Travel Log

Well, we have arrived at our destination! With snow falling we weren't sure if the plane would take off or not. After a good de-icing, it got off the ground about 30 minutes late. The plane ride was the easy part. The van ride to the airport was way more of a challenge than the airplane.

The airline (Etihad) sent a large van to pick us up from our house. He showed up only 15 minutes later than planned but that was better than I expected. The van actually made it to our neighborhood early, but could not make it up the slippery road to our house. It was comical watching the driver attempt crawling up the hill. Fortunately, the snow plow cleared enough snow that the van was able to get some traction and make it to our driveway. With the help of a few neighbors, we cleared a path to the van, loaded it up and backed down the hill to get out of the neighborhood. Then the real fun started. The driver either didn't notice or wasn't concerned with the snow on the roads. Diana's eyes were closed for most of the ride.

With many flights already cancelled, Dulles airport was a dream to get through. We didn't encounter any lines at the ticket counter, security or boarding the plane. We arrived early enough at the airport to enjoy the business class lounge for a while. We didn't all enjoy it, though. Katrina caught some kind of stomach bug and, well, you can imagine how she spent her time.

The entire plane seemed almost empty. There are maybe 35 seats in business class on the plane. There were 2 passengers in the cabin that were not DiClaudios, giving us our choice of seats and allowing us to move around.

Other than Katrina's tummy troubles and Diana's restlessness, the flight was uneventful. Could be because I slept for the first 9 hours. Gotta love those sleeper seats that fold down flat! Super quick trip through immigrations in Abu Dhabi and into our 2 cars for the ride to the hotel. The only challenge to that is that the driver didn't speak much English (none). Only after I muttered the hotel name in the good ole American way of slowly and loudly that we got on the right track. Or maybe it was because I showed him a picture of the hotel.

So here we are at the Al Maha Arjaan by Rotana for the next 30 or so days, living in a sweet 3 bedroom suite and walking around town trying to get our bearings.