Hopefully the recent NR missive is nothing more than a guest appearance.
Who said Abu Dhabi was a new destination?
My log book from many years ago shows multiple trips there in a Cathay cucumber sandwich jet, although I think the only live creatures we carried back then were race horses!
IIRC, we stayed at the Jebel Ali which was a great place to stay.
It will also be interesting to see what progress has been made to lift Abu Dhabi out of the sand coloured stone-age it seemed to be in back then.