Abu Dhabi TimeWhat a long trip! Thank goodness next time I do it, I will be able to select my own itinerary. I knew when I saw my schedule, it was going to take me a while to get to Abu Dhabi, but I had no idea! I was scheduled to leave at 6:50pm on August 9, my birthday. My first layover would be Chicago, for about two hours. Then I would be flying to Amman, Jordan where I would have an hour and half layover, then continue to Abu Dhabi. Let's just say I never saw Jordan.
Our flight out of Atlanta (on an American Airlines puddle-jumper) was delayed for over two hours. By the time we got to Chicago and ran to our next gate, which was a six mile hike followed by a train train ride away in the International terminal, our flight on Royal Jordanian had already left. As we approached the ticket counter for Royal Jordanian, something happened that left our group of 13 standing there in awe. It was 9:59pm as we approached the counter. The man saw our group coming and literally shut the lights out on us and said he could not help us and we needed to go visit American Airlines. WHHHAAAAT???
We had to catch the train and hike the 6 miles back to the domestic ticketing where, get this, the people at American Airlines, who had apparently just clocked out, saw us coming and literally ran to get away before we approached them with any questions. We were not expecting them to go clock back in and restart computers - just tell us where we needed to go to speak to someone. They would not even make eye contact with us, or even stop when we called out "Excuse me..." to them. Totally unprofessional and a horrible example of "Americans". We eventually wandered to baggage claim where there was a baggage claim worker who worked her tail off to get someone to get us discount vouchers to a hotel.
Our hotel was about 35minutes from the airport. Our voucher was supposed to get us 50% off. We paid $71 out of pocket, but there was NO WAY this was a $142 room to begin with. Bug in my bed. Spider in my tub. Weak cell reception. No free continental breakfast, not even coffee was free. While I was stranded outside Chicago, I already felt as if I were in a foreign country.
Long story short, when we missed our flight we were rebooked automatically to leave at 6:10pm the next night, fly to London for a 1.5 hour layover, then get on British Airways to Abu Dhabi.
After spending way too long at a crappy hotel, we left and spent way too long at a crappy airport. Finally it was time to go! I boarded the flight to be seated next to a confused Indian lady, who spoke very little English, who thought her sister was going to sit next to her. I showed her my ticket for my seat and she started bawling. I sat down in my seat anyway. Teeheehee.. Ain't nobody got time for that!!! I would have switched a window seat for a window seat so they could sit together, but the other seat was the middle seat in a row of 5. Heck Naw! Eventually a man in that row switched the crying lady seats and sat next to me. He kept telling me "funny stories". They all started by him saying "Funny Story", followed by about 2 sentences. Turns out these were neither funny, nor were they actually stories. Example: Him: "Funny story. I bought my daughter a house. Not sure if she is going to stay there or sell it.". Me: Nervous laugh, divert eyes to look out the window.
Eight hours later we landed in London where it was 9am. Already messing with my clock because we left Chicago in the evening, and now it's morning and I did not sleep on the flight. We got our stuff and headed to get on a bus to the next terminal. When we got there we got in line where they checked our boarding passes and passports. When the guy scanned mine, he told me I had been automatically upgraded to premier economy. I had no idea what that meant, but SCORE!!! No one else in my group was upgraded. Maybe it was my blue eyes, or the way I said "Ello Gubnah" in my best accent to him. It may have been because I politely complained at check in about the treatment at the airport by the night crew. I don't know why, I just know it was a HUGE blessing.
