Context
Hello everyone, this is part two of a trip to Abu Dhabi I made through Paris. You can check the BOG-CDG segment Here
Reaching CDG
So having spent most of my 10 hour transit walking in Paris, I took the RER back to CDG. I know the RER gets a lot of fire from FRists and other usual riders, but I've come to consider it one of the best airport links around (hear that Dulles!)
At CDG
Since my bag was already checked in BOG, and already had a BP in AF stock, I skipped this awful queue and proceeded quickly to passport control and security checks.
Passport control took ages with a lot of passengers for a CX flight making most of it. The security check was rather swift instead. As soon as I was done with it I had a magnificent view of my ride to the UAE.
Then is up to the Duty Free stores… since there was no Lounge I could use my Priority Pass card to enter, I had to freshen up at restroom and change my shirt for the flight.
I then moved to look for a plug adaptor, as I had lost mine to my ex-girfriend. By the time I showed to the gate they were calling me for a visa-check and giving me a new boarding pass in EY stock.
Boarding
Boarding was quick and fairly organised…went quickly to the long bowels of the A340-600. This plane felt longer than LHs…
Nice touch by EY- the "smart pillows". Much more useful than regular ones which I seldom use.
Seat pitch seemed more than enough for the longhauls these 4 holers perform…
After this picture was taken I was asked to move by a Dutch couple..I was going to protest when I noticed I had indeed seated in the wrong place, oops!
Now in my real seat…everything looked more than fine.
Amenity kit: earplugs, toothbrush, socks and eyshades. Very nice touch! The headphones were above industry standard for Y class.
The crew then passed and distributed menus for today's trip.
On the way to Abu Dhabi
Boarding took a fairly long time, during which I mostly slept. I woke up when I noticed we were taxying to the runway. During takeoff we were granted awesome views of Paris at night. My camera is rather bad for night pictures so I won't share them.
The cabin was lit with mood lighting that changed colours throughout the different phases of the flight.
During the drinks round I chose apple juice since I didn't feel like drinking alcohol. I wanted to have an alcohol-free weekend.
Eventually we were handed our meal, I chose the fish kofta. Not a wise choice for me. It tasted too fishy, but the rice was awesome. The dessert was very tasty too.
After our dinner was picked I was basically done for. So I slept during the rest of the flight.
Arriving to Abu Dhabi
Etihad does make sure you are aware of the imminent arrival. There's a lot of movement and things being done in the meanwhile, so I was unavoidably waken up. But I was treated with great views of Abu Dhabi and its surroundings during dawn.
Our ride at destination
We arrived at Terminal 1. The sheer amount of people in the place is impressive. Immigration took ages. When I arrived to the booth the guy told me I couldn't use the booth since I had a visa (uh? thanks for the heads up before queuing there), by that point I was very exhausted, so I asked an Italian family if I could cut before them. I was finally allowed into the UAE. I picked my bag (thankfully it made it all the way unscathed…), and then I was selected "randomly" for a security check. It was super super thorough, I had a lot of questions asked about the purpose of my trip, and whether I had been to the UAE before or not. At a point the guy asked me why I looked so badly and I told him I had a 30 hour trip, so I was basically hammered. Eventually he concluded I wasn't a menace to the country and was let through.
Hello, Chibcha! A good evening from Los Angeles, and thank you for sharing this FR with us.
Menu options look pretty good. Though I'm rather surprised EY uses flimsy plastic for their meal servings (as KL do too, for instance).
The arrival at AUH doesn't sound very pleasant! So there's a different queue for passengers with a visa and another one for those can enter without visa?
Thanks again for sharing! Hope your experience in The Emirates wasn't too bad to make up for the unpleasant arrival experience.
Hi there, sorry for not answering before!
I didn't feel the presentation of the dishes to be so cheap...actually they "felt" a bit above industry standard, probably on par with rival QR, don't know with EK.
Arrival to AUH was quite disorganised...and this different queue I don't know if it was really an institutionalised thing or just that the guy didn't want to deal with a visa-visitor. They could have posted a sign if so...go figure.
I had a lot of fun in the UAE, I had the chance of visiting both Abu Dhabi and Dubai and they are indeed quite interesting places, probably not my favourite destinations, but surely they have a place in my heart as my first visit to an Arab country.
Thanks for passing by!
Thanks for the FR.
You really must have been exhausted at the end of this trip, even without the 10 hour walk in Paris you'd have reason to be.
Shame that you did not get one of the refurbished RER, they are actually pretty good...
Good service onboard EY, at least for dinner. I think they should offer something for breakfast though.
Thanks for commenting!
I might have not mentioned or taken a picture of the breakfast as I was probably asleep...so take that aspect of the report with a pinch of salt.
I was indeed quite tired, but after I arrived I had to jump into power mode as the I had that day to do touristy stuff in Abu Dhabi and then the other day to visit Dubai, the other two days were for work.