The Journey to Abu Dhabi

The last two days of my life have been quite hectic with this new trip, so I was unable to write my blog yesterday on arrival in Abu Dhabi. Because of this, my entry today will be especially long, covering the time from my departure to the end of the first full day in Abu Dhabi.

My lengthy and exhausting journey to Abu Dhabi began two days ago, in the relatively small TF Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island. We were initially told that our flight to Washington Dulles airport was delayed by 15 minutes. We thought nothing of it, so we went to Dunkin Donuts, where I had a nice, refreshing hot chocolate. On our arrival to the gate, we discovered that the flight was delayed by ninety minutes. This gave us quite some anxiety, as we were only scheduled to have two hours to connect in Washington. Once we finally boarded the cramped, propellor-powered plane, our worry increased because we were told the bathroom on board was clogged, further delaying the flight. We also later found out that the reason for the initial ninety minute delay was that a flight attendant was "unhappy" and did not want to go to work on Christmas Day.

Thankfully, the United Airlines flight attendants knew that we, along with many other people, were making tight connections. They allowed us off of the plane with the first groups of people at the end of the ninety-minute flight.

The moment we exited the plane at 5:25, the race was on. We had to run through the massive Dulles airport to catch our 5:55 flight to Kuwait. International flights typically close their gates 15 minutes before departure, so we only truly had 15 minutes. As we ran through the airport, we saw that a few other people had unfortunately missed their connecting flights. Once we finally arrive at the gate after 11 minutes of running and train riding, we were greeted by the gate attendants who informed us there we had plenty of time. We took this as a sign that we had made it and began to enter the plane.

After entering and taking a seat in the massive Boeing 777 that would take us to Kuwait, it was 5:45. We had made it safely in time for departure. One thing we did notice was that the plane was old, uncomfortable and slowly falling apart. We soon discovered that the reason the plane hadn't departed yet was a "hydraulic leak"  that the crew had found. After waiting 40 minutes, it was announced that we would be changing planes, eventually departing at 8PM.

This delay didnt bother us as much, because the layover in Kuwait was originally scheduled to be 3 hours. We'd still have a full hour to connect. The new plane was  definitely newer and more comfortable. The 12 hour flight to Kuwait was the longest and most turbulent one I have ever been on. Finally entering the Kuwaiti airport was a relief from the chilly, turbulent flight.

After a final one hour flight to Abu Dhabi, we cleared customs and immigration to discover that one of our bags went missing in transit. All they could do was take our address, so we drove to the house we were staying with our friends at and after a nice Indian dinner, we promptly fell asleep.

We spent our first day in Abu Dhabi, today, sightseeing in the city with our friends Mary and Jacob (and their son) who now live in Abu Dhabi . On the half an hour drive to the downtown area, we passed by the incredible grand mosque, larger than the Taj Mahal. Our first stop was a small informational museum on Saadiyat Island. The museum's exhibition was about the incredibly ambitious projects planned for the massive artificial island by the year 2030. New branches of the Louvre, Guggenheim Museum, and British Museum were all part of the huge plan.

Next, we took a short ride to the port area to see the impressive indoor fish market, full of fresh fish and their merchants. The next part of our plan was to enter the incredibly expensive Emirates Palace Hotel for a tour, but because I was wearing shorts, we weren't allowed inside. Despite this small problem, we were still able to get impressive views of the hotel, as well as the nearby Etihad Towers.

Before we had a small lunch at the Marina Mall, we stopped by the Arabic Heritage Village. Here, we got to experience a bit of traditional nomadic Arabic culture. I find it amazing how they found a way to manage such a hot climate so comfortably.

After lunch, I went jet skiing for the first time in my life. I spent about one hour in the Abu Dhabi lagoon after departing from a small marina behind the fish market. I was incredibly surprised by the remarkable speeds the jet ski could attain. I think the fastest I went was about a ninety kilometers per hour. Speeding through the lagoon with a view of the Abu Dhabi skyline and the beautiful desert sunset was quite a thrilling and enjoyable experience. I did get soaked, but the warm desert sun made it comfortable until we got back to land and the sun had set. The seemingly freezing feeling after the ride was certainly worth the incredibly fun and thrilling experience.

For dinner, we ate at a traditional Lebanese restaurant where we ordered a 1.5kg tray of assorted meats for our six person group. The beef, lamb, and chicken appetizers from the dish were the tastiest I have had in my entire life. I have always been a fan of middle-eastern food, but I had never actually had the real, authentic stuff until now. Before we returned home to plan the rest of our UAE trip, we made a quick stop at a local mall (that felt exactly like an American one) for some small things and groceries.

Tomorrow, we will most likely go on the exciting desert safari after visiting the Grand Mosque. On Friday, we'll go to Dubai where we'll spend the majority of the remainder of the trip. So far, this has been the most unique country I've visited and I'm sure that after a few days, I won't want to go home. I'm sorry I didn't upload any photos yet, as it's past midnight, so I'll try to get them uploaded by tomorrow morning. Until then, I'll finally catch up on some needed sleep.