So now in London, we go through another security checkpoint where nearly everyone in our group had something come up as suspicious, which meant a human check of our bags. I got through first and went to see where our gate was on the reader board. Next to our gate it said "Boarding". No way! We told the agents to search quickly because our flight to Abu Dhabi was already boarding! The agents took some more precious time.. and more precious time. I went and looked at the reader board again while some of my group continued to wait for their turn to have their bags searched.. The reader board now said "Gate Closing".. WHAAATTT?!?!?! I did what any normal person would do. I sprinted to the gate. It was like a two mile sprint. As I came down the home stretch I saw an employee standing in a clearly empty terminal. I started yelling for her to wait. As I approached the ticket counter, I once again, did as any normal person would do. I threw my body on top of the ticket counter and laid there huffing and puffing and trying to explain there were more people behind me and they can't let the plane leave. Trying to gain sympathy I huffed and puffed about being left overnight in Chicago and even played the "there are women and children" card. They held the plane!!! I was sweating like a sinner in church, and still hadn't caught my breath, but I boarded the plane. I found my premier economy seat - Turns out it was like a domestic business class! Wide seats, footstool recliner chair, and they handed me a lunch menu when I sat down! Not only that, my section was empty, including the seat next to me! It turned out to be a great flight, until I saw my friend Jennifer sitting in coach. It was soooo tiny and crowded. The girl in front of her had her seat reclined and the little TV was now like 4 inches from Jennifer's face. I told her to come sit by me. We weren't sure if anyone would fuss, but no one did! Seven hours and I landed in Abu Dhabi! All my luggage made it too! One duffle was partially unzipped with things sticking out of it - I believe I lost a slipper shoe out of it, but that was about all I noticed. We got our retinal scan, and visa stamps, and came to the hotel. Finally I arrived at my new home for the next three weeks or so, the Beach Rotana hotel. At this point I hadn't slept since Chicago, so my guess was about 30 hours ago. My friend, Candle, had arrived a day or two earlier and we were put in the same hotel! As soon as I could get internet, I sent her a message and she came to my room. It was about 11:00 at night, but I wasn't tired. We decided to go to the Abu Dhabi mall, which is connected to the hotel!
It is important to note that it is Ramadan here, meaning you do not eat or drink in public between sun up and sun down. Even the mall closes during that time. The mall re-opens around 7:00pm and doesn't close until 1am.
Candle and I went with a couple other girls, one of which I had met at a meet and greet before we left. It was so nice to have so many familiar faces to greet me upon arrival! At the food court, it was mostly American food.. I was actually disappointed in this, but we went and ordered pizza, which was amazing! We ran into some more people we knew and sat down in a group of about 10 of us and ate. Then we went and shopped. Around 2am, I finally got back to my room. I got a whole 4 hours of sleep before meeting friends for breakfast and going to Orientation at 9am. I think I did myself a favor by not sleeping on the flights. When I finally went to bed at night, I slept fine and have felt fine ever since. I was ready for my first full day in Abu Dhabi!!
Our flight out of Atlanta (on an American Airlines puddle-jumper) was delayed for over two hours. By the time we got to Chicago and ran to our next gate, which was a six mile hike followed by a train train ride away in the International terminal, our flight on Royal Jordanian had already left. As we approached the ticket counter for Royal Jordanian, something happened that left our group of 13 standing there in awe. It was 9:59pm as we approached the counter. The man saw our group coming and literally shut the lights out on us and said he could not help us and we needed to go visit American Airlines. WHHHAAAAT???
We had to catch the train and hike the 6 miles back to the domestic ticketing where, get this, the people at American Airlines, who had apparently just clocked out, saw us coming and literally ran to get away before we approached them with any questions. We were not expecting them to go clock back in and restart computers - just tell us where we needed to go to speak to someone. They would not even make eye contact with us, or even stop when we called out "Excuse me..." to them. Totally unprofessional and a horrible example of "Americans". We eventually wandered to baggage claim where there was a baggage claim worker who worked her tail off to get someone to get us discount vouchers to a hotel.
Our hotel was about 35minutes from the airport. Our voucher was supposed to get us 50% off. We paid $71 out of pocket, but there was NO WAY this was a $142 room to begin with. Bug in my bed. Spider in my tub. Weak cell reception. No free continental breakfast, not even coffee was free. While I was stranded outside Chicago, I already felt as if I were in a foreign country.
Long story short, when we missed our flight we were rebooked automatically to leave at 6:10pm the next night, fly to London for a 1.5 hour layover, then get on British Airways to Abu Dhabi.
