Etihad Airways & Abu Dhabi

After spending a day in London it was time to head back to Heathrow and prepare to my next leg of journey, this time flyin with Etihad from London to Abu Dhabi where I would spend a full, 14hr stop-over and havin a chance to visit the city itself. The plane itself looked very nice, I had never been on a plane this size. Found my seat that I had booked back home and started waitin will someone be sittin next to me or could I enjoy both seat by myself. For awhile there was one aussie bloke sittin next to me but after awhile he moved to the front section of plane since there was lot of space so I got both seats to myself. Dunno what I was really feelin at the time plane departed Heathrow, this would be my last sight of Europe at least for a year, I was kinda happy but also a bit sad.

..even a steel cutlery at Etihad..

I gotta give good credits for Etihad, service level was great and food itself was very good for a plane meal, no complaints about that. I started watchin True Grit from my e-box but started feelin a bit tired cause hadn’t really slept in two days - I couldn’t get any sleep the night before my travel from Turku to Helsinki.. I reckon I slept or more like napped for about three hours durin my flight so I was fairly tired when plane landed to Abu Dhabi the next morning. Sight of the city was fairly nice from up in the air. First thing that struck me was that people didn’t really feel that friendly or customer orientated or maybe it’s just the custom of the country. I was tryin to find a luggage storage for my bag but apparently airport didn’t have one so I’d have to carry my bag with me the whole day, damn.. I found my way to passport check and wasn’t quite sure what should I do since there was a visa counter next to it but I got thru in few minutes, bloke just said to me that you’re not from Asia so you’re alright. First stamp to my passport, neat.

my documents we're never checked when boarding plane to Australia..

Found my way to the bus stop in front of the airport but no bus nor signs anywhere.. I saw an older lady who was on the same flight comin to the stop as well and asked if she knew about the bus, apparently it’s supposed to leave at some point. After awhile that bloke who was sittin next to me at first in the plane came to the stop as well so it was me and two aussies waitin for bus. Reckon we waited for about 30-40mins before our bus finally arrived. That bloke was headin to hotel but that lady had same flight as me later on as me so we decided to take a wee walk in the city. At first we tried to find a map somewhere but then picked up a taxi to head for Marina Mall from where we could get a tourist bus for a tour around the city. Taxi driver tried to scam us, fare was 11.25 and at first he gave me only fiver back from 20dirham note. When I mentioned about it to him he gave me 3dirhams back and didn’t even say sorry, damn Sri Lankan.. ..what a nice introduction to Arab Emirates.. Anyway, we bought tickets for that tourist ride and headed for Marina Tower first since we we’re gonna jump off from the bus close to bus station to catch a bus back to airport. The ride itself was pretty nice, althou, every time we stopped I felt like I was melting, reckon temperature was about +27 to +30, a bit different than back home.. ..but yet again I wasn’t certainly gonna complain, not this time.. Eventually we got to our stop, jumped off, exchanged some more dirhams for bus and started headin back to airport. We arrived there fairly early but yet again, I couldn’t carry my backpack anymore, that 10kg started to feel on my shoulders.. Gotta say it was nice to spend that day with someone else, we did admit that some of the people did felt a bit dodgy and this way we got more out of the day since we had someone to talk to.

It was kinda a bit of bummer cause the flight departed only about 11ish pm so I was fairly tired by then and it would be pretty late till we would get our meals. I poured down quickly three glasses of wine durin dinner hopin it would help me to get some sleep, bollocks.. Reckon I slept in first stint about 3 to 5hours althou it was pretty hard tryin to keep up with the time since we we’re headin east all the time. A wee sandwich for breakfast and another nap. About an hour later woke up again for ice cream, nice service.. For few times I was tryin to look outside what was happenin but the sun was way too bright to be able to open the blinds. Another wee nap and after started to watch rest of True Grit. Just about when I was finished with it, dinner was served, perfect timing. When we finally started to come down you could open up your blinds, what a dodgy weather, rain was pouring down.. ..not too much but still..

I couldn’t be anymore surprised how quickly I got thru customs not much really asked. At first passport check officer just asked what are my plans, when I told him that after this weekend no plans at all, just wanna explore the country response was; ‘good on ya mate, off you go, enjoy Australia’.. ..wow, wasn’t really expectin anything like that, thought I have to prove my assets and some kind of travel itinerary but nothing.. Finally got my rucksack, did few adjustments and chattin to another customs officer since I had declared that I’m bringin wooden artifacts to the country - small wooden souvenirs from Africa given to my by my friends, he only asked what they are like and didn’t even wanna see ‘em, amazing.. ..that was it, I was thru the customs.. It was just absolutely amazing to meet Adam since we hadn’t seen in about 1,5yrs. He drove to my hostel, we took few drinks and I had to head for my bed, sooooo tired..