Day 35 - We checked out of our Dubai hotel at 11:00. The front desk called a taxi for us and we were on the road a few minutes later. We kept four heavy, large suitcases at the hotel. Jay's sisters have carry-ons and we have backpacks only.
It took us about an hour and forty-five minutes to get to Abu Dhabi. The road that used to be a four-lane divided highway is mostly 8 to 12 lanes now. Now, as soon as one runs out of buildings, the roadsides have forests of planted trees. It used to feel like a trip through the desert. Now it just feels like a boring drive to another city of highrise buildings.
We got here before the 2:00 check-in time, but we were given rooms right away. The hotel is a grade or two above our usual stays. However, it was purchased mostly with really old Expedia points. The problem here is this city is built for cars and walking is difficult and the distances far.
We did find some lunch. Most of the buildings here have restaurants, markets, or shops on the ground floor. We found a restaurant called 'Madras something" and had their standard, lunch set menus. The gals were able to have fish while we had chicken. Our food was served directly on fresh banana leaves.
We will probably go out for takeaway food for dinner. There's a buffet breakfast downstairs and our appointed time to board the MSC Opera is at 10:00 am. I expect we'll have enough food over the next few days on the cruise. (We were only on MSC lines once earlier in the year when we visited Rio de Janeiro and some islands of Brazil.)