We arrived very early for our 4?? Emirates flight we were one of the first to arrive at gate ??. and were very happy to wait in this lovely new terminal and settled in at our chosen lounges with table for the ?? hours wait. We watched as our enormous Emirates A380 made its way from the runway to our gate and joined the other waiting passengers taking photos of this enormous aircraft as it made its way to connect with the docking corridor at gate ??. It took some time to call all the passengers to board and we left Paris on a full to capacity flight bound for Dubai. When booking this flight I was pleased we would be flying on an A380 however after boarding were surprised and particularly when taxiing along the run-way at the condition of this aircraft. As a reluctant flyer I am always tuned in to the condition and particularly the sounds of an aircraft and this one creaked and groaned and rattled its way to the runway. After taking off I held my breath as the landing gear was raised and engaged into its hold as the noise was deafening and it connected with such force the aircraft shuddered on impact. For a relatively new and modern aircraft I was surprised by the condition of this A380 compared to that of the Singapore Airlines A380 aircraft we left Sydney on some eight weeks ago prior - this aircraft was definitely in need of some maintenance and it looked and sounded like it had seen better days. By comparison, the Singapore Airlines A380 aircraft was a beautifully maintained piece of machinery and despite the long flight causing me a little anxiety when it was extended due to bad weather; the aircraft was excellent. Now that I have become an aircraft expert as well as a hotel, transport, food and wine expert on this trip, I was really just glad to tick-off flight No. 7 to Dubai leaving only 4 more flghts to endure. We arrived into Dubai and once more had to endure their intimidating Immigration and Customs security system despite us being passengers in transit. I will never understand the need to go through their security process just to remain in the airport terminal! After a short stay that only gave us time for a comfort stop and coffee we boarded our last Emirates flight bound for Colombo, Sri Lanka. Due to time changes it was now ?? in the morning – which only gave us ?? hours to catch up on some sleep as when we arrived in Colombo it would be ?? in the morning having lost another ?? hours. Fortunately this flight was relatively uneventful however sleep was hard to come by so we arrived in Colombo a little sleep deprived having only managed 2 hours sleep in total from Paris to Colombo. Not a good start – but I was just happy to tick off flight No. 8.