Getting Started: Flying First Class

View of the sunrise from my living room

Welcome to my new home. I'm currently a resident on Saadiyat Island, right on the outskirts of the second largest city in the United Arab Emirates - Abu Dhabi. Saadiyat is home to a growing cultural movement in the city, with expected expansions of both the Louvre and the Guggenheim opening in the next few years. Abu Dhabi itself is a bustling metropolis and a real melting pot - over 85 percent of the city's population is expats like myself, and this multicultural population has definitely left its mark on life here. I'm sure I'll be filling you in on more fun facts about Abu Dhabi as we go along, so I'll leave this brief introduction here.

I'm also not going to spend time on my first post doing a long introduction/about me type thing - I'll post a section on that to the blog later, but for the large part I expect this will mostly be shared amongst family and friends, and I'll be aiming to describe my experiences for you guys back home in the good ol' South.

On July 30, at the ungodly hour of 3am, Mom and I set off for JAX from Lake City, where I was to start the first leg of my grand adventure. Unfortunately, arriving well before 5am meant that none of the coffee shops were open at the airport - not even the Burger King. Seriously, someone needs to get on that. Mom and I sat talking until the very last possible moment that I had to get through security, and then I headed for the TSA lines. Saying goodbye to Mom ranked as one of the roughest moments of the whole leaving process, right next to saying goodbye to Oma and Opa. Having spent my whole life within a 90 mile radius of home and making my family the center of my life for 25 years, it was definitely difficult to leave. As my husband likes to remind me, however, I have a tendency not to do things halfway. So, following my usual style, my first big move from home would naturally be around 7500 miles more than my last move from home.

My husband is the reason I'm here. I'm sure everyone knows that. He has this wonderful opportunity to live and work in Abu Dhabi for the next year (maybe more), and so, not even a month after getting married, I threw in my lot with his and took off for the land of camels. Difficult? Yes. Worth it? Yes. I had always dreamed of going abroad after finishing my Masters degree, but was usually dreaming of landing somewhere in the heart of Europe, in a German speaking country, where my heritage lies. If you had told me two years ago I'd wind up in the deserts of the Middle East, I'd have give you the weirdest look ever and told you to go kick rocks. Yet here I am, and this blog will serve as a reminder and a reflection of the journey that life here will become.

Back to the main narrative for this post, however (You can expect a great deal of that on this blog). Once through the security lines at JAX, I nervously waited for my flight to JFK to board. Foregoing coffee on the thought of the effects it would have on an empty, nervous stomach (which somehow in my mind outweighed the benefits the caffeine would have on my extremely tired body), I was finally ready to board the plane when I was stopped at the gate because Delta had flagged my ticket, requiring a document scan. A very indignant flight agent asked to see my passport, and then said he had to scan my documents and asked if I was traveling international. When I replied yes, he said, "Canada, right?" to which I replied that I was traveling here, to the UAE, and received the very shocked and confused look I'd come to expect when announcing my move destination. After a brief back and forth about why I didn't have a visa ("Are you sure you don't need a visa to go there? I don't have time to investigate this" [with a very indignant "so you'd better not be lying" look]) I finally was on the plane to New York. My seat mate, of course, was extremely chatty for 6am, and I attempted to be as polite as possible while making it clear that I was exhausted and just wanted peace and quiet.

The flight to New York was uneventful, as most 2 hour hop rides are, and after that one minor hiccup with Delta I thankfully didn't have to deal with them again (everyone here knows my love affair with Delta...). I hiked all the way across JFK's Terminal 4 out to ticketing, so I could check in for my Etihad flight. After traveling again back through security (hooray!) I made my way into the terminal, stopping for a quick duty free shopping trip and then heading to the business class lounge, a luxury I was going to enjoy for the first time. I found a nice quiet comfy leather chair near some outlets and sat down to watch some Netflix to pass the time until boarding. It being only 9am, I wasn't really in a spot to enjoy the open bar or the open buffet, since it was still serving breakfast and I was quite over that.

Grumpy Cat, my faithful travel companion, enjoying the lounge.

