Middle East 2024 - Day 11 - 12/9/2014 - Journey home + final thoughts

My Etihad flight from Zayed International Airport to JFK was scheduled to depart at 10am. I figured that getting to the airport about 2 hours before would be fine, and that's just about what I did. I got up early, prepared, packed, said goodbye to Brad (he wasn't flying out from Dubai until 2am the next morning), had a quick breakfast at the hotel, then hailed a Careem for the ride to the airport. I was running a little later than planned, but still made it there by 8:05a. When I went to check in at the business class counter (I got a credit card charge the night before hinting that my ~$2K bid for an upgrade was accepted), I found out that check-in for US flights closes 2 hours before departure, so I was just about 10 minutes late. But the agent made a couple of calls to re-open check-in for me, and I was able to get a boarding pass.

This scary moment potentially could have been avoided if my attempt to check in online the night before had succeeded, but I couldn't complete it then for some unknown reason; of course knowing to arrive more than 2 hours before would also have helped. I think the fact that I wasn't checking any luggage helped the case, and perhaps also being in business class. In any case, I was able to breeze through the security line and US pre-clearance due to a combination of business class and Global Entry, so I was at my gate by 8:40. I guess I could have had a little time to check out the Etihad lounge after all...

The 14+ hour flight was a lot more comfortable than it would have been in economy. We left about a half hour late, but arrived just about on time. I was in a seat facing "backwards" (opposite the direction of travel of the plane) - Brad informed me that this layout allowed every seat to have aisle access. I tried to take advantage of as much of the experience as I could, but I was probably still among the least demanding passengers. Highlights included: the lay-flat seat with built-in massage, larger and less trafficked bathrooms, complementary slippers and loungewear (I declined the latter), hot towels at take-off and landing, ample drinks (including mocktails), ample snacks, eating on real flatware. One minor complaint is that the anytime bites (which people were having as a lunch of sorts before landing) didn't have a hearty vegetarian option, so I settled for some muesli and cheese. Due to timing (boarding the flight and having the meal not too long after breakfast) I never felt like I had enough room to sample the dessert options.

Back in cold and rainy NYC, I chose just about the worst option to get home from the airport. By the time I was able to take the shuttle to the ride app lot, the wait for an Uber driver, and the ride through rush hour traffic, I could have taken the AirTrain and subway home for one-tenth the cost. The taxi line looked pretty long, but I probably could have gotten in one sooner than an Uber.

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Some brief final thoughts about the trip...

Overall, it was a good trip, and went just about as planned. The amount of wealth and development in Doha, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi was impressive (ignoring the dark side of that development for the moment). Doha in particular had more going on than I expected, and perhaps had the best infrastructure relatively speaking (although the traffic to get to the circuit was hellish, the metro and shuttle worked fairly well; the parking at all the places we went was underground, plentiful, and free); and the scale of development in Lusail is mind-boggling. Dubai and Abu Dhabi seemed more tolerant of Western culture, and more so than I expected. And it was fantastic to meet up with Ngozi, and have her show us around Abu Dhabi a couple of times. Oh, and if I were to do the Dubai / Abu Dhabi trip again, renting a car would probably be the way to go (despite the anxiety of driving somewhere foreign).

In terms of track activities, the seats at Yas Marina provided the most action that I've seen at a race (I've been to four after the two this trip). The only very minor downside of that was that I couldn't hear the announcers / PA system much during the race, as they were drowned out by the cars essentially all the time. Perhaps listening to the commentary on a personal system (either a stream or a radio) would be a good idea, as you don't get a good sense of the whole race (and have to watch highlights after 😅) even with a view as good as we had. The seat at Lusail was also good, nice and close with a good view of the main straight, the pit lane, and the podium (plus the seats were spaciously spread out); but the main straight was the only thing I could see there. The facilities were also nicer at Lusail, and the trackside activities were perhaps marginally better there. However, there was less total area to walk around at Lusail. Both tracks had better facilities than the other tracks that I had been to before (COTA, Hungaroring), but there was less ability to watch track action while walking through general admission areas (especially at Yas Marina). YMC was closer to things, with all the other entertainment options nearby on Yas Island, while LIC was way out by itself like the other two tracks. These were the first two in-person weekends for me with support series (there wasn't any at COTA, and I only went to the race at Hungaroring), and I didn't spend much time watching those; F1 qualifying and racing is really what I'm there for (though practice sessions are nice as well). It was cool to see a sprint race (in Qatar), especially one with much different results than the main race. It was even cooler to for the first time see a main race (in Abu Dhabi) that was won by someone other than Max Verstappen.

