Once I had accepted that Abu Dhabi was going to be part of the trip rather than simply an airport connection, the unexpected stopover became much easier to enjoy. My hotel room was not just a grand bedroom, but two bathrooms too. They really do not do things by halves here.

First came the practical jobs. My suitcase was still somewhere else, so I went out to buy emergency clothes and replace a few essentials. Abu Dhabi is not cheap, and I definitely "did some damage", but I kept the receipts in the hope that travel insurance will soften the blow. After that, a nap felt entirely justified.

Breakfast at the hotel was excellent. The pool looked inviting too, although it was occupied only by men, so I decided to give that a miss. Lunch was another hotel buffet, Thai curry with gyozas, then it was time to make something more memorable out of my accidental extra day.

I went to Louvre Abu Dhabi. Visiting a museum alone turned out to suit me. I could move at my own pace, stop where I wanted and actually read everything properly. I especially liked the ancient Egyptian exhibits, but the building itself was just as memorable. Its huge patterned dome filters the fierce sunlight into shifting pools of light over white stone and water.

Outside was hot. 41°C, but apparently an improvement on the previous day's 45.

Words are built into the museum as carefully as the artworks. One window carried a line attributed to Confucius about the greatest traveller being someone able to take a tour around himself. Another placed André Malraux’s words across a view of turquoise water and the city beyond, in all three of the languages shown:

الفن هو أقصر طريق بين الإنسان والإنسان
"Art is the shortest path from man to man."
« L’art, c’est le plus court chemin de l’homme à l’homme. »
- André Malraux

That felt particularly well-chosen for a solo journey. Dad had wondered whether seeing museums and places alone might feel a little hollow, but I actually enjoyed my own company. Knowing that there would be other travellers to meet once I reached Cambodia made the quiet time feel even easier.

Then it was back to the hotel, on to the airport and another attempt at the flight I had been supposed to catch two days earlier. There were still baggage claims, immigration queues and passport control to negotiate, and I did not sleep on the flight, but this time the plane reached Cambodia, and my suitcase eventually did too.

The journey that only half-began in Abu Dhabi has finally started properly. The delay cost me two days, but it also gave me an unexpected city, an extraordinary museum, and a reminder that a detour can become part of the story rather than simply getting in the way.