Blogs from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Middle East - page 4

We had planned to do a day on the Abu Dhabi big bus today, but we did not get a chance to unpack yesterday, so decide on a relaxing day doing very little. There are always plenty of loose ends to tie up and additional organisational tasks with the remainder of the trip in mind. We leave home with a set but flexible agenda. Sometimes we change the agenda at no notice at all when a potential for obvious improvement arises. We have accumulated a large pile of washing so we group it all up and send it in for the hotel laundry service. The bill for this was vast but seeing the finished products has made it a lighter blow. This is the last time we will have to do this, as the next place ... read more

After a lovely full day at the beach in Fiumocino, caught our 10.00pm flight from Rome to Abu Dhabi...we have two nights here but Mark has a 4hr layover and heads back to Melbourne. Unfortunately our friend Desmond is away in Ireland but had everything organised for us and sent a driver to pick us up from Abu Dhabi airport and whisked us to our beautiful suite at the Dusit Thani...32 degrees at 6.00a.m....lots of sand and dust in the air....waiting for us was Desmond's PA Shane to welcome us and check us in, she has been absolutely magic checking on us and making sure we are OK and booking dinner etc. We are very lucky to have been staying at the Dusit Thani, every single staff member has been exceptional, could not do enough for ... read more

We left Blighty on the 3rd March 2016 and we will arrive back in eight hours, on the 11th June 2016, which is a trip of exactly one hundred days. The journey tracker on the blog has our final mileage as 33,711 miles. In doing so, we've crossed three continents, visited eleven countries, crossed the international date line and jumped over the equator twice. It's hard to describe how it feels to be finishing the trip as thete is such a combination of emotions and thoughts: excited to be going back home, relived that everyone made it safe and well, keen to start afresh in the new home where we've only lived for six months; a small twinge of sadness that this particular adventure is finished; delight at the prospect of delicious home cooked food (especially ... read more

R: My flight from Brisbane to Abu Dhabi went as well as could be expected - 14 hours 10 minutes. The guy in the seat next to me got up and left so I had a double seat (I'm not actually sure where he went). We arrived at 6am, a bit bleary eyed and began the fun of finding a ATM that accepted MasterCard, which was right next to the taxi stand, and I only found this out, after finding another one in a different terminal and coming back. Being a single man, I got selected for extra special screening, which meant taking everything out of my backpack onto a counter and it being prodded a few times. Having seen what other people in the line of single men had, my backpack must have been pretty ... read more

We left our home in North Cowton in Yorkshire excited as we started our long journey to Perth, Australia. The sun was shining but we soon encountered storm Imogen with gale force winds and heavy rain on our train journey to Manchester Airport. Our Etihad flight from Manchester to Abu Dhabi was full and our Etihad experience was not very good. The seats were comfortable but overall the passenger space was cramped with limited leg room and width. After an early morning next day arrival in Abu Dhabi we took a 30 minute taxi drive to The Premier Inn and were very pleased to be given an early check in at 9am! After a rest and freshen up we went to visit the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque, one of the worlds largest mosques and a very ... read more