I could get used to traveling business class... The part I appreciated the most was being able to stretch out and lie down, particularly with the pelvic issues that I continue to have. But at the end of the day it's tough to justify the significantly higher price if you're all just going from point A to point B. We'll see if my thinking changes after going back to economy next time around...

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 10 - 12/8/2014 - Louvre + Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

After breakfast we took an Uber to meet Ngozi at Louvre Abu Dhabi, an art museum renting the name of the original in Paris. This was yet another museum where the building greatly outshined the works within, though this time it was partly because the three of us were spending more time chatting than paying attention to the art. We had also considered doing a kayak tour around the museum, but we found out that it was only offered in the evening. Instead Ngozi drove us over to the nearby Mamsha complex also on Saadiyat Island. We took a short stroll along the boardwalk and then stopped for a light (but luxurious) lunch at Valgerand Nordic Grill. After that she kindly dropped us off at the track about an hour before the 5p race.

 

We were in our seats about 35 minutes before the start, and caught the national anthem and A380 flyover. We also got a glimpse of one of the cars from the upcoming F1 movie (starring Brad Pitt) doing a lap. The race was pretty entertaining, especially the couple of incidents on the first lap. We also caught a little bit of argy-bargy in front of us at turn 6. Lewis had a great recovery drive from 16th to 4th on his last race with Mercedes, passing George on the final lap. Despite a Ferrari double podium, Lando Norris' win ensured that McLaren clinched the constructors' championship. We left during the podium celebration (and also later found out that we missed the fake podium celebration for the F1 movie), and were able to snag an Uber without nearly as much hassle as the night before. We made it back to the hotel around 7:40p, and had (a somewhat expensive) dinner there.

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 9 - 12/7/2014 - Qasr Al Watan, quali, and Eminem

Today was a pretty long day amidst a streak of nights with not quite enough sleep. After breakfast at the hotel we took a Careem over to Qasr Al Watan, a grand presidential palace that is used to greet foreign dignitaries but also is open to the public for tours. It was another pretty spectacular building. A (random and) perhaps interesting note is that upon entry you have to take a shuttle bus from the entry building to the main building. A more noteworthy happening was that we didn't realize that there was a dress code so both Brad and I were not up to code in our shorts; when this happens they lend men sweatpants to wear (in our case over our shorts).

We didn't stay at the palace all that long before heading over to the race track via Careem. We first watched Free Practice 3 and then walked around to check out other parts of the grounds and get some food. During FP3, Brad made a wager on one of Alex Albon's flying laps that if Alex topped the timing table then Brad would buy a Williams shirt (he had been trying to decide which team for which to buy merchandise in support - it was between Red Bull, McLaren, and Williams (who were only in the running because Albon was his favorite driver this year)). Well, Albon did indeed go top by a few hundredths of a second, so Brad had to make good on his promise and indeed bought a Williams shirt (for the outrageous trackside price of something like AED 680). We missed out on the F2 sprint race during the walkabout (unlike a track like COTA, you can't get views of the track as you walk around), but headed back to our seats to catch qualifying. Unfortunately, Lewis was knocked out in Q1 due to an unlucky incident where a bollard got caught underneath his car; George did fine, but the car didn't look so great in getting him to P7, behind a couple of midfield cars. Another noteworthy occurrence at the start of the session was a drunk couple coming up to us and belligerently claiming that I and a lady next to me were in their seats. Of course they were wrong, but they showed no remorse nor shame when an usher intervened to direct them to their proper seats. This got my normally cool blood boiling a little bit.

After quali we walked over to Etihad Park (which is on one side of Ferrari World) for the Eminem concert (included with the F1 ticket, if you were able to pick up a wristband before they ran out). We were there at least 1.5 hours (including time getting a bite to eat) before Eminem came on sometime around 9p. The show was meh; I wasn't particularly interested in going, but Brad wanted to. It was certainly not worth the subsequent headache getting home, nor the lost sleep. Traffic was a mess, and there were multiple failed attempts at hailing a Careem/Uber; which brought out a small heated (or maybe lukewarm) exchange between Brad and me. Brad was eventually able to land us in an Uber, though the surge pricing almost quadrupled the cost of the ride to the hotel the night before. We didn't get back until after 12:30a.