Finally approaching the time for boarding on my ticket, I headed down to the gate, where I was waiting to board when I heard the announcements start paging passengers to come to the desk. Surprised, I heard my name, so I made my way over and wondered if I needed another document scan. An agent then asked for my passport and boarding pass so I handed them over, and I must have had a quizzical look on my face because she said, "You've been upgraded to first class." Thanking her with some measure of shock, I took my new boarding pass with the first class designation. Not only was I in first, I was in seat 1A. Front of the plane.

Etihad's gate surprise

Let me briefly put this in perspective for you: Business class on Etihad is a luxury in itself. You have a lie flat seat, and a full menu available to you at any time. As flying goes, it far surpasses most everyone else's first class (If you want to read more: http://www.etihad.com/en-sg/experience-etihad/on-board/pearl-business-class/). That's what I was supposed to fly. What I wound up with, by the blessings of the airport gods and in repayment for the awful airport karma I've had lately in spades, was this.

My actual seat.

My second seat, and entertainment center with a 23" screen.

Champagne, truffles, and a hot towel with rose water.

Grumpy cat enjoying the second seat atop my luggage before I discovered the closet.

Etihad's first class boasts itself as "refined luxury air travel with individual suites, higher levels of comfort and more personal space than ever before" (http://www.etihad.com/en-sg/experience-etihad/on-board/diamond-first-class/). Not only did I now have a lie-flat bed, I had my own suite complete with a privacy screen, a comforter, pillows, sheets, and my own personal set of pajamas. As I mention in a caption below, the suite also had its own closet complete with a wooden hanger for my clothes and plenty, plenty of space. First class also comes with your very own personal chef. He's not just for you alone - he serves the entire first class, which couldn't be more than 10 people - but boy, was he a good cook for a guy dealing in airline food. Once he'd seen that I was settled in with my champagne, he asked what I'd like for lunch/dinner (I should add here that since we were delayed nearly an hour getting out of the gate, he also took the time later on after having the menu conversation to deliver fresh dates and coffee). Having just boarded and not had much time to look over the menu, I asked him for a few minutes to look things over. Instead, he took the time to sit with me, talk about the things I liked, and then catered a lunch just for me. The result was a delicious tandoori chicken with fresh veggies and steamed rice, preceded by samosas for an appetizer and a toffee gateaux for dessert. This was also accompanied by a bread basket with an assortment of delicious breads. I didn't think to snag pictures because by that point I was reaching sheer exhaustion. My lunch was served to me on china, with silverware, and of course flowing wine (or whatever else I chose to have, which would be nothing else in my case). Once lunch was over I changed into my new, comfy set of pajamas (first class also had access to a rather large lavatory that doubled as a changing room) and settled in to watch a movie while I fell asleep. I watched a total of 5 films on the 12 hour flight: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Amazing Spiderman 2 (which I admittedly fell asleep during after the first 10 or so minutes), The Muppets Take Manhattan, Transcendence, and The Lego Movie (which I half paid attention to during my breakfast). I did sleep a while on the plane, despite the turbulence, with the help of a hot cup of Arabian mint tea and Etihad's brilliant lighting system, which, once one closed the four window covers I had in my suite, simulated the night sky with stars. It was a wholly relaxing experience, and that may be the first and only time I ever say those words in relation to air travel. I did manage to snag a few shots of breakfast, which was again another catered meal, this time stuffed Indian pancakes along with fresh fruit and another bread basket, which had both a cinnamon roll and a muffin for breakfast.

The breakfast spread.

I honestly couldn't tell you much of the approach into Abu Dhabi, or of my experiences in the airport being my first in the county. I was so totally and completely exhausted from the trip, despite having slept a reasonable amount for air travel, that I don't remember much of it. I do know that thanks to the travel agency my flights were booked through, I had a handler coming off the plane who helped me navigate the airport, collect my luggage, and find my way out to the arrivals area where Jon was waiting. I was definitely happy to see that he'd made it to the airport to meet me - after 12 hours of unfamiliar faces and landing in a strange country, having my husband there was the ultimate comfort. We hopped in the car that the agency had arranged for me and made the trek to Saadiyat - to home.