I have always seen the Emirates football (soccer) jerseys and Emirates Airlines’ amazing first-class service on social media. An Uber driver once told me it was not expensive, and I have been intrigued ever since.
When I bought the Wizz Air all-you-can-fly pass, Abu Dhabi and Dubai were at the top of the list. When I planned my European trip in the fall of 2024, I kept checking the standby availability and accommodation options. I was able to make it happen after Austria with a little logistics. I took a Flix bus from Vienna to downtown Budapest, Hungary, and an Uber to the airport. Once I arrived (hungover AF), I had a few hours to spare for my six-hour direct flight. Holy shit, it was happening!
I did not land in Abu Dhabi until later at night and was without a phone charger that was left on the bus in Budapest. After some currency math, I bought a $3 USB charger for 25 dollars at the Abu Dhabi airport. That allowed me to grab an Uber to my hostel. I grabbed my USD 30, 30-minute Uber and was on my way after the long self-inflicted, but I was knocking out a huge bucket list item.
Arriving at my hostel after midnight, it was already quiet time, which is normally 10 PM – 8 AM, unless you’re at a party hostel like the Mad Monkey I stayed at in Palawan, Philippines, as there was no quiet time. Damn kids, get off my lawn, LOL!
I was still fired up from the reality I was actually in Abu Dabhi and got to visit Dubai too. I went outside as they had a nice courtyard to relax. The first person I met was who we all called Bahrain as that is where he was from and that was easy to remember, and what an absolute GEM. He was wearing a traditional men’s abaya, smoking cigarettes, and drinking a beer.
If you know the culture, this is not normal, so he became my best friend immediately. We talked for a while and then both made our way to our shared room. It had seven single beds with an IKEA-type shelf for each, with a lock assigned to each bed. I unloaded my stuff as quietly as possible and hit the sack for about 4 minutes. The dude in the next bed was snoring like a chainsaw. As a reference, I am almost deaf in my right ear and could hear him through the pillow with my left ear, LOL.
This guy was Syria, my next best friend in the hostel after we hashed out the snoring in the morning, which entailed “go get a hotel if you do not like it,” which was fair, LOL.
Over the next several years,Baharan, Seria, and I would spend a good amount of time talking.
Baharan (left) could not speak English so a lot needed interpreting, but his body language and animation made it pretty clear what was going on at most times. I was constantly laughing at him, and he knew it so kept up the entertainment. From a whoop whoop, nope nope, she/he broken, sad/happy face with loud YESS and NOO I got it.
Syria (right) was also an old soul for someone who was only 26 years old, hanging out with Bahran and me in our 50s. He had been through so much in his young years with the war in Palestine that I would not even pretend to understand. Both of his houses and his restaurant were leveled in the fighting.
Some people in UAE would not associate with him because he was Syrian as well. It hurt so bad listening, but he had an amazing no-quit attitude. I got to Facetime with his beautiful fiancé who was in Michigan and could tell how much he loved her and missed her. Great news, I saw on IG that she was in Abu Dabhi, and they got married. I could not have been so happy for him as he deserves so much happiness.
Honestly, I was sad when Syria found a new place but happy for him as it would allow him to save money and start working again. I still got to hang out with Baharan a couple of times, and felt even worse when he dropped me off at the airport a couple of days late, even though his driving was scary AF. He gave me a hag and one of his head garments as we said goodbye:
I was back in London on my way back to America, as I was at the end of my trip after visiting Varna, Bulgaria, Vienna, Austria, Budapest, Hungary, and both London Gatwick and Heathrow areas of London.
I wrote a post on a day trip to a camel farm, and here are a few of those pictures:
The amazing architecture in Abu Dhabi is almost impossible to share, so I added a Google link here to help share what I saw in the five days I was there. I also made a day trip to Dubai, but I will post about that amazing trip.
