don't know of etihad air. we always take our flights from spain for nthn hem trips. when en route to oz we always stop in singapore and go from there for asia. usually using our gotton airmiles. unless we use london we cannot use emirates. from spain we need to use sia. not bad but have had better days imo. ba was shot yrs ago when they gave us cramped seating to oz. never again. fav airline used is malaysia. we can use them for oz from madrid but we prefer to stop over in sing rather that kl. sia go from barcelona via milan and on to sing. a long day but very convenient flying times. we would love to return to jordan, turkey, phillipines, china and vietnam etc but there is not so much time left. i get pretty tired these days and mrs 40 too. being over 40 does it lol. if only 'old time' didn't catch up on us eh ? not been to syria. only did jordan for petra whist visiting egypt. so much to see in jordan. hopefully 'will do' and use car hire for the trip. one cannot beat the independence. we've not been to greece either. on our doorstep too. the 'modern' world has become decidedly unfriendly. far too much emphasis on monetary things. the poorer countries are without doubt the best in which to travel.
is your ticket 'open' or retricted ? we always take the open type when poss. the freedom is well worth any extra payment. long hauls we take open jaws or at least the freeby stopover in each direction. but i think you know this already ?
have a good trip. speak to 40 from those far flung places if you can.
