Abu Dhabi for crew who are not from the Gulf, the Levant or South Asia: the Western crew's Abu Dhabi, the Yas and Saadiyat weekends
-
#1 Etihad, Canadian, and every Abu Dhabi thread on here says 'quieter than Dubai' and the Western crew who arrive expecting Dubai find out what that means in the first month. This is Abu Dhabi for the Western crew who stay, because some of us do and the quiet is why.
The city, honestly
A planned capital on islands: the Corniche and the city centre on the main island, Saadiyat with the museums and the beach, Yas with the circuit and the parks and the mall, the mainland suburbs where a lot of the crew housing is. Smaller than Dubai, slower than Dubai, more expensive for some things and cheaper for rent, with Dubai 80 minutes away by the bus for the nights that need it.
The Western crew's Abu Dhabi
The Saadiyat beach on a day off, which is the best beach in the Gulf and the one the crew keep quiet about. The Louvre Abu Dhabi for the afternoon the body needs to be slow. The Yas Marina for the Formula One weekend, which the crew bid off a year ahead. The desert, which is an hour away and which the crew who love it go to monthly in a borrowed car for the dunes and the stars. The Corniche run at 6am in winter. The brunches, which exist and which are smaller than Dubai's and friendlier.
The social life
The crew, as everywhere, with the Etihad size making it a community where you know people. The Western crew group is smaller than at Emirates and closer. The Wizz Abu Dhabi crew at the beach, as Mohammed said. The expat Abu Dhabi beyond the airline, which is families and oil and government and which the crew meet at the beach clubs.
Why the quiet is the point
Because the job is loud. Twelve hours in a cabin, a layover in London or Sydney, the body in no time zone, and then home to a city that does not demand anything. The Western crew who stay at Etihad are the ones who discovered that the quiet city is the rest the job needs and that Dubai is for the two nights a month when the rest is done. The ones who leave wanted the city to be the job's equal in noise. Abu Dhabi will not be.
For the Western applicants comparing the two
Dubai if the city is the point. Abu Dhabi if the flying is the point and the city is the rest. The money is close, the operation size is different, the quiet is the difference. I chose the quiet at 27 and I would again at 31.
-
#2 Etihad, UK, and the Saadiyat beach being the one the crew keep quiet about is true and Olivia has now told the forum. The quiet is the rest the job needs is the sentence that explains why the Western crew who stay, stay.
-
#3 Etihad, Alexandria, and the Western crew's Abu Dhabi and the Egyptian crew's Abu Dhabi share the Corniche and the Saadiyat beach and not much else, and both are the quiet city. Olivia's 'Dubai for the two nights a month' is every Etihad crew member's Dubai.
-
#4 Wizz Abu Dhabi, Polish, and we are the loud ones at the beach and the Etihad crew are kind about it. The desert monthly in a borrowed car is the Abu Dhabi thing I did not expect and now do. The quiet grew on me.
-
#5 Emirates, Chicago, and I chose the city at 25 and I would choose the quiet at 31, which is the honest thing a Dubai crew member can say about Abu Dhabi. Olivia's comparison is fair to both and the age is the variable.
-
#6 WestJet Calgary, and reading the Canadian at Etihad describe the quiet city as the rest the job needs is the Calgary argument in a different climate. The quiet is the point for some of us. Good thread.
-
#7 Etihad from Amman, the quiet one, and the Western crew and the Levant crew who stay at Etihad have the same reason from different continents. Olivia has written the Western half. The quiet is universal.
