Day 1
After what felt like half a lifetime, it was finally time to set off for another adventure and arguably the biggest one yet. I had set the alarm for 5:00 AM, but I ended up waking up an hour earlier. At 4:45 I gave up. I got up and started to get ready. Graham got up when the alarm went off. While he got ready, I took the rubbish out. Shortly after I got back, I got a text that the driver had arrived. He had arrived about 15 minutes early. We were ready to go so we headed downstairs.
We had a clear run to the airport. When we got there, the check in desks were not even open. They opened shortly afterwards. Check in was smooth and quick. My suitcase was about a pound over the weight limit, but that was no issue. I was pretty impressive by this skillful packing. Graham had some weight to spare. They also weighed our hand luggage and this passed muster.
Once we had checked in, we went through security. This was pretty quiet as security at Manchester airport goes. They have got a lot stricter. Essentially everything had to go in a different tray. Graham had his camera bag as his personal item and they asked him to take the camera out. I had my camera in my handbag and that had already gone through towards the x-ray machine. I said to Graham that this would go to secondary screening. I set off the metal detector with my hair clip. Once they had finished with me, I noticed that my handbag had indeed gone to secondary screening. There was quite a long line for this and all of the people in front of me had liquids, creams or gels in their hand luggage. There was a group traveling together and they all had an assortment of toiletries in their hand luggage. One of them had two bags that attracted attention. When the member of staff asked him if he had liquids, creams or gels in that bag, too, he replied that he just had some toothpaste in that bag. Eventually it was my turn. It was not actually my camera that attracted attention, but my iPhone. They just checked if there were some chemicals on it and then I was on my way.
We still had plenty of time until we would have to go to the gate. So we headed to Giraffe for some breakfast. We both had some orange juice. Graham had a large Americano and I had a large Cappuccino. Graham had steak, eggs and breakfast potatoes. I had the pulled beef brisket skillet, which consisted of pulled beef brisket, potatoes, peppers, onions and a fried egg. It was very tasty and definitely hit the spot. While we were enjoying our breakfast, we saw our plane come in.
After breakfast, we went over to our gate. I checked my emails and then spent some time catching up on Facebook. We also saw the Emirates A380 come in. Soon afterwards, they started to board. We were in the first boarding group, but there was some delay as they were waiting for somebody in a wheelchair to arrive to board first.
We were in the last row by the window. The last few rows on a Boeing 777 only have two seats by the window. This was perfect for us. This was our first experience flying Etihad and I have to say, I was impressed. We had some amazing cabin crew. The cabin looks a little nondescript, but the seats were comfortable. One thing I really liked is that the bottom of the pillow can be torn apart so that it becomes a neck pillow. The entertainment system is not quite as good as what I am used to, but it was still very good.
We had a pleasant first leg of the flight. Once we had reached cruising altitude, they served drinks. I had some Coke and Graham had a glass of red wine and some water. Shortly afterwards, we had some cold towels followed by lunch and another drinks service. We got coleslaw and a bread roll. Graham had some lamb curry with rice and green beans. I had Chicken Forestier with mash and roasted carrots. As airline food goes, this was pretty nice. The standout dish so was the blueberry and vanilla cheesecake, which may well have been the nicest I have ever tasted.
We missed the coffee as Graham had stretched his legs and I used the bathroom when they came round. We did have some water a little later. I was kind of surprised that they did not serve an afternoon snack. I spent the flight watching two films. Manchester by the Sea was kind of strange, but I still enjoyed it. I rather enjoyed Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. I also had a nap at one stage. We were lucky that it was clear from when we flew over the Black Sea until we nearly reached the Persian Gulf. We were treated to some stunning scenery. I also worked on this installment of the trip report.
The last 45 minutes or so were a little bumpy. We arrived into Abu Dhabi a little ahead of schedule. However, taxiing to the terminal seemed to take forever and once we were finally there, it took a while until the doors were open. The distances involved at Abu Dhabi airport to get from one place to the other are comparable to Dubai International Airport. Eventually we made it to the security checkpoint and this was very quiet. We got directed to a line straightaway and there were only a couple of people in front of us.
