Arrival

I love international terminals in airports.  The design is better – stylish, efficient, more “european”.  International terminals (in the US anyway) are almost always without question calmer than the chaos of domestic terminals..(except for the large Indian families).  You get the sense that there are travellers here…you know, the kinds that have been thru a million different customs, know that it just takes forever to pass thru immigration, they don’t question the travel system cuz they are in it so often.  They rarely scream and shout, they don't have tons of luggage (except for the large Indian families).  Food options are automatically of higher quality.  It just feels more elite.  I feel special in an international terminal.  They are kind of secretive, too....like platform 7 3/4...you gotta snoop to find them out.  When I landed in Chicago, from Minneapolis, I checked the screens for my flight to Abu Dhabi.  There it was, on time, Etihad Airlines Flight 150.  Gate....???  None listed.  It was the ONLY flight on the screen with an unlisted gate.  I checked my tickets from my original check-in in Mpls.  It said gate M4.  I looked around...no M Gates to be seen.  G, H, I J, K, even L!  But no M.  I asked a security guard...who really didn't want to help me very badly, thus giving the secrecy theory more weight.  He said M gates are in Terminal 5.  "Is that International flights?"  I ask.  "Yes."  He says.  Pause.  "Um, how do I get there?"  He tells me I gotta go outside, up some escalators, get on a train.  "First stop."  "Thank you!"  I felt like I got the keys to the kingdom.  

A word about business class.  It is the only place where they practically encourage you to make a mess.  They nearly thank you for it.  You are a god in business class.  You get packets of things…on Delta, they give Tumi bags filled with eye masks (really good ones), socks, toothbrush and paste, and a great Greek brand of lip balm that I used throughout my entire stay in Russia.  On Etihad Airlines, it is non-descript brand of bag, and the eye mask isn't as nice, but the toothpaste is Colgate as opposed to some generic white paste…and you get PAJAMAS.  SERIOUSLY.  PAJAMAS.  You get handed a plastic package of neatly folded brown-toned pajamas and slippers, and it is suggested that you change into them immediately.  "They go with the duvet!" I was told.  There is even an adult changing table/bench that folds down over the toilet in the restroom to assist with changing into said pajamas.  I admit, I didn't wear the entire outfit.  Only the shirt.  They were made for a strapping arabic man 4x my size.  But it was still pretty comfortable, and the novelty of it all was totally worth it.  I got the same Greek-brand lip balm, which I will happily use here in the desert as well.

My internet kinda blows at this hotel, so I'll have to add photos later.

So anyway, I land in this desert...and man, is it a desert!  Like, brown, tan, rugged, no green desert.  There is water, tho, and as I understand it (I haven't yet studied a map...which is probably the first thing I should have done...), Abu Dhabi is on the gulf...  We flew over the water, and from the exercise room of my hotel I counted at least 6 jet skis skimming along the surface of a river, or a canal or something outside my hotel.  I'll look it up tomorrow, I promise.  But the jet skis just fathered solidified to me that there is MONEY in this town.  I mean, of course there is.  It's the economic capital of the UAE, 80% of the residents are foreigners.  The ruling royal family is richer than God.  Somehow I'm not surprised that their recreational vehicle of choice on what looks like a flat, lifeless sea is a jet ski.

Some of my colleagues are staying in a another hotel across town (I'm told anywhere is 20 min away from any other place..it's a "small town").  So I joined my boss there for dinner tonight.  And saw for myself the 80%.  The hotel concierge who served us arabic coffee and dates upon entering the lobby is local.  The restaurant hostess is from Brazil.  Our server is from Mauritius (um...and embarassingly enough, I didn't know where it was, nor that it was pronounced "Mor-ish-is).  Another waiter is from India.  A bartender is from somewhere else.  I've travelled a lot, but never been in a place where nearly EVERYONE was from another country.  Another city, sure, but another country?  And they are trained impeccably.  It was fantastic, friendly, efficient, polite service.  Not too much, just the right amount of attention.

So now I'm back at my hotel, trying to stay up as late as possible so that I sleep as best I can.  A long day ahead tomorrow.  I'm the Artistic Producer for the 44th Annual National Day Celebration show.  It is a huge stadium show, akin to an Olympic Ceremony held on Dec 2, to mark the independence from the British Protectorate.  We are clients of a well-known and successful concert/show promotion company, who is the client of the government/royal family.  So we report to, and present to the Sheika, the daughter of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, one of the most powerful people in the UAE.  No pressure.

More soon and hopefully more pics.