Transit at the Abu Dhabi International Airport

I arrived at Abu Dhabi at the stroke of midnight. I had to wait for my flight transit which was at 7:30 am. 7 hours to spend in the airport... I had read feedback on the internet about the airport. Smoky, no resting area, no shops, no cafetarias... oh, but I was surprised. It had turned out better than I imagined:)

First, there were lots of people... no places to sit or rest...


The inside of the building was rather special though as you can see...football sorta patterned tiles in a dome like structure...oh YESSS!!! Found a place to sit:) Next to me was a group of pilots. Nice people they are, but they were exclaiming at Skype, so I think they must really be in the cockpits a lot. Then they slept, and I slept with them. Felt more "secure" somehow, compared to the rest of the dodgy looking people around.



I decided to go down to Oasis cafe to redeem my complimentary Etihad Airways dinner... but because it was past midnight, I could only get "refreshments" (roll eyes)



As you can see, I got really bored...

Whoa...the time finally came for us to board the plane. Thank goodnesss... we all lined up like "kia su" people, all of us who are going to Heathrow. Then we stood in line for another half hour watching the security have their smoke (in the non-smoking area) and leisurely drinking their coffee. By when, I already felt like strangling people. I didn't anyway. But that did explain the "smoky" lounges as reported by other people on the website.

All aboard... finally I am on the way to the faraway land...