Flying for just 45 Euros to Abu Dhabi from Budapest is a price where you can’t complain. Sadly they were catching us with too big luggage, which worked many times. So 38 Euros were spent more. This makes the flight still cheaper than all the other flights to the UAE from Europe, which are not with Wizz Air.
How was it arriving?
Arriving, until actually going out of the airport was not a problem and really easy. Click here to read about public transportation.
Riding the public transportation was annoying. Exchanging money, with an unnecessary high number of fees, even more than it was standing there. After that the guy, who was issuing the bus card had a break, so everyone was waiting for him, while missing the busses. Nothing was possible to pay with card.
In the bus, it was like this: that woman had a special area, where they were able to sit, so I made the first mistake, right after arriving, but I was forgiven.
We had to take another bus, but the internet was stopping to work, which was making it not easier, but somehow it worked, no idea how, but it worked, that was the most important thing. It was not amazing arriving, but could have been worse. At least the temperature was great.
Where is staying?
We were extremely late to our host, due to this public transportation mess, of course that was annoying, but nothing we were able to do about it. Mike, our host, wasn’t annoyed and welcomed us with open arms, which was great. He is living near the water in the city part Al Khalidiyah. It was far from the airport, but everything important for us to do, was within walking distance.
Our sleeping arrangement was sharing the room with Mike. He was giving us his bed, while he was sleeping on the ground, which was amazingly kind from him. On the second day that was changed though. We also slept on the ground, because it was just more comfortable and felt better, then taking the space from him.
In his flat, there were other people living too, they were also really kind. The only issue was, the bathroom door was locking itself, while we were thinking that someone was in there. Other than that, we felt extremely comfortable at the flat.
What did we do the first day
The day after arriving, we were quite a while inside of the apartment, unmotivated to really explore. Having some breakfast and not really much more, we were just not in the mood, happens sometimes.
When it was time to get out, the nearest falafel shop was searched and also found. We ordered each a falafel sandwich, which ending by being a good idea. The store was not far away and surprisingly cheap, which tent to be normal prices. While waiting for the falafel sandwiches, we each received four falafels, which was amazing, they tasted great.
The people in the shop were also really happy having us there, at least this is what it seemed like, who knows.
We went with the sandwiches, which are basically wraps, to the water, where we enjoyed eating them somewhere in the shadows. They tasted amazing and were just what we needed.
Wandering around in the water was great, but later it got hotter as well. Before meeting up with our host, it was time for some relaxing in the park. Until that time, we didn’t really meet Mike, besides having a few sentences said at the beginning. Sadly when we arrived home, he was gone again. We had time then to apply for the visa for Oman, which worked really well.
Before it was getting too late, it was time to get to the beach, for some nice refreshing in the ocean. There was first a private beach, but next to it a public one, for free, which was also looking better, then the private one.
The water wasn’t as warm as expected and it was okay for people to swim in a bikini. We had a great sunset and were enjoying the time, even though it wasn’t long.
Meeting Mike for the “first” time really
When we arrived back at the flat, it was time to really meet Mike, he was super nice to us! He wanted to invite us to one of his favorite places to eat. A restaurant with traditional food from Yemen. At the restaurant, he started speaking Arabic, which surprised not only us, but also the other guests at the restaurant. He was learning the language for over five years and is speaking really well.
Sitting down at the restaurant and eating on the ground was fun, we had amazing food, but getting to know Mike was the best thing. We were talking about everything and got along extremely well. He asked many questions and we did the same. Also questions about traveling, which nobody asked me before. For example, what was the most inspiring moment during traveling?
After the restaurant, we went to another place, to have Karak, which is a tea in combination with many spices. This was a drink, which followed us in the next countries, quite tasty. We were sitting there for a while and had a really deep conversation in a nice way. We learned about each other a lot and got closer in just one evening. With helping each other and giving some advice on the present situation, it was a great evening. Hopefully the contact with him remains, which would be great.
Arriving back home, it was quite late, so time to sleep.
Second day
The second real day was already the last basically, because we were about to fly to Kuwait. Besides some talking and preparing to get on time to the airport, there was nothing really to do. Everything worked super well with the public transportation. It took a long time, but that was expected, due to the distance to the airport.
It was nice to see the way to the airport in light. Both of us wouldn’t have mind, if we stayed longer, which was for both a bit surprising. Sadly we arrived way too early at the airport, but at least we had time to enjoy some peace at the airport, which was not expected.
My most favorite thing
We were in general surprised by the city, because both of us were not hyped at all, to visit. We had a great host and spent a good, but short time there. I don’t know if it would be something for a backpacker, but it is for sure possible to do it cheap, when having a host and not booking anything, because that can be super expensive.
My least favorite thing
Besides the start with public transportation, I was personally really upset with Couchsurfing there. Most people ignored the requests and besides Mike at the end, nobody accepted to host us. One person at the end also accepted, but that would have been already after the first night. Usually in places with many hosts, like Abu Dhabi and with having a good profile it shouldn’t be that hard.
Which will be next?
In the next personal blog post, you are going to read about the short trip to Kuwait, which is fully filled with experiences.
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