Archive for Abu Dhabi

A Gulf in the Airspace

Posted in Biographical, Politics with tags , , , , , on March 2, 2026 by telescoper

So Operation Epstein Furore is in full swing, and already US and Israeli forces have scored some notable successes in the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians – the attack on a school in southern Iran that killed over 150 people, many of them children, stands out so far although it is certain that many more Iranian citizens will be similarly “liberated” (i.e. blown to bits). Trump’s plan is obviously to set the Middle East on fire in order to distract attention from his problems at home.

Anyway, I suddenly realized that it is just about two years to the day since I flew back to Dublin from Sydney where I spent a month during my sabbatical. It was actually 3rd March, not 2nd March, that I boarded the plan bound for Abu Dhabi, but one day is neither here not there (especially when you’re jetlagged). It seems that Iran has been firing drones and missiles at airports around the Gulf so there are no flights in the airspace right now:

Screengrab from FlightRadar24

I flew via Etihad, which has suspended commercial flights entirely. Abu Dhabi airport was struck by drones over the weekend, but I don’t think anyone was hurt. I suppose anyone wanting to fly from Sydney to Dublin these days will have to go via Singapore or just stay put. I’ve heard there are around 20,000 Irish people in the Gulf States right now. I hope they stay safe, and the same goes for all civilians caught up in the conflict.

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Homeward Bound

Posted in Biographical with tags , , on March 3, 2024 by telescoper
The Blue Mountains

Here I am in Abu Dhabi airport, about 2/3 of the way home from Sydney, with just enough time for a quick post. We took off about 4pm Sydney time and I had a window seat with a good view of take-off and parts of Australia, including the famous Blue Mountains just to the West of Sydney, but it soon got dark. My flight leaves Abu Dhabi at 2.20am local time and arrives in Dublin at 6.30am local time, so most of this will be in darkness too!

Anyway, farewell Sydney! I’ve enjoyed being in you!

Update: After some minor excitement caused by my having a nosebleed on the plane, I made it back to Dublin in one piece and on time, though there was a long delay on the bus from the Airport owing to an ‘incident’ on the M1 near the airport, so I was about an hour later than expected getting home. I won’t be here for long before I jet off again, but I do need a little time to rest.

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In Transit

Posted in Biographical with tags , on February 4, 2024 by telescoper

So here I am in Abu Dhabi International Airport. It’s about 8.40 pm my time, which is about 4.40 pm GMT. I’ve decided to take the so-called “silly” route to Barcelona to resume my sabbatical (via Sydney Australia), and Abu Dhabi is the first staging post along the way. The flight so far – with Etihad – has been pleasant enough: on time, and with nice food and wine. I wasn’t sure about the in-flight entertainment though. That seemed to consist of a very long cartoon showing a very large aeroplane moving very slowly over a map. Still, there was some nice music to listen to, including some jazz and several Schubert piano sonatas and I’ve got plenty to read.

The first leg was about 7 hours or so, which isn’t too bad. The next bit is almost twice as long and there’s another +7 hrs in terms of time difference. I’m not sure what state I’ll be in when I get to my final destination but I’ll find out by about 7.30pm Sydney time tomorrow.

I’ll update when I get to the other side!

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