Abu Dhabi international airport is huge...

After fourteen hours and five minutes I have arrived at the most amazing airport I have ever been too. Leaving Melbourne at 11:05pm was glorious enough with the lights and amazing geographical patterns that these make. But arriving here at 5:40am (local time - good advice to wind watch to next time zone Tanya) was just awesome. The lighting seemed picturesque and glowed in a different way there were colours of many brightnesses and hues that made this landing quite spectacular. In fact Tim would have loved landing as the pilot camera was screened inside for us to enjoy.

I won't lie, the flight is hard but I have had advice from many and think I sould share these as I am feeling fine dispute only having 7-8 hours of broken sleep and being placed at the rear of the plane next to a fellow passenger who was a snorer!

Hint 1 - take 1-2 L of tomatoe juice in the 12-24 hours before travel ( thanks Suzette as this worked in France)

Hint 2 - take jet ease tablets (made in New Zealand and available at herbalists)

Hint 3 - drink water every time it is offered - or juice as you like

Hint 4 - pack a wrap as it gets cold - well I am a cold fish

Hint 5 - invest in quality sound reducing headphones - I am proof they work

Hint 6 - this should be 3 in priority - take vitamin C and eucalyptus drops to prevent getting coughs and colds during the flight (thanks Heather as this I have been doing and so far so good - just forgot the eucalyptus but have a really nice perfume to block bad smells!)

Thanks to everyone for their great words of wisdom as you can tell I have tried to use them all!

Did I tell you my luggage only weighed 16kg? This was another tip gleaned from my fried Nathan. I also used the Pack my Bag app and read up on this here - http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/pack-clothes.htm

So now as I await my flight to Munich if can only imagine what the next 24 hours has in store for me. But I have been encouraged by my friend Chris who blogged this quote today and this will be my stretching out to be all that God has made be!

There are so many display ideas here this honey comb dome leads up onto the ceiling and I love this concept a circle of shops and cafés surrounds it. So much to see - and this is only the airport!

Here I go! And what I can say now that I have left the airport and am writing as we take off - I missed the beautiful Arabic architecture upon my arrival as in the dark you only saw a glow. Now in the morning light there is so much sand - why didn't I expect that? The homes and buildings are amazingly  different to what we see in Australia. Wow...