From Heaven to Hell

brilyani rice (cooked)

Well, ito ang mararamdaman mo kung galing ka sa malamig at pagkatapos ay mapupunta ka sa pagkainit-init na lugar. Yeah, I'm back here in Jubail. Actually, noon pang August 12. Ang kaso may jet lag pa at marami agad trabaho.
Kung maganda ang pag-uwi ko sa Sydney noong May 1, medyo palpak ang biyahe ko sa eroplano nitong pagbabalik ko sa KSA. Oriental food at lagi akong pinagsisilbihan ng una sa karamihan ng pasahero noong pauwi ako sa Australia. Nitong pagbalik ko, naku hilaw pa yong brilyani rice na isinilbi. As in, bigas pa. At hindi rin kusang nag-aalok ng tsaa at kape. Kailangang humingi ka talaga.
Tila nagbabago na ang serbisyo ng Etihad. Noong nakaraang biyahe ko, kapag matagal kang naghintay sa Abu Dhabi International Airport para sa connection flight mo, libre pa ang dinner at breakfast. Ngayon, alaws na. Dahil kaya sa global financial crisis?
Member ako ng frequent flyer ng Etihad. Dami ko ng points. Kunin ko na kaya ang reward ko at baka pati ito ay biglang mawala? Say nyo?

FROM ABU DHABI TO SYDNEY

Ceiling of Abu Dhabi International Airport Terminal 1
Car Prize of one of the Raffle Draws at Abu Dhabi Airport

Waiting Lounge - Terminal 3

(This entry should be ahead of Pacman's victory article)

Leaving Saudi Arabia on 29 April 2009, I arrived at Abu Dhabi International Airport Terminal 1 at 5 minutes past one o'clock in the morning of 30 April 2009. My next departure will be at 10:15 AM. Before, I could have a free dinner and breakfast meal courtesy of Etihad Airways but I learned that it was discontinued.

Waiting for the 10 hour ordeal to pass, I tried to have a nap but it was hard to have a good night sleep on a hard chair with plenty of passengers talking loudly nearby especially those Nepalese going to work in Saudi Arabia. I do hope that Etihad will provide passengers with snooze quarters for those on a 5 hour or more stop over. I had a small chit-chat with a Filipino going on a similar flight schedule via Philippine Airlines to the Philippines. Counting it all, I guessed I had a two hour nap.

The departure area going to Sydney was at Terminal 3 which is about 10 minutes walk from Terminal 1. Well, the new addition to the airport was impressive with those natural trees and plants lining the hall ways.(I'm just wondering though where is Terminal 2). There were also duty shops along the way. The waiting lounge is spacious bordered also with natural plants.

The departure time to Sydney was on time. During the 13 + hour flight, I watched the Oscar award winning film "The Slumdog Millionaire", "Yes Man" with Kim Carrey - although I slept at the middle of it, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" of Brad Pitt and another film which I could not recollect the title. I tried to play "Tetris" but the remote of Seat 28C was not working.

The food was great simply because I ordered Oriental Meal during reservation. If you do just like what what I did, your meal shall be served first.

We arrived at the Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport at exactly 6 o'clock in the morning of 01 May 2009, lining on with the thermal scanners ahead of us for swine flu virus detection. I left the airport at 7 :20o via the train service to Parramatta.