Monday 4th March 2024
After walking out of the customs area directly in front was a line of drivers and one of them even had my name on it! While I am the kind of person who would generally use public transit to get to a hotel and if that isn’t really an option, then I would use the cheapest possible way. Well arriving at 2am after 2 long flights, you kind of change that priority. I arranged a limo through the agent who booked my hotel (she got the hotel to arrange it) and prices were pretty much the same as what I could find online for the same thing and it was a god send. The person holding the sign, took my suitcase and camera bag (as they were held together) and I just followed him. He took me towards the parking garage and a few moments later a nice looking Audi sedan rolled up and he opened the door and told me to hop in. Into the trunk went my bags and they even suggested I put my backpack in the trunk too, but I always keep that next to me and I had stuff to rearrange anyway.
This car ride was perfect, I didn’t need to really think, they just took me straight to the hotel and they knew exactly where to take me. At 230 in the morning the ride flew by and it’s not a close drive to the airport, it’s a good 30 minutes out of the downtown Abu Dhabi. But when you are so tired and you just want to rest, it works. We made it to the hotel and I checked in as quickly as possible. I was staying at the Sofitel Abu Dhabi. Why this hotel? Well the agent we use for some stuff who has benefits got us a great deal on the hotel. $100 food and beverage credit (apparently not available for room service sadly) and breakfast daily. Upgrade and Late Check out subject to availability, but the kicker for this hotel was Stay 3 Pay 2. Meaning the fact I have to prebook a hotel so I can check in at 3am and not have to pay for it…. SCORE!
I was helped with my bags to the room and while I didn’t pay too much attention, the job that moment was get out of my clothes into some PJs and get some sleep. I had a pick up scheduled for a few hours away for a day tour up to Dubai. Why that same day, well they don’t offer it all days apparently, why, I don’t know. I got about 3 hours of sleep before realizing my alarm did not go off (or I slept through it) and it was about an hour away from when I was meant to be picked up. So I rushed to have a shower and get respectable and get down to breakfast.
I had a small light breakfast as I was in a rush and didn’t really take full effect of the buffet (but then it wasn’t really in the plans after only a few hours of sleep) but the main thing that was added was an Americano to help get me going. With a few minutes to spare, I head up to the room to use the bathroom, grab my backpack and get back downstairs. The room looked like a bomb hit it, but that was ok.
I was picked up shortly after (and the driver was a little late) by Grayline UAE who were going to take me up to Dubai for the day. The trip was meant to be all day and it certainly was! We had to make some pick ups around at different hotels before swapping people with other drivers and then it was off to Dubai. The freeway was brilliant and the mini bus had pre recorded commentary so it was nice to learn a lot of stuff. While it was that kind of commentary that makes it feel very touristy, it helped because our driver didn’t seem to speak much English.
We got to stop at a lot of different places for a bit here and there to go and take photos or shop. The main draw for me that day was the Burj Khalifa and we stopped at Dubai Mall for several hours. They gave us four hours to go up and down Burj Khalifa and it took a solid 2! It was worth it even with the poor visibility and the crowds. By this time I was almost a walking zombie and having not eaten since breakfast, I was now past the point where I wanted food and just wanted to sleep. Thankfully the people who were on the tour with me were really nice and that helped pass the time. After finishing the observation deck I just wandered aimlessly for a little while to just chill out and then wait for the pick up back to the city.
By the time we got back to the hotel it was after 730pm and I had been sooo tired. Since I couldn’t use the credit on room service my credit options for dinner were with the lobby cafe or the restaurant. I decided on the restaurant as it had lots of choice and I was just not in the mood to think too much. So buffet dinner it is! Once finished dinner I went up the room and tried to clean up my mess a bit before heading to bed, tomorrow would be another full day of tours.
Tuesday 5th March 2024
So this morning was a little bit more relaxed with plenty of time in the morning to rest. While I was still being picked up, it was much later than yesterday and meant I could really just relax. This was fairly easy as I was still pretty tired, even after a solid 8 or more hours of sleep. I could have gone for a walk but it was actually raining outside! This meant a bit more of a sit in bed and catch up on the world. After getting a nice long relaxing breakfast and then getting myself packed for a big day ahead, I went out to the driveway to wait to be picked up.
This mornings tour was just a general Abu Dhabi city tour with the big draw card for me being the Date Market and the Grand Mosque. The Mosque was our first stop after picking up people from hotels and it did not disappoint. The mosque was massive and even had its own shopping mall for visitors to it (it gets 20 to 30 thousands visitors A DAY. It was extremely impressive and had staggering facts like the main male prayer room carpet weighs 35 TONNES!.
After the mosque we drove around a few areas of Abu Dhabi and then stopped at the Date Market. It was not exactly what I was expecting BUT was more like a wholesale market kind of place. We were of course taken to one specific store first (who probably gave kickbacks to the company) but what I bought was a good deal in my mind and I couldn’t really tell any different. It was in the same area as the whole fruit and veg/meat/seafood markets, so a place I would have wanted to visit anyway.
I was getting a little panicky by this point as it was nearing the time we were meant to finish and we were far from it, and I was meant to be picked up shortly thereafter by a tour in the afternoon. Thankfully the same tour company so that was easy to rectify and the tour guide got it all sorted and made sure I was back with enough time to get changed and grab a few things.
The afternoon tour was a desert safari and I was looking forward to this. I had done this in Qatar back in 2012 when Qatar Airways was hosting us. It was a lot of fun then and I was hoping it would be the same now. It did not disappoint. There was 6 of us crammed into the land cruiser and we headed out into the desert. We met up with others from the same company (12 vehicles total) and off we went into the dunes. It was a great roller coaster of a ride, full of a lot of “o shit” moments. After riding through the dunes they took us to their “camp” for dinner and we had some time to explore around while they tried to get us to buy more stuff. That is how they get you by having a cheap tour (about $80) and then enticing you in with extras!
Dinner and a show was included then it was back into the city. If the weather had been better I think the night would have been even more amazing than it was but it was very good and I had a blast! Getting back close to 930pm meant another long day!
Wednesday 6th March 2024
This morning was my last time in Abu Dhabi with my flight scheduled for early evening off to Qatar and then connecting onwards to Australia. I was looking forward to a lazy morning, and then I don’t really know what else. I just wanted to chill out and relax. That is what I got I slept in went for a walk on the corniche for some morning exercise (and seeing all the poor stray cats) and had a leisurely breakfast writing post cards.
After tidying up all my stuff, reconfirming pick up times and arranging the late check out, it was time to go off on a morning walk and adventure. I had to go to the post office for stamps to mail the post cards, but the next part was just off to go look at stuff. I had seen most of what I wanted to see but I was really interested in seeing one of the big grocery stores and just seeing what the prices of stuff might be. So I walked up to LuLu Hypermarket in one of the malls and just walked around for a while. It was pretty impressive! What shocked me was the cost of some things were great, others not so much. Some made no sense. They sell white goods and small kitchen appliances and they were selling Kenwood stand mixers for the price of some of the gas stoves!
After Lulu I was already past my step goal for the day and just wanted to relax after being on the go so much, so walked the corniche back to the hotel! Easy time. Then it was just a matter of chilling out and relaxing before getting picked up for the airport.
Current Location: Sofitel Abu Dhabi The Corniche