Ah airports. I'd like to say you either love them or hate them but I'm pretty sure everyone hates them. They're exciting in some ways, but bustling, nerve wracking and frustrating all at the same time. I swear every couple I walk past are in some flustered argument frantically waving their hands in the air.
I was a bit anxious going into this trip. Having never been on this sort of adventure by myself, the idea was super daunting. Airports can either make or break you. Take me and my friend Sophie for example. We had an Etihad driver pick us up from our house, drive us all the way to the international airport. We almost died twice on the way there (who said they were good drivers?) but that didn't dampen the mood.
Checking in, we flew through customs. Having forked out a small fortune to secure business class seats, we were eligible to go to the front of all the lines and skip the queues. You should have seen the look the airport staff gave us when we approached. That 'mmm sorry honey, you're so in the wrong line' type look/judgement. Ha, to prove them wrong! They did a double take when they saw our confirmation with many clearly not believing we could a) afford the airfare b) older than 12 years old and c) can legally drink. Talk about a triple whammy!
We got to the business class lounge, indulged in the free food, wifi and drinks and waited an easy 40 minutes until our flight was ready to board. Bliss! We boarded on time, took our seats in our luxury pods and thought we were free of any hiccups. Nahhhht!
"Good afternoon passengers," came the voice over the speaker. "We seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties, but this should only delay our take off by about 20 minutes. I will keep you posted on the progress. We thank you for your patience."
2 hours later....
Still on the tarmac. Told ya, airports can either make or break your spirit. See normally, a delay wouldn't bother me. This time, however, our connecting was only two hours after landing in Abu Dhabi. Yep two hours. What we had already been sitting on the tarmac for. The flight attendant tried to reassure me we wouldn't miss our connecting flight and wouldn't have to stay the night in Abu Dhabi, but I had little faith. When we disembarked the plane after 13 hours, we had all over 7 minutes before our next flight was due to take off. We walked down the stairs of the plane and were greeted by a lovely Etihad representative who had a private car waiting to rush us to our next plane and fly us through customs, landing us straight at the foot of our next plane. Ideal scenario right? Well, kinda. I asked her if our luggage would make it on the flight to which she responded most likely not. Shit.
The next seven hours were spent next to a screaming child, a snorer louder than a freight train and anxiously wondering if my bags would arrive to Rome.
Stay tuned for part 2 to see if we made it.
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