Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Abu Dhabi?

The big 4-0 is coming up, and my wife suggested an F1 race to celebrate. Abu Dhabi on November 23 is close to my birthday and it falls within Thanksgiving break. But is it do-able? Does it make sense?

The Persian Gulf has never appealed to me, travel-wise. Although the championship will almost definitely be determined at that race, Yas Marina has never been considered a "destination" track.

Tickets for the race are still available and are relatively reasonable cost-wise. So are hotels.

Flight options are interesting. SFO has direct flights to Dubai (Emirates). You then take a 90 minute bus from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. Coincidentally, Etihad will start non-stop flights to Abu Dhabi from SFO on November 18. (I didn't know what those Etihad logos at F1 races were until now.) The crew will be Etihad, but the planes will have Jet Airways livery. Jet Airways is an Indian carrier owned by Etihad. Airfare on Etihad is very reasonable, but what if there is a delay and flights do not start on the 18th?

Here's the drive from Abu Dhabi to Dubai. Has anyone been to the UAE?

9 comments:

  1. RichAugust 13, 2014 at 11:13 PM

    Fun! Back around 2008-9, Jet Airways flew from SFO to Mumbai via Shanghai. The aircraft & crew reviewed rather well, iirc.

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  2. RichAugust 13, 2014 at 11:16 PM

    Or, you know, seek out an Etihad A380 and go all-out crazy bling. It's your birthday, after all.

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  3. SanchezAugust 14, 2014 at 9:55 AM

    I have been and in my humble opinion it is boring. I hate cities where you can't walk around!

    Standard route: hotel => cab => mall => cab => hotel. Just think about what will you do besides the F1 race. Ferrari World, Burj Al Arab, Burj Al Dubai, probably some off road safari, some car spotting.

    Where in Asia have you already been?

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  4. MaxichampAugust 14, 2014 at 10:07 AM

    @Sanchez: That's why I have never been interested in the UAE. I've only been to East Asia: China, Taiwan, Japan.

    The only Arabian Peninsula country I would like to visit is Oman. It's quiet and there's old stuff there and there are not many tourists.

    Are many used American cars exported to Kazkahstan? If so, which models are the most popular?

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  5. SanchezAugust 14, 2014 at 10:58 AM

    I don't know why but I always wanted to visit Sokotra Islands.

    Have you been to Hong Kong? I am there now and I love the place. When is Macau Grand Prix? November, right?

    There is quite a few cars exported from North America to Kazakhstan but almost all of them are German and Japanese brands.

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  6. SanchezAugust 14, 2014 at 10:59 AM

    Socotra*

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  7. UnknownAugust 14, 2014 at 12:07 PM

    Got to one of the historic sites like Spa, Silverstone, Mugello or even Monaco

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  8. halifaxf1fanAugust 15, 2014 at 8:57 AM

    For a good race that time of year head to Brazil

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  9. m4ff3wAugust 22, 2014 at 9:16 PM

    Why not come down to Austin?

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