After spending way too long at a crappy hotel, we left and spent way too long at a crappy airport. Finally it was time to go! I boarded the flight to be seated next to a confused Indian lady, who spoke very little English, who thought her sister was going to sit next to her. I showed her my ticket for my seat and she started bawling. I sat down in my seat anyway. Teeheehee.. Ain't nobody got time for that!!! I would have switched a window seat for a window seat so they could sit together, but the other seat was the middle seat in a row of 5. Heck Naw! Eventually a man in that row switched the crying lady seats and sat next to me. He kept telling me "funny stories". They all started by him saying "Funny Story", followed by about 2 sentences. Turns out these were neither funny, nor were they actually stories. Example: Him: "Funny story. I bought my daughter a house. Not sure if she is going to stay there or sell it.". Me: Nervous laugh, divert eyes to look out the window.
Eight hours later we landed in London where it was 9am. Already messing with my clock because we left Chicago in the evening, and now it's morning and I did not sleep on the flight. We got our stuff and headed to get on a bus to the next terminal. When we got there we got in line where they checked our boarding passes and passports. When the guy scanned mine, he told me I had been automatically upgraded to premier economy. I had no idea what that meant, but SCORE!!! No one else in my group was upgraded. Maybe it was my blue eyes, or the way I said "Ello Gubnah" in my best accent to him. It may have been because I politely complained at check in about the treatment at the airport by the night crew. I don't know why, I just know it was a HUGE blessing.
So now in London, we go through another security checkpoint where nearly everyone in our group had something come up as suspicious, which meant a human check of our bags. I got through first and went to see where our gate was on the reader board. Next to our gate it said "Boarding". No way! We told the agents to search quickly because our flight to Abu Dhabi was already boarding! The agents took some more precious time.. and more precious time. I went and looked at the reader board again while some of my group continued to wait for their turn to have their bags searched.. The reader board now said "Gate Closing".. WHAAATTT?!?!?! I did what any normal person would do. I sprinted to the gate. It was like a two mile sprint. As I came down the home stretch I saw an employee standing in a clearly empty terminal. I started yelling for her to wait. As I approached the ticket counter, I once again, did as any normal person would do. I threw my body on top of the ticket counter and laid there huffing and puffing and trying to explain there were more people behind me and they can't let the plane leave. Trying to gain sympathy I huffed and puffed about being left overnight in Chicago and even played the "there are women and children" card. They held the plane!!! I was sweating like a sinner in church, and still hadn't caught my breath, but I boarded the plane. I found my premier economy seat - Turns out it was like a domestic business class! Wide seats, footstool recliner chair, and they handed me a lunch menu when I sat down! Not only that, my section was empty, including the seat next to me! It turned out to be a great flight, until I saw my friend Jennifer sitting in coach. It was soooo tiny and crowded. The girl in front of her had her seat reclined and the little TV was now like 4 inches from Jennifer's face. I told her to come sit by me. We weren't sure if anyone would fuss, but no one did! Seven hours and I landed in Abu Dhabi! All my luggage made it too! One duffle was partially unzipped with things sticking out of it - I believe I lost a slipper shoe out of it, but that was about all I noticed. We got our retinal scan, and visa stamps, and came to the hotel. Finally I arrived at my new home for the next three weeks or so, the Beach Rotana hotel. At this point I hadn't slept since Chicago, so my guess was about 30 hours ago. My friend, Candle, had arrived a day or two earlier and we were put in the same hotel! As soon as I could get internet, I sent her a message and she came to my room. It was about 11:00 at night, but I wasn't tired. We decided to go to the Abu Dhabi mall, which is connected to the hotel!
It is important to note that it is Ramadan here, meaning you do not eat or drink in public between sun up and sun down. Even the mall closes during that time. The mall re-opens around 7:00pm and doesn't close until 1am.
Candle and I went with a couple other girls, one of which I had met at a meet and greet before we left. It was so nice to have so many familiar faces to greet me upon arrival! At the food court, it was mostly American food.. I was actually disappointed in this, but we went and ordered pizza, which was amazing! We ran into some more people we knew and sat down in a group of about 10 of us and ate. Then we went and shopped. Around 2am, I finally got back to my room. I got a whole 4 hours of sleep before meeting friends for breakfast and going to Orientation at 9am. I think I did myself a favor by not sleeping on the flights. When I finally went to bed at night, I slept fine and have felt fine ever since. I was ready for my first full day in Abu Dhabi!!
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