So I have finally arrived in Abu Dhabi. It’s now 7am Brisbane time – I have no idea what that is locally, but I am guessing 1am.
Earlier on, after stopping in Singapore for an hour we jumped back on the same plane. I asked to be moved and was relocated to the seats on the back row. Within about half an hour I was asked if I would move again for ‘a medical emergency’. Now call me stubborn but if it really were an emergency the three off duty flight attendants, taking up four seats each, adjacent to me would have surely moved.
The flight attendant was slightly bemused when I said no, and begrudgingly buggered off after he finally got the hint after the third time!
Anyhow I finally worked out that each seat has a power socket underneath so I could plug in the MacBook. It had lasted for a good eight hours on the battery during the first flight.
The airport was straightforward. Walk through collect the bag and pick up the original work visa, have the obligatory eye scan then through passport control followed by immigration. Quite a simple process and nowhere near as painful as entering Australia.
I’m now sat in the bedroom of a large villa. It is basically a shared house for new arrivals and people who are staying overnight from Dubai. The place seems clean and tidy and the aircon is doing a great job of keeping the room at a cool 22c. The ‘office’ is connected through the back door so it is not far to walk. I am allowed to have a lie in tomorrow – which is nice.
As I have been up for nearly twenty-four hours it’s probably not a bad thing.
The downside is there is no Internet, so I can see that I will be spending a bit on my Australian mobile until I can sort something out. The good thing is that since I have power I also have a working laptop, ipod nano and blackberry – almost back in the real world.
