Abu Dhabi - Johnny's view

So I don’t have to write it for every article, I’ve described how I write and why I write it this way here in the disclaimer.

We landed in Dubai. Plus 3 hours time difference compared to our time. It’s 20:20. I’m turning on roaming. I activated it for this transitional period of 10 days when we will be changing countries often. Such promiscuous tourists 😉.

However, our accommodation is in Abu Dhabi. That’s where we were originally supposed to land when I bought the ticket from Vienna to Abu Dhabi on June 10. Since then, however, Wizz Air has changed the flight. And three times at that.

The first time on August 4, when they changed the departure from Vienna to Budapest. It completely changed our simple departure plan.

The second time on September 1, when they changed the departure time to 3 hours earlier. That actually suited us quite well, because we wouldn’t arrive so late at night.

The third time on September 5, when they changed the departure time to an hour later. I just clicked that I agreed. But I didn’t notice an important thing. That the arrival also changed. To Dubai.

Then we just watched the news with concern that Wizz Air had financial problems and just hoped that they would at least keep this flight. And they did. The problem, however, was that I had already booked accommodation in Abu Dhabi, near the airport.

And even finding that accommodation was quite a problem. I went at it quite YOLO. I said to myself that we would leave on December 1, bought the ticket, and then I started looking for accommodation. But I found out that almost everything was booked. For December. In June.

So I did a little research and found out that December 2 in the UAE is their biggest holiday - National Day of UAE. At that time, everyone even flies in from surrounding countries to Dubai and Abu Dhabi and accommodation prices double or triple. And most importantly, everything is sold out. Something like when you go to buy accommodation in the Tatras for New Year’s Eve. In summer, it’s already too late.

So in the end I was glad that I found something near the airport (Booking.com), because we were supposed to arrive late at night and arrive at the accommodation around 23:00. In the photos it looked fine, 2 bedrooms, WiFi, air conditioning, kitchen (we can survive 2 nights even in a problematic accommodation). It cost €248, so €124 per night (this is the metric I track - price per night. And I have the optimum set at €50 per night. But I really couldn’t find anything better for our family of 6).

But the changed place of departure - Budapest, made our departure €100 more expensive for renting a Mercedes Viano car (thanks to my friend Roman, who rents such cars). This cost €100 for the car, about €14 for the Hungarian highway vignette, €50 for diesel, and my friend Bažo’s time was priceless. So €164 in total.

And that’s not all. We landed in Dubai and our accommodation is in Abu Dhabi. So after a long research I finally chose to buy a taxi through Booking, because through Uber the price showed up to around €150. Through Booking it came out (minibus) only €92. Btw. I didn’t want to deal with a taxi on the spot at the airport and I don’t recommend it to anyone else either. The biggest scammers gather there and that applies to probably all countries in the world, including Slovakia.

So the change of departure and arrival place cost us €256 extra. Ok, we would have had to go by bus to Schwechat and from the airport in Abu Dhabi also by taxi, but that would have been under €80.

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Immediately after arrival, it was felt that we were no longer in Europe. The guards had almost military uniforms and the employees behind the counters were dressed in those white robes, even with that white scarf on their head and black headband. That is their official polite clothing. Something like a suit for us. Simona, however, went through another control - for women. There were also female workers and they were in black robes. We were even accelerated and prioritized because of little Simeon, which was quite pleasant.

Outside at the airport, our transport was already waiting for us - a white minibus and I was glad that I had arranged it like this in advance from home.

The journey to the accommodation (and thus from Dubai to Abu Dhabi) took almost an hour and a half. We drove along a wide, sometimes up to 6-lane highway and everywhere around were new relatively modern cars (but then no super luxury).

We arrived at the accommodation at 23:00 (as planned), but we had quite a problem finding it. The map pointed to a road that didn’t exist in reality. Just such a sandy bumpy alley between houses (as if from the back of those large houses). Well, in the end it was where we were supposed to go. I didn’t imagine it like this at all. As it happens. Better not to have expectations ;)

Even when we entered, I had a different feeling than from the photos on Booking. It was it, but a little different than one imagined from the photos. But there was nothing to complain about. It was simple, cardboard-like, everything just provisionally for show. But it was enough for us. We’ll survive two nights. And we did. Well, we still ordered food delivery (the kids wanted burgers) and it wasn’t exactly cheap. Maybe a slap more expensive than at home.