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 8 - 12/6/2024 - Ferrari World & FP2

Today was relatively simple in terms of activities, though not so straightforward at times. After breakfast at the hotel (a buffet plus some made-to-order items), we took a Careem to Ferrari World on Yas Island. Brad was super excited about the theme park, and also about his first in-person F1 session; as usual I was more low key about things. Unfortunately, Formula Rossa (the fasted roller coaster in the world) was closed for maintenance. We went on Flying Aces (a more standard coaster) and then Mission Ferrari (a mini coaster with immersive qualities), at which point Brad needed a break from the coasters. We stumbled upon a Ferrari fan zone, the highlight of which was a static display of the F1-75 from 2022. We then did the Fiorano GT Challenge and then grabbed some lunch.

Next we headed to the Yas Marina Circuit, though finding the way was not so simple. We eventually made our way through the parking lot, a portion of the mall, and out to the shuttles, which we took to the west grandstand. The seats that Brad got us were in the premium section of the west grandstand, giving us a view of most of the first back straight and the subsequent 3 turns (6, 7, and part of 8), the last 2 turns (15 and 16), and the first half of the start/finish straight. This was the most racing action viewable from my seat at a race thus far. We watched part of a Formula 4 qualifying, then Formula 1 Practice 2. After that we walked around a bit and grabbed a bite to eat.

Getting back to the hotel didn't take too long. Once we exited the circuit we took about 10-15 minutes to find a spot to call an Uber. Once we were in the car (after Brad passed up the first driver who was in the wrong car), it took less than 30 minutes to get back to the hotel. Back at the hotel we headed down to the bar to play a couple of games of Kingdomino. We initially couldn't find a suitable table, and an Emirati who was drinking alone at a larger well-lit table noticed this and insisted that we switch with him. We played the 7x7 variant for the first game, and Brad won 133-123. As we were concluding, the Emirati came over to talk to us, showing interest in the game. We showed him some basic rules and offered for him to join us. He asked instead to watch us play as he learned more, and then join in. This ended up side-tracking the game a bit, as he told us some wild stories about his time in the US when he was younger. We ended up calling it a night after finishing the second game, a 5x5 variant, which Brad won.

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 7 - 12/5/2024 - To Abu Dhabi

After breakfast and a short stroll, we used the Careem app (which I finally got working after failing the verification process in Doha, but had the option to verify via WhatsApp in Dubai) to hail a taxi to take us to our hotel in Abu Dhabi. We had also considered going by bus (which would require a car to get to/from the bus station on both ends, but still be significantly cheaper), but opted for the convenience of a point-to-point journey after a couple of days of hemming and hawing. The ride to the Andaz Capital Gate took about 1.5 hours (we got there a bit after 1:30p) and cost AED 324 ($88.24 based on the conversion rate on Google, but Bank of America charged me $92.39). Brad's friend also gifted him status there, so we got a larger room (which happened to be a disability friendly room) and complementary breakfast.

I had contacted a family friend, Ngozi, the day before, and arranged to meet up with her today. This was actually a last minute connection, as I didn't think that she lived in the UAE anymore. She graciously offered to show us around, and picked us up at the hotel around 4:30p. We initially headed toward Qasr Al Watan, but had to make a detour to top up the air in one of her tires after a low pressure warning. We then found out via the internet that Qasr Al Watan had closed (at 5p), so we pivoted to Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (which closed at 10p) instead. We had initially ruled this out when she picked us up because I was wearing shorts, but we decided to head back to the hotel so that I could change to pants before going to the mosque (which wasn't too far from the hotel - maybe a 10 minute drive).

The mosque was quite grand indeed, very large and spectacular. I found it interesting that Ngozi commented that they had greatly reduced the places that you could go within the mosque - it used to be essentially completely open 5 years ago, but now there was a roped-off path where you were allowed, which excluded all of the central area. She also had to go buy a covering for herself (I don't remember the name), as they didn't lend them out anymore. At least visiting the mosque was still free, though you did have to reserve tickets (which we did online).

After walking though the mosque grounds, she drove us to one of her favorite restaurants, a Japanese place called Zuma. It was quite fancy (though I was fine entering in a t-shirt), and also pretty tasty. She also secretly ordered a special personalized dessert to celebrate my birthday 😅. After dinner she drove us back to the hotel.

