE, to reach Malta.

Emirates is one of the Fortune Global 500 companies, boasting the most powerful Boeing and Airbus large aircraft models in the world. I had flown with Emirates several times before; it operates the Airbus A380 and is currently the airline with the most Boeing 777 aircraft in the world.

In fact, there are several airlines to choose from when flying to Malta: Air China, Turkish Airlines, and Emirates.

Due to rising ticket prices with Air China and tight seating availability, along with Turkish Airlines routing through Lisbon, Portugal, which is a budget airline, we were concerned about potential changes in flight routes during the Russia-Ukraine war, so we ultimately chose Emirates.

There are several reasons for choosing Emirates: first, their aircraft are large, safe, and comfortable; second, they provide excellent service and high-quality meals during the flight; and third, their prices are relatively favorable.

It really offers great value for money.

The only downside is the long flight time, with an additional 4 hours for each leg, totaling an extra eight hours for a one-way trip. However, for us retirees, time is not an issue.

When we stepped into the cabin of Emirates flight EK307, the smiles of the cabin crew brought us immense joy.

We were on a Boeing 777, which took off smoothly with very little noise.

After boarding, I noticed that the flight from Beijing to Dubai was still quite full.

Since we boarded in the early morning, we soon rested after getting on the plane.

The only downside was that the air conditioning on the plane was quite strong; although there were small blankets and pillows, we had prepared by bringing long-sleeved clothes.

I found that Emirates flights, like the ones I had taken before, always have cabin crew who understand Chinese and Chinese staff members.

This made communication on the plane very smooth and convenient, which is quite different from other foreign airlines.

A few hours later, we woke up and began our first meal on the plane, which was breakfast—a simple Western-style breakfast, but with a variety of food and drinks, including beer, wine, and whiskey, all available.

Before arriving in Dubai, we also had a proper meal, which was a more substantial Western-style meal.

After 8 hours and 20 minutes of flying, we arrived at Dubai Airport at 5:00 AM, marking the first leg of our journey to Malta.

With a three-hour layover, we strolled through the brightly lit duty-free shops with flashing neon lights, and I chose to have a coffee at the airport café.

While wandering around Dubai Airport, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the smoking lounge in Terminal 3 was particularly luxurious and upscale.

Unlike the smoking lounges in domestic airports and other foreign airports, this one is spacious and well-ventilated, as comfortable as a VIP lounge, sponsored by a well-known tobacco company, as I saw in the advertisements.

After a three-hour stay at Dubai Airport Terminal 3, we boarded Emirates flight EK109 from Dubai to Valletta, the capital of Malta.

The flight made a stop at Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus, with a one-hour layover, but we passengers did not need to disembark.

Larnaca Airport is the largest international airport in Cyprus and an important aviation hub. Unfortunately, we only passed through and did not stop to stay. Many passengers disembarked from our flight from Dubai here, leaving our plane feeling quite empty as we continued our journey.

After 8 hours and 5 minutes of flying, we safely arrived at Malta International Airport at 2:05 PM.

After a deep exploration of Malta and Sicily for fifteen days, on June 10 at 10:10 PM, we took Emirates flight EK096 from Rome Airport to Dubai, beginning our return journey.

On this flight, we were on an Airbus A380, which was particularly spacious compared to the Boeing 777 of Dubai Airlines.

The Airbus A380 is becoming increasingly rare in global aviation, and it is almost unseen on domestic flights; Emirates flights to China are all Boeing 777s. However, we were fortunate to be on an A380 from Rome to Dubai.

I had flown on an A380 before, and those traveling with me who had not seemed very excited.

The meal and service quality on the return flight with Emirates were top-notch, and I won't elaborate on that here.

Our layover in Dubai for the return journey was exactly three hours. When we boarded this flight from Rome, we also saw tourists from Shanghai who had chosen to fly with Emirates for their trip to Malta and Sicily, for the same reasons as us.

After 5 hours and 40 minutes of flying, we arrived at Dubai Airport Terminal 3 from Rome, Italy.

Dubai International Airport is a massive aviation hub with three terminals, four concourses, and two large runways capable of accommodating all types of civil aviation aircraft in the world.

During our layover at Dubai Airport, I noticed a particularly interesting phenomenon.

Many people were transiting at Dubai Airport, resting during their layovers, some sleeping on sofas.

Some were on free reclining chairs, and I found the design and arrangement of these free reclining chairs to be very user-friendly, especially along the long electric walkways on both sides of Terminal 3.

In fact, our large domestic airports in China, like Capital Airport and Shanghai Airport, which have a high flow of people, should also have such arrangements.

After a four-hour stay at Dubai Airport Terminal 3, at 10:40, we boarded Emirates flight EK308 to Beijing. After nearly 7 hours and 40 minutes of flying, we safely arrived at Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital Airport at 10:20 PM.

The flights we took for our deep exploration of Malta and Sicily mainly involved Emirates flights, from Malta to Sicily and then from Sicily to Naples, where we took short domestic flights in Europe. However, the main focus of this article is to discuss Emirates flights and Dubai Airport.

（To be continued）