A Real Round-The-World Trip – Part Seven: Bangkok, Etihad Business Class, Emirates Palace, & AUH

Previous Trip Notes:
A Real Round-The-World Trip – Part Six: Bangkok Air, Park Hyatt, Siem Reap
A Real Round-The-World Trip – Part Five: MH794, Hilton Arcadia, Phuket, Thailand
A Real Round-The-World Trip – Part Four: MH79 HKG>KUL Business Class, Grand Hyatt KL, & KL
A Real Round-The-World Trip – Part Three: One Night in Hong Kong
A Real Round-The-World Trip – Part Two: CX 807, Take Two
A Real Round-The-World Trip – Part One: The Setup

We landed in Bangkok at 11:05am, grabbed our bags, and jumped into a Grab Taxi. Traffic. Was. Horrendous. The Grand Hyatt Erawan is only 16 miles from the airport, but it took us nearly an hour and a half to get there. NSPwife & NSPpeanut took a nap for the solid part of the drive. We checked in upstairs in their lounge, grabbed some waters, and made our way to the room. While nice, the room was definitely tight for the four of us. We decided to book the room since our flight didn’t take off until 2:10am, and we wanted a place where we could walk around a bit of Bangkok and also a place to rest and relax a little.

We explored some of the shops around the hotel, grabbed a quick massage, and then NSPwife, NSPpeanut, and NSPbabysitter went back to the hotel. I found some street food first before going back to relax. NSPpeanut was near the end of her rope…tens of thousands of miles traveled, hot and humid climates, multiple plane and taxi rides. She wanted some McDonald’s french fries. And she wanted them now. Lucky for us, there was a McDonald’s directly adjacent to the back entrance of the hotel, and despite the amazingness of the Pad Thai that was made on the hot block in front of my eyes, the familiarity (and maybe salt) of the french fries was a nice treat for me as well. It was nearing 11pm, and we called our final Grab Taxi of the week and trekked it back to Suvarnabhumi Airport. We made our way to another Miracle Lounge, nibbled on some food and ice cream, and at around 1:30am made our way to the gate.

Flight Time: 2:10am

All four of us flew business class from Bangkok to Abu Dhabi, a 6.5 hour flight. We were given menus and amenity kits:

Etihad Business Class Overnight Menu

Etihad Business Class – Overnight Menu

Etihad Business Class – Overnight Menu

Etihad Business Class – Overnight Menu

Etihad Business Class – Amenity Kits

Etihad Business Class – Amenity Kits

We were so tired, we had a single nightcap and called it a night:

Tired Baby

Nightcap

We fell asleep immediately, and woke up shortly before descent. We landed at roughly 5:30am, and needed to clear customs since we were spending part of our 5-hour-10-minute layover in the city. We had checked our bags all the way through to DC, and had booked the complimentary chauffeur service that accompanied our business class seats to Emirates Palace for breakfast.

Etihad Chauffeur Service – Abu Dhabi

The car service couldn’t have been easier, and we were quickly pulling up on the impressive Emirates Palace. Upon exiting the car, the staff quickly assessed my wardrobe and let me know I couldn’t go in wearing shorts. Given it was not even 7am, there was no where to buy pants. After confirming with them that we had reservations for breakfast, they reluctantly let us in; however, they escorted us the entire way to ensure we didn’t make any side trips.

Breakfast was, as one can expect, amazing. In addition to the vast buffet spread, you could order a la carte items, and they sat us outside with views of the beach and marina. Truly a memorable experience.