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 6 - 12/4/2024 - Dubai

Brad was gifted status at our hotel by a friend, which meant that we got a couple of additional perks, including complementary breakfast. Interestingly, the breakfast menu was à la carte. After breakfast we took an Uber to the Burj Khalifa, which has to be entered via the Dubai Mall for tourists. We eventually found our way there for our 10a reservation for At the Top SKY - the second highest observation deck, on the 148th floor (and correspondingly second most expensive package). It felt a little bougie to wait in a lounge area instead of the general line and get stickers labeled with "Premium", but it did make for a more comfortable experience; I also appreciated the complementary water and juice in the lounge at the top. The view was nice, though some of it felt kinda empty perhaps due to the desert landscape; I wonder if it would have been more meaningful if I was from the area or knew more about the surroundings. Nevertheless this was my favorite activity that we did in Dubai. I'll also note that the observation deck on the 124th/125th floors also had good views, and the windows there seemed bigger and amenable to better pictures (we didn't spend much time there because we were on the way down).

Our next destination was the Google office in Dubai Internet City. On the way in search of the nearby Dubai Metro station we walked by the Dubai Fountain, which looked like a bigger cousin of the Bellagio fountain; the shows only happen at night, so we didn't get to see it in action. The swanky downtown area was quite a contrast to the old city that we had walked around the night before. It took us a while to find our way to the metro station, but we eventually got there and bought 2 one-way tickets (16 AED, or $4.36 USD, total). We took the Red Line down to DIC, then walked about 20 minutes over to the Google office. Unfortunately, the workers had the day off for UAE National Day (which was a couple of days before, but Google gives 3 days off for it), so the cafe was closed. We had been counting on this for lunch so we were pretty hungry (and in Brad's case hangry) by this time. We looked around for a bit and had some snacks and drinks from a microkitchen in order to hold us over until we could get a proper meal. We then took an Uber over to the Nakheel Mall on Palm Jumeirah (an artificial archipelago in the shape of an encircled palm tree) to grab a bite in the mini food court.

After eating we took the Palm Monorail one stop to the end at the Atlantis hotel. From there we walked along the boardwalk to the Atlantis The Royal hotel and then hailed an Uber back to our hotel. I should mention that we were not allowed to walk up to the Atlantis The Royal lobby, but instead had to have the driver pick us up at the gate. Back at the hotel we played a game of Kingdomino 7x7 (which I won 128-97) before heading down to dinner at the CBar in the hotel.

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 5 - 12/3/2024 - To Dubai

In contrast to the previous days I was forced to get up early this morning - I had a 10a flight to Dubai on flydubai. After a quick breakfast at the hotel I took an Uber to the airport to catch the 1h10m flight, which ran on time. I found it notable that the Dubai/UAE immigration officials give tourists a SIM card with 10 GB of free data upon entry.

 

Brad's flight from Dallas was due to arrive at noon at DXB, 15 minutes before mine. He got in slightly earlier than that and we coordinated meeting up - his flight landed at terminal 3, while mine was at terminal 2. He had used credit card points to update his round trip flights to business class on Emirates, which he was excited about. Because of the upgrade, he got the fast track through immigration and came over to my terminal to meet me. There was a bit of confusion about meeting at departures vs arrivals, but we eventually worked it out. From there we took an Uber to our hotel, the Hyatt Centric Jumeirah.

After settling into our room, we headed out on a walkabout. Our first stop was the Jumeirah Mosque a short walk away, but we just missed the end of visiting hours at 3p. We continued north to the Etihad Museum to look around there for a bit. This continued the tradition of museums I had visited Qatar, but on a lower level: visually interesting building (though to a lesser degree than the Qatari museums), but uninteresting subject matter (the least engaging so far). As the museum was dedicated to the formation of the United Arab Emirates as a country, I did learn that "Etihad" means "union" or "unity"; so "Etihad Airways" is essentially "United Airlines" (except with significantly better service 😅).

Brad's colleague had recommended that he visit the Gold Souk, so we headed in that direction. We took an Uber to a Nepalese restaurant that Brad had picked out in the old city area, but left because he wasn't feeling the vibe. After a bit of wandering around we eventually settled on a South-Asian-ish place that was honestly almost certainly worse than the initial place we passed on; I say that not only because I found my paneer masala too spicy.

Following the suggestion of the concierge at the hotel, we walked to the Dubai Creek and took one of the abra ferries across to the Spice Souk / Old Souk (this cost 1 AED / UAD Dirham, or about 27 cents; good thing we took out some cash). During the walk through the market we were hounded by merchants trying to catch our attention - something neither of us is ever in the mood for. We continued on to the Gold Souk for a very quick look around. This souk expedition was not something either of us was particularly interested in, so Brad decided to downgrade other recommendations he had received. From there we took an Uber back to the hotel.

On the subject of Ubers... At least two of the UberX's that we ordered so far in Dubai were Lexus cars - not something that we would have expected.

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.