We’re knocking off a big bucket list destination this trip and it’s a long journey to get there. Our journey takes us to two new countries on the other side of the world. We booked this trip about a year ago and through that time we’ve received the occasional flight time change notice. Our flight was booked through points and when we went to check in for our flight to Chicago, the first leg of this trip we were unable to. Realizing something wasn’t right Z quickly called the airline only to find out that with the last flight change the points company forgot to issue us new tickets. Enter panic and stress mode for me…not getting to Chicago would mess up this entire adventure. After an hour on hold Z finally got confirmation that our tickets were reissued, and we were checked and all was good again.
Early morning wake up doesn’t bother me as much when it’s to catch a flight….otherwise early mornings and I don’t get along very well. Our flight to Chicago left at 8:30am, so we had to be at the airport a couple hours prior. We were travelling during spring break and while traffic at the airport and the normal check in lines were quite busy, we breezed through security and US immigration. Our 4 hour flight was pretty uneventful with only some slight turbulence around Chicago. We had a fairly long 6 hour lay over, yet we didn’t quite feel it was enough time to head into town for sightseeing after factoring in travel time and reclearing security so we just hung out at the airport. After a fairly unorganized and chaotic boarding process we were settled into our seats for the 14 hour flight to Abu Dhabi on Etihad’s Airbus 350. We chose to redeem points for business class knowing we’d want to try and have a more comfortable sleep with the lay flat seats. It was the right choice and we both got a reasonable amount of restful sleep for an airplane. The seats even had privacy doors that when closed felt like you were in a pod. The flight crew was very hospitable and their service was top notch.
We landed in Abu Dhabi around 7:30pm local time, got through immigration/passport control fairly quickly; they take a photo of you and scan your fingerprints. Then we passed through a security check that scanned our carry on bags. Our checked bags were already on the carousel when we got to baggage claim; very efficient and quick service. From there we wandered through the airport to find our car rental and then set out for our hour-ish drive to Dubai. We were warned about the very strict driving laws in UAE and especially the photo radar system on their roadways and that in Abu Dhabi that you’d get a ticket even if going only 1km/hour over the speed limit. Seems like the locals though may not care as much and we’re speeding passed us on numerous occasions. The highway system was first class with well paved roads, usually at least 5 lanes in either direction and with trucks required to stay in the two furthest most right hand lanes. Highway speed limit for cars ranged from 100km/hour to 140km/hour and trucks were limited to 80km/hour. A lot of the highways and other roadways are tolled which likely go to maintenance. We noticed that there was vast open desert space along that highway to Dubai and could see multiple new developments under construction with cranes dotting the sky line and it seems like every new tower is built taller that the next. The number of shopping plazas lining the highway was mind blowing. Everything just felt taller, grander, and bigger in UAE.
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