I had set the alarm for 5:45 and was awake just ahead of that time. I had a bit of a restless night. I tend to sleep in stops and starts before an early flight anyway. However, this time my body decided that it is a great time for a flare up for a chronic bowel condition that I have. The timing was not exactly stellar. Still, I got at least some sleep, and I figured I could always catch up on sleep on the plane. Once I woke up for the final time and realised that it was nearly time to get up anyway, I had a quick shower and got dressed. Once the alarm went off, Graham got up as well. While he got ready, I reorganized by carry on and packed the few things that I had out. Once Graham was ready, we went downstairs to check out. Check out was quick and painless and soon we were on our way to the airport. Although the hotel is the closest hotel to terminal 1, it is not quite as convenient as the Holiday Inn is for terminal 2. That it was drizzling did not help either.
Check in was already open and the line was nice and short. We were next in line for the check in once we got past the initial screening of passport and boarding passes. I asked about changing the seats on the Abu Dhabi to Singapore flight. Again, I was advised that there was a cost for changing the seats. I declined and figured we would wait how this panned out. I got the sense that the flight was not particularly full and figured I could always check with the cabin crew. Both of our cases were well below our baggage allowance. The check in agent printed out new boarding passes and then we were free to leave.
Security was quick and painless. Once we were through security, we were intercepted to check that we were going to the right place. Terminal 1 was about to be decommissioned and at this stage, there were only a few airlines left that still used terminal one. However, Ryanair, which operates out of terminal 3 had started to do check in and security in terminal 1 as terminal 3 cannot accommodate the new scanners. People flying on Ryanair then go from terminal 1 to terminal 3 airside. After we had told three different people that we are definitely not flying on Ryanair, we were finally free to head for the departure lounge. A lot of the shops were already empty. Fortunately, most restaurants were still open, and we went to get some breakfast at Giraffe.
Graham had a full cooked breakfast and some orange juice. I was off my food but knew not eating would make things worse. I had hoped for something like oatmeal or yoghurt and granola, but I was out of luck. I settled on scrambled eggs on sourdough toast. The scrambled eggs were perfect, and I managed one of the two slices of toast. I also had a flat white. Once we had finished our breakfast, we made a quick bathroom stop and then we headed to our gate.
We still had some time until we had to board, and we both spent it reading. We both had another quick bathroom stop and soon after both of us were back, boarding started. This was a pretty smooth process. Soon we were in our seats even though we were in the last boarding group. There was also plenty of space for our hand luggage. I continued reading and Graham started watching a film. Once we were at cruising altitude, I went to the bathroom. I suddenly felt very lightheaded and was worried that I may pass out. I started to worry that what I thought was a flare up of my IBS was actually a virus of some description. However, my funny turn went as quickly as it had come, and I felt as right as rain. Graham commented later that he was glad that the temperature was now a bit lower and that it had been way too hot at the beginning of the flight. We both agreed that I probably had just overheated and once the temperature came down, I started to feel better.
Soon after I got back, they started the meal service. I was still spooked by what had happened when I got up and figured that if I had some kind of virus, I better not have anything to eat. I did however have a Coke and some water. Graham had some kind of chicken dish along with some wine. I also had some tea, and Graham had some coffee when they offered this after lunch. Once everything had been cleared away, I decided to watch Crazy Rich Asians. I have always loved this film. I had also recently read two of the books in that trilogy again and was about halfway through the final one. I watch this movie every chance I get. This time it was very topical. Not only were we heading to Singapore, but we were staying at the hotel where the opening scenes for the movie were filmed for part of the trip. Even though the opening scenes are set in London, the hotel where they were filmed is actually in Penang, Malaysia. Unfortunately, I did not get much beyond the opening scenes before I was asleep. Graham was amused that I found yet another film to sleep through.
I managed to sleep for about half the flight. Once I woke up again, I read for a bit to see if I would manage to stay awake. I did not think I would go to sleep again and figured I would have another go at watching Crazy Rich Asians. This time, I watched the whole movie. At some stage we got some pizza and another drink. I had some mango juice and Graham had some coffee.
Soon afterwards, we started our approach to Abu Dhabi. We circled for a while. We had plenty of time and I was not worried. We still arrived on schedule. There was an announcement that we did not have to go through transit security, but that we would be met at the end of the airbridge by ground staff. We were asked to have our passports to hand when we got off the aircraft. Deplaning was very smooth. It made me smile though. We had definitely been on a miracle flight. In Manchester, about 30 people were taken to the aircraft door by wheelchair. Well, only two people were waiting for wheelchair assistance in Abu Dhabi. It is amazing what can happen during a flight.
When we came off the airbridge, staff checked our passports and asked where we were flying to. Then we were free to leave. As we exited from the gate area, a golf cart came past. The driver stopped and offered us a ride. We gratefully accepted. This was just as well as the two gates were about as far away as you could get.
I was a little confused. We had flown through Abu Dhabi a number of times in the past with the most recent flight through Abu Dhabi being in 2018. The airport looked completely different from how I remembered this. Admittedly, it had been a while, but my memory of places is pretty good. I mentioned this to Graham, and he replied that there was a good reason for this as it is actually a different airport. Apparently, they built themselves a brand-new terminal in between the two runways. They did a great job with this. It is a modern and bright space. They also have some loungers in the gate areas. Some gates are open plan, and some are self-contained. Our gate was not open yet when we got there, but there was an open-plan gate right next door, and we made ourselves comfortable on some loungers. Graham had a bit of a nap, and I read.
When I went to the bathroom, I noticed that our gate was open. Once I was back, I told Graham, and we headed over there. Boarding started shortly afterwards and was pretty smooth. To my delight, the bulkhead seats were pretty spacious. Normally, as they have solid arms, they are a bit tight. There was no infant in our row, and we were only joined by one other passenger. It took a while to figure out how to unlatch the TV and where the headphone jack was hidingonce we were at cruising altitude, but eventually, we worked it out.
Once we were at cruising altitude, dinner was served. Graham had some beef dish, and I had sweet and sour chicken with rice. It was OK, but nothing to write home about. The mango rice pudding that we had for dessert was amazing though. On the opposite end of the scale was the wine. Graham had commented on the first flight that this was not stellar, but apparently this was an extra step up in terms of being horrible. We referred to it as a special vintage of Chateau de Airbridge.
While we had our food, I decided to check out what Crazy Rich Asians is like in German. This felt really strange. Still, my plan was anyway to sleep and once the tray had been cleared, I settled down to do just this. The Airbus A380 has the reputation that it is one of the quietest planes around, but this one was the exception to the rule. Intermittently. there was a really high-pitched whine. Fortunately, the headphones filtered a lot of this out and apart from the odd short period where I woke up as I needed to adjust my position, I slept for most of the flight.
Dolphingirl’s Travels 
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