When we got through security, we walked through the duty free area to the gate. I was pretty happy about this as I was looking for something. I did not have to look for long. I spotted the Pandora shop straightaway. I have a bracelet that I am filling up with charms that have a special meaning to me and are mainly related to travel. They have a charm that is exclusive to the UAE, which is an Arabic coffee pot. I really wanted this, as this would have been a perfect way of commemorating my time of Emirates. Pandora does a plane charm, but I have never liked this. When I got there, there was nobody in the shop. I had a look around if I could see a member of staff anywhere near, but could not spot anybody. I had a quick look at the displays to see if they had what I was looking for, but could not see the Arabian coffee pot either. So we pushed on towards the gate, which was not much further.
We found some seats and shortly after we sat down, we were approached by a member of staff and offered a “discounted” upgrade. Now, from my time working at Emirates, I knew that those last minute upgrades tend to be great value. So I was interested in what they were offering. The amount quoted was twice what I had expected and we politely declined. Once the member of staff had left, I went to use the bathroom and to find somewhere to get something to drink. The second part proved easier said than done. That is definitely one area where I prefer Dubai International airport. The layout of the departure lounge is more logical. I had seen signs for a food court earlier and this is where I headed. There was a sports bar and various fast food outlets there, but no coffee shops. In the end, I asked the member of staff at the henna tattoo stall if she knew where the closest coffee shop was and she pointed me in the right direction. This was tucked away in a corner behind the area where you come through security. I would never have found this on my own. To get there, I had to walk past the Pandora shop again and this time somebody was there. So I decided to pop in to see if maybe they did have he charm I wanted after all. Unfortunately I was out of luck. I then walked over to Costa Coffee and got a Double Chocolate Frostino for me and a Blueberry Cheesecake Frostino for Graham. Then I headed back to the gate.
We enjoyed our drinks and I made good use of the free Wi-Fi catching up on emails and on Facebook. Graham headed to the bathroom at some stage and while he was away, they made an announcement for people to go through a pre-screening process. Graham arrived back shortly afterwards, but as the line was huge, we decided to stay put until the line had gone down. Once the end of the line approached where we were sitting, we gathered up our stuff and got in line. We first had to go to a desk where a member of staff checked our passports and boarding passes. There was a bit of a backlog for the next area so we had a really nice chat with her while we waited. She used to be cabin crew for Etihad and Sydney was her favourite destination. A few minutes later we were called to the next check point. They had tables set up there and did a manual search of the hand luggage. I think what came as a surprise to everybody was that they were confiscating any liquids over 100ml at this point. People had been buying drinks to take on the plane after they cleared security and all of this was confiscated. I did not see any warnings about this and it was obvious from the number of bottles that were confiscated that nobody else had either. We were OK as we had drunk the drinks we purchased and soon we were on our way again and were able to head straight for the plane. I had wondered what happened to people who have purchased duty free and I soon got my answer. This was waiting by the entrance to the air bridge just like this is the case in Orlando.
We got on the plane and found our seats. I had hoped that we would have the block of three seats in which our seats were to ourselves, but when we got to our seats, the second aisle seat was taken. However, the plane did not look particularly full and we were one of the last people in line. Graham was hoping that there may be a spare window row, but they soon had somebody sitting in them and the rows in front and behind us also ended up with one person sitting in each. So that put paid to that plan. However, there was only one person in the row in front of us and when a member of cabin crew came by, the lady sitting next to us asked if she could move and moved to the row in front of us. This worked great for us. I moved to the second aisle seat and we had the middle seat to spare.
We ended up leaving with about an hour delay as the last people got on quite late and then we had missed our slot. Our captain kept us updated, which was a nice touch. Once we were at cruising altitude, we were offered drinks and this was followed shortly afterwards by dinner. I had some water and a glass of white wine and Graham had water and some red wine. We both chose the spicy chicken, which was not particular spicy, but was very tasty. I was a Chinese-style dish. It also came with a mixed bean salad, a bread roll and rice pudding with jam for dessert. I was a little disappointed in dessert, but enjoyed the rest of the meal.
After dinner, I asked Graham to get my fleece blanket and the medium tsum tsum that I use as a pillow on flights from my hand luggage for me. I wrapped up and watched Moana. This was the first time I had seen this and really enjoyed it. I did stay awake for the duration of the film, but when it was over, I was definitely ready for some sleep. I set myself a play list for some background music and to filter out any noise. They had quite a good selection of songs from musicals and Disney songs so I was happy. I then settled down and fell asleep almost straightaway.