With Dubai as my home base, going to Abu Dhabi was sort of a last minute plan. One night, while in our bunk beds, my housemate Millet just came up with this idea that we go to Abu Dhabi after she saw a Facebook ad of a local travel agency. The next day, walking from our apartment in Al Rigga to the agency's office near Al Basaam Center, I booked and paid for our tour. It was a pretty good deal at 89 AED per person, which is an organized group and day tour from Dubai to Abu Dhabi.

We went to Union Metro Station on the day of the tour, which was my exact birthday too. To my surprise, the entire group was composed of Filipino travelers, including the tour operators. By that, I can just imagine how thousands of Filipinos OFWs live and work in Dubai.

Before heading to Abu Dhabi, we had a quick stop at The Last Exit, which is a fancy Instagrammable food park along Sheikh Sayed Road in Dubai. 

While most people are mistaken for Dubai as the capital of the UAE, Abu Dhabi is the correct one, which is around 160 kms away and takes around 3 hours by land travel. As our first stop, we went to Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, which is famous for the fastest roller coaster in the world. This indoor amusement park is part of the whole Yas Island that's basically surrounded by different shops, restaurants, and hotels. It’s like Disneyland if you’d ask me. 

Next, we headed to the Louvre Abu Dhabi. It’s a museum that houses an array of Emirati and global artifacts. As I walked around, I was somehow reminded on how more grand and luxurious-looking the Louvre in Paris was (I went there in 2018!). While Abu Dhabi’s version has its own style (simplistic, in my opinion), I personally find the first Louvre in France better. 

Lunch time came and we dropped by Marina Mall Abu Dhabi. While wanting a good place to eat (since it was my birthday, duh LOL), we funnily ended up at McDonald’s because that was the only place that could serve fast! Anyhow, at least I enjoyed the harbor view outside of this shopping mall.

One of the attractions in the area is this huge Ferris wheel, called Marina Eye, which reminded me of Mall of Asia in the Philippines. They look very identical!

On the way, we passed by the Emirates Palace and Etihad Towers. They're also Abu Dhabi attractions, but due to limited time, we didn't really get the chance to go down, take some photos, or even enter. I'll save them for the next visit though!

For the final stop (where we spent time the longest), we went to the most famous attraction in Abu Dhabi: the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Also called as the white mosque and grand mosque, it’s the largest, and perhaps the most beautiful, mosque in the UAE. It’s named after UAE’s ruler for 30 years, Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. When he died in 2004, his son Khalifa Al Nahyan and now UAE’s president, took over. 

When our bus dropped us across the mosque, I realized the entrance was really at the opposite side. It surprised me we had to go down and walk an underpass (it was longgg walk actually) to reach the escalator to the mosque.

Since it’s an Islamic religious site, all women are required to wear abaya, a dress to cover the head, knees, and elbow. For non-Muslims like us, we had to borrow this dress at the cloak area (it's for free). 

Seeing this huge mosque up close was an amazing experience. As a fan of massive architecture, of course, this mosque has got to be one of my favorites. The walls, pillars, and flooring that are mostly painted in white and gold truly make it very elegant. Again, I didn't have any cakes, parties, nor big dinners during my birthday, but letting myself travel is the best gift I could ever receive, and that truly makes me happy.