We found so many ways to entertain ourselves in the Abu Dhabi Airport after many hours there.

Back in October 2023, I made an unhinged plan to spend a ton of money and visit my cousin all the way in Malaysia. And because I live in the DC-Maryland-Virginia area, this meant that I was going to have to fly all over the world in order to get there. I knew I wasn’t skimping out on a budget airline because of the travel length, so I booked a flight on Etihad.

Going to Malaysia from Dulles, it was about a 25 hour journey, with a 7 hour layover in Abu Dhabi, as we got there early. I was flying on this leg of the journey by myself, as my sister was joining me in Malaysia about four days after I had already arrived. She, too, was flying the same airline.

It was going home where the layover felt a little more painful— it was a 40 hour journey door to door. We finished our seven hour flight from Kuala Lumpur at midnight Abu Dhabi time, then had a 10 hour layover before we could get on the 15 hour flight back to Washington.

This is how we found ways to entertain ourselves in the 17 hours we were in that airport, especially considering we never left it due to the time zone differences (each time we landed it was way too early to even consider stepping outside).

There are a lot of little shops scattered around throughout the airport—and duty free ones!

This is how I entertained myself during the first seven hours I was in Abu Dhabi. My Malaysia flight was in the downstairs section, at Gate E, and no one was remotely around when I landed in Abu Dhabi. So once I got through the transfer security, I kind of just walked in a circle for an hour and checked out the shops.

My first stop was the duty free section, but I wasn’t honestly interested in designer goods, alcohol, or buying snacks I could get back home in the States. That said, I did pretend to look for a bit, entertaining the shopkeepers, before heading off to a convenience store nearby.

The duty free was selling water for a higher rate than the store, so I bought some Middle Eastern teas and a Vimto to suck down as I continued my little walking journey. I didn’t eat on the first leg of my trip because Etihad had fed us three different meals, and one of them I’d thrown up as soon as I landed. The lemon couscous didn’t sit right with my stomach at all.

Some other notable stores in here include a souvenir shop, where I almost bought a golden camel with jade eyes, MUJI, and Victoria’s Secret. I was so amused to see a Victoria’s Secret in a Middle Eastern airport, especially considering it was across from a store that sold like abiyas.

When we came back for our ten hour layover, I ended up going back to the convenience store and purchasing a Gatorade and Vimto. However, it was quite devastating to enter the US section of the airport and be forced to dump my drinks. More on that in the next section if you’re flying in through here.

But if you’re flying to the United States, they will make you dump any liquids.

So if you’re flying Etihad to the United States, and your flight is to either JFK or Dulles, Abu Dhabi actually has a section where they’ll bus you to a separate terminal for American flights. There American customs agents will do their thing and let you through, and once you arrive back in the United States, they drop you off at a domestic terminal. You can grab your bags and go right home, which was so incredibly nice after a 15 hour flight.

However, because this is an American run section, you have to go through TSA rules, even though they just screened you in Abu Dhabi. My sister and I had to dump the drinks we just bought into the trash cans, then I was aggressively patted down by a woman in the female screening room and swabbed for drugs. Fun times. I made friends with an NYU professor during this process, though.

Food options can be pretty solid as well throughout the Etihad terminal.

There certainly is an abundance of cafes and food options throughout the Etihad terminal. This was the brand new terminal, but both times I was in it, there was like no one around. Going to Malaysia the terminal was pretty much empty, but coming back it was only a tiny bit more crowded.

I didn’t eating going to Malaysia, but my sister says she did. She enjoyed the falafel shop that was in the food court section, as she ordered a chicken shawarma instead of eating any of the food on the plane.

Coming home we decided to eat at the Burger King at four in the morning. They were still serving all of the regular food items despite the time, and my sister ordered a beef bacon and egg sandwich. We’d never seen beef bacon before, but she didn’t like it at all.

I got a cheeseburger, fries, and apple juice. The fries were good, but the cheeseburger was honestly kind of sad. I did not enjoy it very much. We then stopped at a cafe near this section and my sister picked up a pastry, which she also felt was not very good.

If I’m ever around, I’ll try the TGIF. I was pleasantly shocked by the quality of Chili’s in Malaysia—the food was so much better there.

For those on a budget, there are plenty of chairs to sleep on.

Considering the length of our layovers, we needed some sleep. The first time, going to Malaysia, I found the seats where you could easily take a nap on by Gate E. Those were the ideal seats to sleep at, as there were barriers, it was private, and you could almost lay flat if you wanted to. No one yelled at me for taking a nap there.

I slept about two hours waiting for my Malaysia flight to board. Coming home though, we went to Gate E to see if those seats were available, and they had been snatched by other people who had realized their potential.

My sister and I ended up taking naps at 2 AM on the seats that look like beach lounge chairs, and that honestly was one of the worst decisions for me. I needed the sleep, but those chairs hurt my knees so bad. I woke up two hours later with the worst pains in my knees, and we needed a walk after that because of the pain.

If our layover were over 12 hours, I think we would’ve definitely just got a hotel. It’s not worth sleeping on the chairs at that point, and the money would’ve been well spent on a pod or something. There were showers and pods available to rent, but we just decided to go the cheap route at the end of the day.