Photos from Booking.com: {gallery:abu-dhabi-prve-ubytko-booking}

It looked like that too, but I expected it to be in some building. But this couldn’t be called a building. Really just such cardboard, ceilings also provisional, plastic doors, but from such thin plastic, like from cups, they literally bent at any manipulation, windows somewhere just fake. In my opinion, these were dwellings for the “servants” of those large houses that were accessible from the road. These cardboards stood at the back of those “palaces”. Right next to us lived a local family in the same “box” and they also had quite nice and new cars parked in that sandy street. But at least we had an authentic experience.

And these are our photos: {gallery:abu-dhabi-prve-ubytko-realita}

Warning: despite the fact that I researched the compatibility of electrical sockets in the UAE with ours, and AI said it was standard, it is not so. There are different sockets here than in Europe and you won’t stick our cable there. But they always had at least one extension cord at the accommodation, which also didn’t look like it would fit, but miraculously it did. It can be seen in the image above, where Matyas is lying on the bed (the extension cord is on the table, you need to zoom in).

Lesson learned: On Google Maps, there was no Street view option in the area of our accommodation, and from satellite images it suggested that it was a normal road. But it wasn’t. And I didn’t even know how to click on another object in the area where I saw photos of the surroundings. This alone should have been a signal for me, whether it’s not some too big backwater. Location of our accommodation on Google Maps

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December 2, 2025

In the morning we went to the city. More specifically to Al Qana Aquarium - The National Aquarium Abu Dhabi. I bought tickets online at home for €190 for the whole family. It wasn’t cheap at all, but supposedly the biggest and most amazing aquarium, so we wanted to see it.

But we wanted to get there by public transport (I wanted to get there so that we would save and also experience something new). We walked a few kilometers from our accommodation and felt the sharp Arabian sun. And that was morning and December. I enjoyed that feeling that it’s dry here. I knew what awaited us in Asia.

No one anywhere, only cars racing along the highway, large, sprawling areas, every now and then a local gardener watering the garden in a huge villa, but still I felt like we were lost in the desert.

When we arrived at the stop, a nearby guard told us that the bus would arrive in an hour at the earliest. We were already starting to burn in the sun, so I gave up and called a taxi.

Tip: I used the Careem app, which is very popular here. Because through Uber I saw prices that made my eyes roll. But even through Careem it wasn’t cheap. For example, this ride to the Aquarium cost €20. But it was about 20 min and approx 20km.

I won’t describe the experiences in the aquarium, that has already been described by other family members.

But during the taxi ride I understood how big Abu Dhabi is, stretched out, nothing here is within walking distance, everyone has a car. Motorcycles almost don’t even exist (unlike in Asia). The white color of the car prevails, and significantly. For obvious reasons. But I still didn’t see any super luxury rides.

Before we went to the aquarium, we had breakfast in such a like shopping mall, but again it wasn’t cheap. I spent €38 there for the whole family. There were few people, everyone walked in those traditional Arabian white and black robes.

Anyway, we were in expectation that there would be crowds and crowds of people, because of the UAE national holiday. And in the evening there were supposed to be fireworks and everyone was supposed to celebrate, the streets were supposed to be full and flags on the cars, on the rear-view mirrors covers with tricolors, like when hockey is played at our home. But the streets were almost empty.

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After the aquarium we took a ride to the largest mosque in the UAE - Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. The price of the taxi was around €8. I note that I always had to call a large 7-seater car.

The mosque was huge and again you can see and read more in the articles from other family members.

But they have it quite well thought out that near the mosque there is a huge shopping mall in the underground. And through large underground corridors, accelerated by those moving belts like at the airport, you can get all the way to the mosque (nicely out of reach of the sun, in the AC).

