Abu Dhabi
Day 7 - 15th May 2024
"Traveling: it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” - unknown
Ring, ring, ring! Ring, ring, ring! Don’t you just love the sound of your alarms going off when you feel as if you’ve just fallen asleep… to be fair it was only about 90mins since we had considering it took both of us nearly half an hour to get to sleep.
We had some small things to pack and the stuff out the bathroom to go in the liquids bag but I nearly threw a wobbly when I walked into the bathroom and found my make up bag that still had to go in the suitcase lying there. To be honest I don’t know why I brought it because I never put make up once the whole time we were here and it’s not exactly the lightest… luckily we still had plenty of room left in the big bag but it was the weight I was more worried about…
After Stefan checked the room - I pack, he checks I’ve not missed anything - we headed downstairs to check out and then booked an Uber. When we were at the desk the concierge kidnapped our check in bags again so they were waiting outside once we had finished. Every single time we’ve booked an Uber it’s arrived within 1-4mins and even just before 3am was no exception… And 35mins later we arrived at the airport.
There were 3 lines - one for first/business, one for economy and one for passengers who had already checked in online. Although we had checked in online it wasn’t until we got to the airport that I realised we didn’t have any boarding passes - a good job I’m a travel agent and frequent flier, eh? There was a guy checking we had checked in online before letting us in the queue and he looked at our TSA lock and said “oh, that lock can easily be broken” What are you trying to tell me? That the workers downstairs or in Doha are going to break it open and steal our stuff or that I should’ve put a 2kg bike chain round my bag?!
The queue we were in was quite short compared to the economy line but it didn’t seem to go any faster. I hadn’t checked the weight of the suitcase after we had put the make up bag/cables etc in this morning so when we put it on the scale we both laughed when the screen showed exactly 25kg - the first in our lives we’ve ever handed in a bag that was exactly at the limit! The cabin trolley weighed about 6.9kg but there was no way we were squeezing anything else in there…
We headed to passport control and this time successfully managed to get through the e-gates and then it was time for security… the good thing in Abu Dhabi and Doha is that you don’t have to take your electronics out your bag (Doha only wants liquids out the bag) but despite loads of signs saying liquids over 100ml are banned we were shocked to see a child’s bottle full of what looked like Coke going through security and on the other side we spotted a man with a 1.5L bottle of water in his bag.
At security I quickly noticed that there were no women at the other side but I soon found out that if you’re female and you beep, you get sent into a little booth where the female security is hiding. But all she checked was my bra and within about 10s I was back and waiting for our bags to appear.
When I had checked Abu Dhabi before we left Berlin, I hadn’t found any lounges we could use our Priority Passes in so we were happy to see we could get in the Pearl Lounge right behind security. At this point it was just about 4am so we weren’t really in the mood for eating but I still tried the dal makani and the Turkish beef moussaka (which was more stew than like the moussaka we know) which were both really good. It was definitely a lot better quality than the lounge we had been in in Doha last week…
We only stayed in the lounge for about 20mins before a quick stop in the souvenir shop and then it was off to our gate. Once we got on the plane we realised that our seats didn’t have a window - not brilliant for someone who loves taking pictures while in the air… so if you’re ever on a QR B737-8 MAX don’t book seat 9A.
The flight is only scheduled for 1h 5mins but within minutes of taking off the crew were coming up the aisle with a little box, a croissant and a drink for each passenger. The box had melon, grapes, cheese cubes with sun-dried tomatoes and olives and mango yoghurt in it (although for mango yoghurt it had an awful lot of passion fruit seeds in it). I hadn’t even gotten around to drinking my water yet when the announcement was made that we had to start getting the cabin ready for landing… by the time the crew started clearing up we were 10mins away from Doha and they were telling us to put our tray tables away before they had even taken the rubbish away.
