Surviving Airport Stopovers / Layovers

Abu Dhabi Airport Terminal 3

Being an OFW for almost 5 years, being inside an airport is almost a yearly routine. Direct flights to Manila is not usually a costly option. If you're lucky it wouldn't matter with your company but in my case, the most cost effective option is always the priority.

I'm not complaining though since connecting flights offer an opportunity to explore another country's airport and spend some time buying chocolates in Duty Free. In my next flight I will be making my stopover at Abu Dhabi Airport which is the home base of Etihad Airlines. I will be spending 4.5 hours which is a long time but not as long compared to other flights where you need to spend 10 to 24hrs. Luckily, I haven't experienced that yet.

Here's how I plan to spend my 4.5 hour stopover:

1) Go around and take pictures of the airport to document in my blog; maybe find something to eat
2) Shop for chocolates at the duty free
3) Look for my gate and find a place nearby to sit down comfortably
4) Spend the rest of the time listening to podcast, watching movie on my mobile

Not too exciting but enough to kill time before I board the long haul flight. What about you? How do you spend your long layovers?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE PLAN: MY POST OFW LIFE

Image
I'm getting ready for a lot of things this year. Moving back to the Philippines, renovating our house, planning for a new business and welcoming a new member in the family! I guess this will be one of the busiest year ever in my life. It's amazing that it will coincide with a blessing of a new baby who probably will be born on my birthday! So being that nobody reads this blog anyway, I will share what I plan to do once I leave the comfort (or the lack of due to salary delays) of being an employee. The internet has changed the way business is done around the world. Not only the internet but the tools that are available now which makes business operations and transactions easier than ever. So my plan is *drumroll* become a freelancer. Yes. I'm technically still be working as a staff but in the comfort of my own home and in my own hours and being with the family 365 days in a year.  It's difficult to leave a job that pays in 6 digit figures but I neede
Read more

Existential thoughts on my Birthday

Image
I know there will come a time my child (hopefully, children) will read this blog and have an insight to how their father thinks. I have spent my birthday on the "far away place" which comes with being an expat worker for the past 6 years. There 's no perfect time to think about existential thoughts but on birthdays. I still have my best days ahead of me even though I'm closer to 40 than 30. Yet, I'm still not sure what to do with my life other than spend it with the ones I love. My daughter is still young and I would need to work until such time she is finish with school and we have enough to build a small business and passive income. I'm nearing a turning point, I promised my daughter I will no longer work in this far away place and I will come home for good. That's 3 months from now. But what should I do next? I've come to a conclusion that I hate my job or maybe just the events as of late that makes me hate it even more. But my best cha
Read more

Choosing Airline Seats - Etihad

Image
It's less than 30 days before I come back to the Philippines. I'm pretty excited and looking forward to see the family again. I love planning trips and the first thing I do when I get my flights booked is to select my seat in the airplane. I'm flying via Etihad airlines which is based in Abu Dhabi. Flight time from Abu Dhabi (AUH) to Manila (MNL) is around 8.5 hours! I always select an aisle seat and near the toilets for two reasons: 1) I want to be able to get up without having to wake-up the person sitting beside me and not have to cross between the cramped seats every now and then just to go and pee. Downside to this is in an airline that has a 4 seater in between the cabin makes for a very narrow corridor for flight attendants with their trolleys. Chances are you or your seat will be hit by the trolley every now and then which will be a very annoying thing if you are a light sleeper. Fortunately, I don't sleep much during flight but when I do I tend to sleep w
Read more