MARCH 14, 2017

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

I woke up with a bit of a migraine. Nothing terrible but hopefully it doesn't get worse. I FaceTimed with mom and had breakfast at the hotel. I finally tried Pho. This is a Vietnamese signature dish. It is a soup with noodles, chicken, beef, or pork, and other toppings. I am sad to say that I wasn't a fan of the soup. It tasted like a fish broth with noodles. I also had an omelette and fruit. It has been really nice to have excellent fruit every day of this trip.

A quick walk through the hotel one last time and then back to my room to rest and pack. I am checking out at 3:00pm and then the hotel driver will take me to the airport. The driver had an SUV and I had to crawl to get into it. So graceful! As we drove to the airport, I realized that the driver loves his horn. Traffic here is total chaos but what does beeping the horn 5 times a minute get you? I'll tell you, one annoyed passenger.

I arrived early at airport and had to wait to an hour to check in. After check in, immigration, and security I made my way to the gate. I have another hour before we board the plane. Vietnam has terrible wifi! It was bad at the hotel and bad in the airport.

My first flight to Abu Dhabi was good. We were delayed over 30 minutes at the gate due to luggage issues. I slept most of the time although it seemed to take forever. Had a gluten free meal and it was mostly disgusting. Gluten free bread doesn't taste any better at 33,000 feet! The chicken and rice was okay.

I got off the flight and they aren't kidding around. When you enter the transfer hall, people are shouting destinations to escort people who had to run to get their connection. I had to go through security twice. Once as soon as I got off the plane and then after I walked all over the airport to go through US Customs. I got to the gate just as they were boarding. So back on another long flight and one step closer to the USA.