For the Mo's birthday this year, we are off to India! It will be a very short trip (10 days). I wished we could stay longer but I don't have any vacation time left!! Sometimes I think my company should get on the train along with other companies like Groupon, Netflix, etc that offers their employees unlimited vacation days, Hey I ain't complainin', just wishful thinking.
To get to the beach resort of Goa, India, we'd have to take 4 flights with a "door to door" time frame of about 37 hours. Hopefully, it will all be worth it when we get there!
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| Image via Scoop Whoop |
Our first leg off the trip was a quick JetBlue flight from Boston to JFK.
Once we switched from terminal T5 to T4, we checked into our Etihad flights and found our way to the WingTips lounge. Etihad Airways doesn't have their own lounge in JFK so they share a lounge with other airlines like Singapore, China, Caribbean, etc.
Just like other lounges, there's booze, WIFI, and food. This was my least favorite of all the lounges. It had the least amenities. It is your typical American Airport hospitality lounge. Service was substandard, food was left to be desired and seating was awkward. On the bright side, the beer selection was great and the booze was self service.
Lounge 2: Etihad Premium Lounge Abu Dhabi
Since our flight out of JFK was at 11 PM, I past out and got some rest. We had about 8 hours in Abu Dhabi to kill. Sure there's a lot of Duty Free Shopping to be done with high end retail store everywhere but I stuck with cosmetics and liquor shops.
The lounge was pretty impressive, there was a kid's play area, a bar, a few separate work areas, clean buffet area and even a spa!
They have sushi!
For showers, there was one in the ladies room and also another one in the spa area. I preferred the spa area and got ready there.
The Etihad lounge was pretty busy. There were long waits for the showers and for the massages so we decided to check out the other lounges until it wasn't as crowded.
After 10 PM, the crowd dispersed. We both got massages and continued drinking and blogging until 30 minutes before our departure.
Lounge 3: Al Dhabi Lounge
This was my favorite lounge because it had the best food selection! Even though I didn't indulge, I liked all their mini dessert offerings and Arabic sweet treats. I also liked the lamb dish, Thai pumpkin curry and fried calamari. There's also a transit hotel attached where you can rent a room for hours to have a restful sleep.
Since there was a wait to use the showers in the Etihad lounge, the Mo used the one here and said it was fine.
4th Lounge: Al Reem
I actually did a blog post on this lounge in April on our last layover in Abu Dhabi. At that time, we actually paid to use the facility.
They had the same Thai pumkin curry as Al Dhabi but they had a chicken biryani dish that was very good. Food selections were very limited.
So overall, if I had to choose, Al Dhabi was my favorite lounge out of all 4. Etihad premium lounge came close with its Sense Spa massage.
With the exception of Etihad, you can pay to to use these lounge. You can visit hourly or even up to 10 hours. Not a bad way to relax and freshen up before your next flight.