We snagged F seats AUH-JFK, which of course is the good news. The bad news is that the timing isn't the greatest, and I'm wondering how veterans of this flight would handle.

We're departing CAI at 1:30pm/arriving AUH 7:00pm the day prior, with an 8.5 hour layover before the flight to JFK, where we live. My original thought was that we'd sleep late in CAI, and have lunch on the plane to AUH. We'd then take a quick trip to see some of the city (just a look), then back to the F lounge for the tasting menu, spa and cigar lounge before the flight. Onboard, we'd stay up as late as possible, maybe go for the bang bang on board, or maybe graze and lounge until we pass out. But now I'm starting to wonder if this is a recipe to be completely wiped out when we get on the plane, thereby detracting from the experience.

How have others timed their activities to maximize the experience when flying on this horribly timed (for leisure pax) flight? Is there something I'm not taking into account or thinking of?

Many thanks in advance...