I made it to JFK!! And to my very pleasant surprise I met up with a guy my mom introduced me to at the airport and a few friends who were on the plane with us from Charlotte. They were very accepting of me tagging along with their group and thank God that they were because I would have surely been lost in that big airport.
We all made our way to the terminal we needed to get to and went through TSA which took FOREVER!! There were about 10 different lines and I swear I had to take off everything except my undergarments lol just kidding but it was pretty intense. Once we made it through we found our terminal and charged phones, found food, and called home. After about an hour of waiting we were allowed to board the plane. International flights always get me very excited because of the different amenities they have to offer. Etihad was a nice plane but very cramped. The amenities they offered kept my attention during the flight but the best part of this flight was the ability to use wifi in the air. I was able to text my family and surf the internet. I even watched some Netflix while in the air and only for $20. I was happy =)
All of the games on the plane kept me up and occupied
Nirvana greeted us with badges….I assume so that we could be easily identified
Are you stinking kidding me!!! 120 degrees!!
After speaking with Nirvana we were directed to go through an eye scanning terminal. This took about 10minutes. We went through customs which was a surprisingly fast process. Then headed to claim our bags. There were so many people that came in group 1. I am really curious how many will come in the other groups. ANYWAY we got our bags and were directed outside where we put our bags on a baggage shuttle which was located OUTSIDE. Now the picture above just read the temperature while I was inside. I hadn’t stepped foot in the desert sun yet but I did not expect the heat that touched my skin once I did. Its not even a heat that I can explain. It was a suffocating type thing. I may be over-exaggerating but its not by much lol. For me it was a mess. But moving on. We were then told to get on a bus that would take us to our hotel.(pictured below)
This hotel was absolutely beautiful. When we stepped inside we were offered fruit infused water. We were given our room keys and asked to turn over our passports. We were also told that we would be given sims cards for our UAE phones that we would get or if you had a dual sim phone you could use. My room was located on the 21st floor. It was (Im assuming) their version of a single guest room. It had a king size (UAE standards) bed. A flat screen tv, a free standing shower, and a garden style tub.
We stayed RIGHT NEXT to the mall. Al Whada mall was right outside my window!!
My name was programmed on my room phone! I felt like such a boss!!
Over all I was very impressed with the hotel. The customer service was superb! The exterior as well as interior were also very impressive. I would recommend anybody to stay here.