Greetings from the Middle East! Or shall we say as-salaamu alaykom, which is an Arabic greeting meaning peace be upon you. We are so excited about beginning our blog about this new adventure we have just begun in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Last week, we were in Orlando packing and saying goodbye to our family and friends and this week, we're relaxing and exploring one of the world's most up-and-coming cities: Abu Dhabi. We arrived five days ago on August 5 after a 2.5 hour flight from Orlando to New York and then a 13 hour flight to Abu Dhabi. Coincidentally we met two other teachers in Orlando at the security check who were also moving to Abu Dhabi, Lala with her 14 year old son Luis and Becca. It was fun getting to travel with our newly-made friends. Although the flight was long, taking Etihad Airways, the country's national airline, made it much more tolerable. The food was actually good and included meals like lamb with rice and spinach-cheese ravioli. We managed to get a few hours of sleep and the movies on the back of each chair made the time pass relatively quickly. The plane was completely packed, and had about 50 other teachers making the journey with us.
We arrived at 8pm and were greeted by some airport representatives who helped all the teachers with the visa/customs process. Everything went smoothly, except one of our bags was lost for about an hour and then our bus driver got lost going to the hotel. It didn't matter though, because we had made it to Abu Dhabi and would be staying in a gorgeous 5 star hotel for the next few weeks!
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| Abu Dhabi International Airport |
Greetings from the Middle East! Or shall we say as-salaamu alaykom, which is an Arabic greeting meaning peace be upon you. We are so excited about beginning our blog about this new adventure we have just begun in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Last week, we were in Orlando packing and saying goodbye to our family and friends and this week, we're relaxing and exploring one of the world's most up-and-coming cities: Abu Dhabi. We arrived five days ago on August 5 after a 2.5 hour flight from Orlando to New York and then a 13 hour flight to Abu Dhabi. Coincidentally we met two other teachers in Orlando at the security check who were also moving to Abu Dhabi, Lala with her 14 year old son Luis and Becca. It was fun getting to travel with our newly-made friends. Although the flight was long, taking Etihad Airways, the country's national airline, made it much more tolerable. The food was actually good and included meals like lamb with rice and spinach-cheese ravioli. We managed to get a few hours of sleep and the movies on the back of each chair made the time pass relatively quickly. The plane was completely packed, and had about 50 other teachers making the journey with us.
We arrived at 8pm and were greeted by some airport representatives who helped all the teachers with the visa/customs process. Everything went smoothly, except one of our bags was lost for about an hour and then our bus driver got lost going to the hotel. It didn't matter though, because we had made it to Abu Dhabi and would be staying in a gorgeous 5 star hotel for the next few weeks! 
We are excited to read about the beautiful places in Abu Dhabi. Tell us what the food is like and what a simple meal costs there at the hotel. We are interested in everything you do.
ReplyDeleteRosemary