Abu Dhabi
I warn you now… if you’ve read any of my It's Orlando Time blogs from last September you’ll know this isn’t going to be short so you better get comfy...
At our last work’s buzz night (party basically) we had a raffle, €1 per ticket, up to 20 tickets each, the money would be doubled by the company, donated to a charity and 4 winners would get a €500 Qatar Airways voucher each. All I could remember about our numbers was they started with 2 so you can imagine the shock on my face when Stefan started walking forward to collect our win... he decided pretty much straight away that he wanted to come to Abu Dhabi so that was the easy bit done… we asked our 4yr old if he wanted to visit Abu Dhabi and he said “no, I want to stay here with Jack (our 1yr old) and Gwagwa (my mum) and Oma (Stefan’s mum) will look after us”! So after he said the exact same thing twice my mum agreed (grateful doesn’t even begin to cover it)...
As we both work for a corporate travel agency we get up to 35% off IHG rates so that was always going to be our first choice. We did originally book another hotel (the Jannah Burj Al Sarab) but finally decided to go with the Intercontinental. It was a bit more expensive but for the quality totally worth it and I don’t know when we’re going to get the chance to stay in a 5-star hotel again anytime soon…
Skip forward 2 weeks and it was finally the 9th May - travel day!
Mum and the boys dropped us off at the airport just over 2hrs before the flight and we had pre booked the free fast(er) security queue we have in Berlin - Runway - for 07:45. You can get in 10 mins before/after that so we figured it we would be fine but despite being in the web check in queue there was no way we were going to make it and I couldn’t book another time - the system might work ok if you’re on time but if you’re not you have practically no chance of getting a replacement time… we’re so used to having the boys with us and going through the family lane but the queues weren’t too bad and we got through security quite quickly despite not managing to get to Runway on time…
I had been a bit apprehensive about QR’s hand luggage rules because our baby suitcase is 1cm (yes, I know not exactly much but some people online said they were really strict) but after seeing some of the other passengers with their trolleys and huge rucksacks I don’t know why I bothered!
About a week or so before the flight I ordered an Asian vegetarian meal for me and an oriental vegetarian for Stefan. We’re not vegetarian but I’ve always enjoyed the food better and I always choose the vegetarian option anyway… although after seeing what was on the normal menu we could’ve probably waited because it wasn’t the usual bland tomato pasta… my paneer curry with spinach and rice was really good but Stefan’s noodles with tofu were a bit too bland. Also I got the pudding everyone else had and Stefan only got some fruit salad so I donated half as the good wifey I am... We also had rice crackers, salted caramel popcorn and Virgin Mango Bellinis which were good and Stefan had a G&T.
This was the first time flying Qatar for both of us and it was the Dreamliner so we were looking forward to it but to be honest, and yes, I am going to say this… I think Stefan has had more room on a Ryanair flight and it was pretty loud too. His knees were right up against the seat in front and when the tray table was down there wasn’t 1cm between it and our not so skinny bellies plus I forgot it wasn’t 2-4-2 seating (stupid, I know, considering I paid for those exact seats ) so we had someone sitting beside us on the aisle seat and I’m the type of person who doesn’t dare ask them to get up so we spent the whole 5hrs 40mins sitting down…
Anyways, we arrived at Doha and had about 3hrs before our next flight so weren’t stressed about rushing. When we got to our parking spot we were nowhere near the terminal so had to get on a bus which was stuffy and horrible - the 33° heat outside was more comfortable than the 10min bus ride…
What we didn’t realise (and nobody ever tells you no matter which airport) is that you have to go through security again so we had to down 2 bottles of water before we got in the queue once we finally got through we headed straight towards the huge yellow teddy bear that I had been desperate to see at least once - it’s huge! - and the Al Maha lounge (we have American Express Platinum and Priority Pass so always check to see what lounges we can use) but there was a long queue to even get upstairs so we walked the length of the airport towards our gate and the 2nd lounge. Once we got there we were given a complimentary upgrade to the Platinum and Gold lounge! The food was ok, albeit a bit bland and there wasn’t much choice… the lemon meringue pie, although far too small for my liking, was the best bit of the whole lounge but it was so quiet despite being right above the shops.
About 50mins before our flight we headed down to the gate where they were already boarding - yep… - yet another bus but this one was a lot quicker and a lot less stuffy… once we finally took off it was a quick 30mins before we landed in Abu Dhabi…
Once we got through passport control (don’t believe them when they send you to the automatic gates but you’ve never been before), put our hand luggage through yet another scanner and picked up our suitcase we booked an Uber and made our way outside to wait.
The drive was interesting to say the least… it was very weird being driven down inner city roads that we wouldn’t be allowed down any faster than 50kmh/30mph except here they’re allowed to do 80kmh if not more but the roads are huge, like America-huge, and they drive however they like, but after about 5 Uber rides you could say we’re used to it now!
Once we got to the hotel our luggage was quickly whisked away, we checked in and went upstairs to our room. Just after our luggage appeared the phone rang and the lady at reception asked if we wanted a different room because she had just realised we had asked for a room on a high floor away from the lifts and we were right behind them. So within minutes the concierge was back, whisked our bags away again and followed us to our new room 3 floors up...
Once we freshened up we decided to go for a walk around the grounds and have a nosy at the marina and restaurants that were still open (the hotel has 9(!) restaurants/cafes). We were originally going to get something to eat at the Belgian Cafe but they never asked about food so we figured the kitchen had already closed, just had a drink each and then headed back up to the room. As IHG gold members we get 25% off food and beverages here, including alcohol and room service, so even though we still paid about €18 for 2 drinks (a beer and an ice tea - the non-Long-Island type) it was better than paying €24 although the Scot in me was screaming away in her head at the prices!
Room service is available 24/7 so we decided to order a butter chicken wrap and a club sandwich, both of which came with chips, which we didn’t realise... they were both really good, although I preferred the club sandwich because the chicken in the wrap still had the skin on which gives me the heebie jeebies - there’s the Scot again - they weren’t the cheapest but it was worth it at 12:30 at night...
We had the Observation Deck booked for the next day at 12pm so set the alarm for 10am and despite waking up once at 5am, we were both actually still asleep when the alarm went off but to be fair we hadn’t gone to bed until 2am and we’re missing two small children so that helped...
It’s taken me the last 30mins to write that so day 2 will have to wait until tomorrow to be posted because it’s now 1:10am again, Stefan is lying beside me snoring his head off and I’m absolutely knackered so night all!
I was planning on making a travel day video but I’ve not got around to editing it yet so I might post it tomorrow... oh, and I forgot to take pictures of the food until I had practically finished eating...
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