Landed in Doha and had to be bussed to the terminal again but this time we had space to breath and the air con was actually on. 10mins later we arrived at the terminal at the same time as about what felt like 500 other flights and just as we were about to get in the security queue they closed the lane so we had to walk the length of the building to get into the next one. We already had everything ready, watches, hats, sunglasses off and in our bags and liquids out but we got stuck behind a Chinese group who still had bottles of water from the plane… The lady at security tried her best to tell them that they couldn’t take their bottles and they handed them over but the eldest lady had her own bottle full and kept trying to ask the non-Chinese-speaking security lady what to do and she asked her to wait but the wee lady was too impatient and suddenly disappeared with her bottle and left her bags lying on the floor. When the security lady looked up and saw us standing in front of her she started looking for the wee lady so we told her she had gone and we just ended up all laughing and saying it was going to be a long day! We never did find out where she went or if she came back…
Because we were prepared for security we got through with no problems and headed straight for the lounge but like last week the south one (which is right at the entrance after security) was queued out downstairs so we headed straight to the north one. No complimentary upgrade to the platinum lounge this week and it was a pain trying to find a seat because it’s so full but I’m not complaining when you get free food and drink and a bit of peace before the flight…
After breakfast nr 3 (a spring onion and mushroom omelette with potato wedges) we walked down to our gate - we could’ve taken the monorail but 1) you know where the one and only monorail is, 2) we’re sitting for the next 6hrs and 3) we had to get our steps up for our challenge… I’m already over 7500 and it’s only 07:50 Doha time. We got to the gate to find hardly any seats but when we went through the 1st boarding pass check there were plenty of them so we’re now sitting waiting on boarding which should be in about 5mins, if it’s on time that is…
I’ve been writing today’s blog as I go along so it might be a bit higgledy-piggledy, but which of my blogs hasn’t been?
Update… it’s now 08:10 and we’ve still not started boarding. Good job we didn’t rush to get here half an hour early! 08:20 still nothing except a load of people standing right in front of the door as if the plane might leave without them and a family with two little children complaining they need the toilet and there’s none here… 08:25 and we’re finally boarding!
Finally on the plane but all of the windows are tinted so it feels soooo claustrophobic just now, plus the air con is minimal and it’s roasting which also doesn’t help…
What is it with people who have to use the arm rest in front of them as a ledge for their feet? Their naked feet!?!? I literally lifted my arm and realised there was a foot there so I moved it back and it’s gone again but seriously? If you want to put your feet up, go outside and find a sun lounger! Next up on the rant list are the people who have to fly their seats right back 2mins into the flight – aaah! Did I mention my screen that wouldn’t work? Luckily I was able to get it reset and it seems to work so fingers crossed I can get my headphones to connect now and I can watch something (which didn’t work because I couldn’t hear anything so I resorted to my Bluetooth connector which isn’t perfect but better than the airline headphones that are useless)… I really need to sleep though because I get really agitated when I’m this tired and I’ve already bitten Stefan’s head off twice - note to you all, never fly with me!
We left Doha just after 9am, so about 10-15mins delayed, but they didn’t start with the food and drinks service until 90mins into the flight and even then it took 30mins before it got to us 15 rows back because the girl was on her own. The choices were chicken and rice, Spanish tortilla with chicken/apple sausage and gnocchi with tomato sauce and aubergine. The food was ok, my gnocchi better than Stefan’s tortilla… we both wish we had ordered the Asian vegetarian meals again but by the time we realised it was too late. The dry roll with no butter was pretty pointless. The only thing that made it was the dulce de leche cheesecake. The poor crew must definitely be stressed because Stefan ordered vodka orange and she handed him soda water with it and I asked for a (virgin) mango Bellini and she gave me mango juice with ginger ale which is actually quite nice!
After dinner the feet were back and home just as quick again (between me and Stefan as well as I’ve just found out)… I watched Downton Abbey: A New Era but fell asleep towards the end (probably a good job because I don’t like the end - you’ll know what I mean if you’ve seen it - no spoiler announcements here…) and then watched 2 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy. Just enjoying the last things I can watch in peace on a plane before we fly to America in September with the boys.
We’ve just started our descent into Berlin so it’s officially the end of our adults-only Abu Dhabi adventure but we’re looking forward to seeing mum and Jack (our youngest) when they pick us up and then we’re going to surprise Conor at Kindergarten. He knows we’re coming home today but has no idea we’ll be there to get him so I can’t wait to see his wee face!
That’s all from me until September unless we book something at last minute!
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