One of the stunning areas of the Emirates Palace Hotel - our room is on the 4th floor.

Arriving at the Emirates Palace was a mouth-dropping experience. Oooh’s and ah’s were eminating from the back seat as Aly and I realised that the sweeping road leading up to an amazing building was in fact the hotel were we would be staying. I was so thrilled to see Aly just sit there in the car shaking his head in wonderment that the sight before us was actually our hotel. In all honesty, Aly said ‘Bloody hell, we’re not stopping here are we?” Typical him…he loves the good life but is still at heart very humble.

After the incredible Etihad experience, we were in the frame of mind to be spoiled and pampered. What we received was simply perfection and throughout our time at the hotel, everyone was attentive and professional, warm and genuine. From the beautiful bunch of roses imported from Holland given me on our arrival to the single stem red rose kindly handed me on our departure, I felt a member of the Emirates Palace family. Aly and I both discussed this and we agreed that there was a warmth from the employees that didn’t seem engineered or forced.

We loved our room and balcony looking over the front of the hotel to the amazing domed building that changed color every few minutes. At night it looked like Christmas. Unfortunately it was in our room that I lost the first lot of photo’s and video’s that included getting into the Etihad courtesty car, the plane interior and the first day in our room. I lost it because I thought I was downloading it to my hard drive but obviously wasn’t. I’m so disappointed and had to just let it go or I would have dwelled on this and it would have impacted on our fun.

Another amazing vista. Gold and glowing.

It was 1 kilometre from the east wing to the west wing (vice versa) and took some skilled navigation not to get lost amongst the gold guilding; however, there was always friendly staff to point us in the right direction. The heat was quite oppressive though and being outside caused you to be drenched in sweat withing minutes. Consequently we spent a lot of time at the east wing pool complete with swim through bar.

The water was a perfect temperature to keep cool on the outside and the wet bar just ideal to keep the inside cool. Their Mojito's were amazing.

We did venture out to the Marina Mall shopping centre where it was lovely and cool. Only a short taxi ride from the hotel, it was huge and full of global brands we all know and love. I did however see a few women dressed in strappy tops and skimpy shorts. People were right, they stood out from everyone else dressed conservatively and locals did stare and pay them attention. It would have made me really uncomfortable so in my mind there is no doubt that modest dressing will enhance your stay in Abu Dhabi.

A place where we spent a lot of time. Mojito's a specialty. Thank you to all the pool and bar staff for your fine attention. You were all exceptional.

Walking around the hotel was great fun as there are so many places to lounge, dine and drink. We had the buffet breakfast in a massive room accessed by two sweeping staircases and it was so comfortable. I’ve had a few hotel breakfasts in my time but this was akin to a breakfast banquet. Foods to cater to all tastes throughout the continents were beautifully dispayed and I went troppo on the fine coffee. I’m often an eat’n'run kind of girl but in the comfortable arm chairs and the variety of food available, Aly had to drag me out. Thank God we got lost in the hotel because we could at least walk off some of the calories.

The night we arrived we took advantage of room service and it was fantastic. We both raved about the food which was delivered on an immaculately prepared trolley table complete with flowers and every accompaniment you could wish for.

Another night we dined at the Sayad restaurant in the hotel and had an absolute ball enjoying a wonderful meal prepared by an Australian chef. Until I can get home and take stills from my video footage, I’m including a small video of our entree’s. The restaurant was lovely and very relaxing. Pricey but worth it.

Whilst I do realise that staying at this hotel is considered wasteful, decadent and obscene to some, it was a stunning experience that we worked hard to obtain over the years. To be honest, not much will come close to the level of personal attention we received. Diva needs to quickly grab herself a tent and backpack before she loses touch with reality all together. Sotto voce – I’ve never camped in my life.

Overall, we would thoroughly recommend the Emirates Palace for those who wish to pamper themselves a little and experience Middle Eastern hospitality at it’s best. We were so sad to leave this hotel. We genuinely felt a little emotional when they said good bye to us and sent us off with a lovely rose and huge smiles. Might sound soppy but it’s how we felt at the time.

Etihad once again were true to form and were waiting for us at 0600 to return us to Abu Dhabi International Airport for our flight to Athens.

Date: 11th August 2009
Carrier: Etihad
Flight: EY 0091
Depart: Abu Dhabi International Airport
Arrive: Athens International Airport
Take Off: 0925
Arrive: 1315
Aircraft: A32
Class: Business

First Class Lounge - Abu Dhabi - Terminal 3. A smile, some food, a massage...what else does one want??

Upon arrival at the airport we pulled up at Terminal 1 Etihad premium class area where we were processed in minutes. I was however; hopping around the airport trying to put my shoes back on and handle our hand luggage once we went through the screening process. Because there was no first class service to Athens we attempted to see if we could access the First lounge in Terminal 1 showing our initial First boarding passes from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi; however, they would not let us in. They told us to make our way to Terminal 3 and use those lounges. At Terminal 3 we entered the premium lounges where they allowed us access to the First lounge given our trip was primarily in F. Yes it was small and nothing like the amazing Etihad F lounge in Terminal 1, but we were treated so well and my waffles were AMAZINGLY yummy. We had soothing massages and sat back enjoying a restful moment in the trip. I had made Aly wear a Birthday badge all day from when we awoke because it was his birthday.

Delicious waffles with poached fruits. I swear it was heaven.

We were advised that we could board the plane now and left the relative calm of the lounge to the boarding area. It was every man for himself boarding the plane and we made our way to our seats 2A and 2C. With only 6 people out of 20 available seats in Business, there was certainly room. Meals were delivered speedily by a lovely attentive crew.

Etihad flight 0019 - Business Class. My fish meal which was so tasty.

Aly's meal - eye fillet and vegetables. He said the steak was cooked perfectly.

After the meal and about an hour prior to landing in Athens, the crew presented Aly with a birthday cake and everyone sung happy birthday. We shared it with the pilot, crew and four other passengers in business. Thanks Etihad….it was just lovely.

Aly's birthday cake at 35 thousand feet. It was so special and he was suprised.

The flight was great. Hardly any turbulance and no flipping out by me. I think I’m over my flying phobia. We slept a bit and watched the scenery out the window.

A view of the Greek coast line - I apologise for the poor quality but I included it nonetheless.

We landed on time and processed through customs once again at the blink of an eye. Unfortunately my Aly in converting his money into Euro, left his bag at the money exchange buearu and neither of us realized until Aly came to read his book that afternoon. Aly initially thought he had left it on the plane. He even recounted the story of how he could see it sitting on our seat when he went to get out the other luggage. We called Etihad and they were to check the flight for the bag. The answer came back negative that the bag was left on our seats and we came to the conclusion that someone may have carried it off. In a blinding moment of clarity for Aly three days later, he felt that he may have left the bag at the Bureau de Change counter which prompted me to ring the Airport. After some fun and games with the language differences, I finally found his bag in the police lost property office situated at the airport. Next day, brave Aly caught a bus to the airport to retrieve his bag. He returned the same day negating the need for me to call missing persons in Greece. He was a hero returning home with his bounty.

A plane on the tarmac of Athens International Airport

All in all, Etihad and Abu Dhabi has been such a positive experience. I’ll get moving on my Athens piece and then on to the Star Clipper cruise through the Greek and Croatian Islands. I am behind because we just couldn’t get WiFi on the cruise so all that we could do was relax and enjoy without worrying about blog writing. Now I’m in Venice with WiFi, I will get my A into G and share.

Please take a moment to send Athens your positive thoughts given their recent fires just moments after we left. God Bless Athens.