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After visiting the mosque, we went to eat again. We spent about €60 on lunch in the food court. I’m writing those prices here so that it hurts you with me ;)

And another transfer by a large taxi for €22. This time we went to teamLab Phenomena. It is an artistic experiential installation where you can move in the dark, where you can touch the walls, where you can play with light and audio and video effects. The kids were absolutely thrilled. Again more in other articles from others. I also bought tickets here in Slovakia for €154. Ouch! It all hurts me financially again as I write it here. But this was really good and unique.

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Then another transfer by taxi for €25 to Corniche Beach - the promenade with a visit to the Heritage Village. But that was already closed. We didn’t make it, even though according to the opening hours on Google Maps it was supposed to be open for at least another 2h.

So we set off on foot already through the night street to the Corniche Beach promenade. From there it was supposed to be possible to watch the fireworks best and people started increasing and increasing in the streets.

Simona told me: “UAE is 54 years old?”. And I’m like I don’t know. And she: “Well, because there’s 54 everywhere”. And I: “Where? I didn’t see anything?”. And when I looked around, really. Decoration everywhere like for Christmas, and lights displayed the number 54 almost everywhere, in both directions of the roads. I was so blind and unobservant.

{gallery:abu-dhabi-54}

STOP!

Here I would like to stop and recommend that those who would like to go to the UAE sometime, so that they don’t spoil the experience and surprise.

It was great, it was a shock and you will experience it only one day a year. Exactly on December 2, the day we found ourselves here completely by chance. In Dubai, they say it’s not like that. Only here in Abu Dhabi. And that’s why crowds of locals from all the wider surroundings flock here and crowds of tourists fly in. And everyone will celebrate the National Day of UAE.

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For those who despite the warning want to spoil the surprise…

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so scroll further…

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The party begins

Fortunately, we didn’t know at all what awaited us. The streets were starting to thicken. It was after 20:00 and there were people everywhere, including children and even the smallest toddlers.

Some teenagers, rather even just children, sprayed each other with those sprays that release foam, mostly white. Such as is used at parties. We took it as a curiosity.

We moved to the main promenade (on foot) and entered the shopping mall to have dinner until the planned fireworks start at 21:00. In the restaurant I again left a larger three-digit sum, but then that happens to me at home too when all six of us go to eat somewhere. But the food was great, we tried to choose something of their local, meat, stewed vegetables, soups and so on.

Suddenly the waiters are laughing and shouting something at us and pointing the direction out of the restaurant. We somehow missed the fact that Simeon (for no known reason) undressed naked and ran through the shopping mall. Given that we were in a country of covering up, all involved were immensely amused. Simona in shock, disbelieving whether she sees correctly, ran and grabbed Simeon 😂.

And suddenly we heard explosions. We stayed in the restaurant longer than we planned. The kids ran out and the fireworks were really amazing. Even after a short pause, a second, even larger one followed.

{gallery:fireworks-abu-dhabi}

Well, and then it started. Everyone pulled out those small sprays and started spraying. Completely without respect, young on older, men on women, girls on men, on strangers, on tourists. A complete massacre, but accompanied by laughter and squealing. It felt to me like something like our “šibačka” (Easter whipping/showering). And even cars were getting it. And from the cars people were spraying too. And everyone honked and made the biggest traffic jam.

{gallery:abu-dhabi-sprays-2}

Of course none of us escaped the “šibačka”. The streets shortly became a dumping ground and we waded through cans. And cars drove over those cans, so in the background there were constant sounds like we were standing by some waste crusher.

Entire families were picnicking on the lawns and enjoying this joyful chaos. Sometimes it looked quite brutal, they sprayed each other forcefully right in the face, but I didn’t see a hint of fury, anger and aggression there. We felt safe. Except for one exception…

When we had been waiting for a taxi for about an hour, because the whole city was clogged, a group of young men sprayed an older gentleman’s car (so far clean, he was apparently waiting for it to end, but he didn’t succeed). The man got out and started chasing one of the young men, then he caught him by the hand and started pulling him to the car. Shouting, swinging and even some hits (so far light) started. About 15 young men set upon the older man, pulling him from that boy and he wouldn’t let go. After about a minute I went there to help, I wanted to get that man out of that scramble, but when I got involved, he obviously had no interest in getting out of it and others were sending me away.

