ARRIVING IN COUNTRY

We flew out to Kuwait on June 26. Long, long flight. We flew Continental from Guam to Manila, Phillipines. We had about 6 hours in the Manila airport. Not as bad as it sounds, actually. You see, in Manila you can go to a connecting flights lounge and pay about 8 bucks for a little room to sleep in, a place to connect your computer, even little sandwiches and free drinks. If you're so inclined you can even get an hour massage for about $20.

Then we flew to Abu Dhabi, UAE on Etihad Airways (the official airline of the United Arab Emirates). It is important to remember that the UAE is the wealthiest Arab nation in the world. It certainly showed in their airline. The aircraft was a new Boeing 777-300 with seatback televisions in every class and good food. During that 8 1/2 hour flight I was able to watch four movies:

1. The Shooter - an entirely forgetable Mark Wahlberg production in which he plays a Marine Sniper who is accused of trying to assassinate the president. Not really thrilling or suspensful. Just dumb and political.

2. Wild Hogs - I must admit that I was surprised by this little flick starring Tim Allen, John Travolta, William H. Macy, and Martin Lawrence. It was a bit hokie at times, but certainly had some funny moments and would be well worth renting.

3. The Number 23 - Jim Carrey. One of those "So what?" movies. Not really great, not really bad. Decent way to kill a couple of hours over the Indian Ocean, I guess.

4. The Grudge 2 - This is a modern precautionary tail in which we learn that, no matter how much fun it may seem like at the time, DO NOT GO INTO THE SCARY HOUSE WHERE PEOPLE WERE GRUSOMELY KILLED. In all fairness, I never saw the first one or its Japanese counterpart "The Gludge". Maybe if I see that, I'll understand a bit more.

Sorry about that. I guess long story short, Etihad Airways was quite impressive. Abu Dhabi airport was pretty cool as well. I will post a picture of it later. We also had 6 hours there, which unfortunately was more like a normal airport (other than the fact that it looked like a Vegas casino). Then we flew to the main event - Kuwait.