11:30 (Thursday): We are on our way to the RDU airport and super excited. My dad drove us and helped carry our luggage in. All the luggage we were checking was weighed and we didn't have to pay any overage fees. We had called the airline before and reserved special seating... two seats to ourselves on the side so Shawn would have window and I would have aisle. We were flying on an Airbus and super excited... ready to go!
We make it through security fine. I opted for the body pat down because I was scared of the body scanners and being pregnant. We find our gate, eat lunch, and even get some Starbucks drinks with some gift cards I had. Then we board at 1:50ish. This was a small plane to take us to JFK in New York. Our itineray was as follows: RDU-JFK (arrive at 3:50ish). Then a 6 1/2 hour layover... depart JFK at 10:40pm and Arrive in Abu Dhabi at 7:00PM the next day their time. We were so excited to start our journey as we boarded the plane. We buckled in and the plane taxied out to the runway... then the fun began.
2:30: The next thing you know, the plane is headed back to the airport due to weather delays in New York. We are told there will be a four hour delay. We make out phone calls and settle down to wait.
3:30: Flight is cancelled due to weather. We go to the desk to ask what our options are and notice another flight leaving a few gates down for JFK in about 2 hours. I ask the lady if we can go on that flight and she tells us no because it is booked. We are told we will have to go on the next flight to La Guardia airport. There we will have to pick up our four 50 pound bags, take a bus to JFK, re-check our luggage, and then catch our flight. We try to explain that I am pregnant and cannot carry the luggage, and again request to be on the JFK flight. Again the lady says no. We get our new tickets and sit down to wait.
4:30: We are called up to the desk and upgraded to first class. Ten minutes later they call us again and take the tickets back because of some priority seating person wants them now. Flight has also been delayed.
7:30: We board the plane. We sit and wait about 20 minutes before being de-boarded. Flight is cancelled. We are then told by a new person we should be on the waiting list for the JFK flight (the same one I wanted to be on a waiting list for 3 hours ago!!!!!!) We put our names in.
8:30: We are number 1 and 2 on the waiting list. We think we might make it! The plane is finally boarding. Then a lady walks up whose flight was just cancelled and because she has priority seating we get bumped down on the list. I am sure this happens a few more times. If we had been on the list 5 hours ago I am sure we would have made it, but we don't. The plane is full and we are left behind.
9:00: We are discussing options with the new guy at the desk. Only option now is to take a flight the next day at 6PM on a different airline. There goes our special seating arrangement. I cried and argued, but could not get them to pay for a hotel. Shawn and I discussed it, and decided to just pay for a hotel instead of trying to call a bunch of people to tote our stuff to someone's house and then have them drive us back the next day. We ask the man for a hotel voucher.
9:30ish: We get a hotel voucher for a discount rate at La Quinta. The man tells us to call a number and they will send a shuttle to get us. We decide to go eat first because we are starving.
10:00: We pick up all our luggage and call the number only to hear that hotel does not do a shuttle. hey said we will have to call a cab. I go to the information desk and begin to call hotels. Luckily, the Hilton offers us the same rate.
10:30: The Hilton picks us up and we check in a few minutes later. Here is all our luggage at the hotel:
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The next morning we treat ourselves to room service and spend the day relaxing. The people at the hotel were very friendly and allowed us to extend check-out to 3:00pm. I spent a long time on the phone with American Airlines trying to get better seats, but it didn't happen.
3:00 (Friday): We check out and head to the airport. We had to wait in a long line to get our new tickets issued, but all bags made it through again.
4:00: Headed through security again.
4:30: Found our gate and made our last phone calls. Here we are waiting again:
5:00: Boarded
6:15ish: Headed to London. It was a seven hour flight through the night. The seats were small. We watched a movie called The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It was actually pretty good. We all didn't have our own personal TV's, just a few down the aisles. After that and dinner I tried to sleep, but it didn't go well. We were also served a light breakfast.
7:15am (Sat. London time) 2:15am our time; Arrived in London. When we got there we checked for our terminal and the screen said 4, so we got on a bus to take us there from 2. Each bus ride is 8 minutes. When we get off the bus, the wheel on Shawn's carry-on breaks off. His carry-on was very heavy because it had the laptop, Playstation, Wii, and other electronics. He was also carrying his book bag and my shoulder bag carry on that was pretty heavy. He was about to get a major workout!!!
We get to terminal 4 and the man tells us we have to to terminal 3... another bus ride. We get to terminal 3 and are told to go to terminal 5... another bus ride.
8:00 am London time: Finally, we make it to the right terminal. We have to go through security again and of course a potty break, so we make it to the terminal just as boarding begins. This flight was British Airways. I didn't get any pics at the London airport because we were so rushed :(
9:30 am London time: We are on our way to Abu Dhabi. This flight was a little better. The seats were a bit more comfortable and we each had our own TV's with options on movies and TV shows. I watched the Avengers, slept a little, and of course stretched my legs.
7:45PM Abu Dhabi time (11:45am Raleigh time): We land in Abu Dhabi!!! A person from the travel agent met us at the gate and navigated us where we needed to go. The first place was to get an eye scan. Then we went through customs and had passports and visas stamped. Finally we picked up baggage. We were so excited ours made it:
The people in the background are other teachers too. We had to wait for a little while because we were sent to 2 different hotels. While we waited we chatted and made friends. Also, everything here is in Arabic and English:
10:30ish: We are greeted by vans and also feel the heat and humidity outside... wow! The vans take us to our hotel
11:00PM: We check into our hotel: the Intercontinental. They label our bags so they can bring them to our rooms, give us juice, coffee, and cold towels, and hand us keys. We finally head to our room and get ready for the night because I have orientation at 9:00AM the next morning. Here is the hotel... beautiful! http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/intercontinental/en/gb/locations/abudhabi
View from hotel!
Well... it is dinner time here as I right this. I can hear the call to prayer as I sit at the desk... the fasting is over for the day! Look for my next post about shopping, culture, and our apartments!
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