In the end I left them alone and only later did I find out that I did well. In the UAE there are strict laws and for violence there are extra strict punishments. They don’t even solve who started and who defended himself. They take it so medieval that we will punish you all. It is probably also deterrent and it was also visible how everyone wants to avoid that violence. It probably works. And after a while it calmed down and everyone went their own way.

The taxi was stuck in a traffic jam, so after about 2 hours I cancelled it and tried to call another one, from another side. That one was also stuck, so we set off towards it.

We waded through empty sprays, there were literally millions of them. I don’t understand where everyone got it from.

The taxi home cost €128 by the way and when we got into it (around 00:50), we still stayed hanging in a traffic jam for an hour. 43km ahead of us (42min if we weren’t in a traffic jam).

When I already thought it was behind us, as we stood in a traffic jam, a young man was approaching from the front. He was staggering, holding onto cars, squinted to closed eyes, walking like a zombie. He moved slowly and as if randomly. He passed in front of our hood, then around the driver’s door and suddenly he shot out like a top athlete, opened the door on the driver’s side and sprayed him in the face a full dose (understand, he waved the spray in front of his face for about 3-4 seconds). The driver closed the door, wiped his face with a prepared paper towel, muttered something, locked the whole car and pretended that nothing had happened.

And already on the way home I realized that it would probably be better and more advantageous to book a large taxi for our transfer to Dubai the next morning, which cost me another €132.

We arrived home late after midnight and went to sleep right away. This was a very expensive day 😅.

What did I learn?

if Abu Dhabi, then you need to stay somewhere near the center and not on the periphery like us
if Abu Dhabi, then on December 2
traffic jams on this day are not an accident, but an intention. They literally come on purpose to create traffic jams.
in these more eastern countries, car brands drive that I don't even know, for example we were driven by DongFeng U Tour, or GMC Yukon. It was similar already in Baku, Azerbaijan.

{gallery:abu-dhabi-auta}

white car color is a good idea
our sockets don't work here
almost everyone here knows English, because most of the inhabitants here live from abroad, especially Indians, Pakistanis, Filipinos, etc.
taxis are expensive here
it's warm here even in winter, I don't want to know how it is here in summer
all cars have a box with paper towels on the dashboard in the center under the rear-view mirror (hopefully not only on December 2, but it's possible ;)
supposedly crews of workers clean all that mess already during the night until morning (which I didn't want to believe, but we didn't have the opportunity to verify it anymore)

And in conclusion

Finally something about Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the United Arab Emirates and at the same time the largest and politically most significant emirate of the entire federation. While Dubai is often perceived as a tourist and business showcase, Abu Dhabi represents the power, administrative and cultural center of the country.

The ruling Al Nahyan family of Abu Dhabi traditionally holds the post of president of the UAE, which further underscores the dominant position of the emirate within the federation.

Origin of the name “Abu Dhabi”

The name Abu Dhabi (Arabic أبو ظبي) literally means “Father of the Gazelle”. According to local legend, hunters followed a gazelle that led them to a source of fresh water on the island - that’s where the first permanent settlement was created. The gazelle still appears as a symbol of the city and emirate today.

Modern city with tradition

Today Abu Dhabi combines a deep respect for Bedouin and Islamic tradition with modern architecture, culture and a long-term vision of sustainable development.

For me

Great that we experienced this and caught exactly this day. On another ordinary day I probably wouldn’t want to go to Abu Dhabi. I didn’t feel completely “at home” here, or I’ll put it the other way, I felt like a foreigner who doesn’t belong there. It sounds so obvious, but I don’t know how to describe it better. Simply feel-wise I wouldn’t want to live there, I don’t even have the need to ever go there again in my life. By which I’m not saying it’s not a beautiful city. Everyone has different taste, different needs and Abu Dhabi without a “šibačka” is not for me 😉.