Doha. Qatar

Christmas bells are ringing, carols they are signing, us finally leaving Doha is absolutely winning!

Another year and off to another international adventure – this time taking up the ranks as a companion is Admiral Akbar. An inaugurate journey for the new recruit who has risen up as a trusted friend and partner. She (Yes, you read correctly, a person from the opposite sex) has has agreed to join me through the turmoil and ‘situations’ arising in my travels.
Godspeed young Padawan. Amsterdam, Morrocco, Portugal and India await you.

First stop Amsterdam.
The journey begins as eventful as ever, commencing with some complementary Gin Shots at the airport, soon after which the admiral has rushed to the bathroom. My initial instincts telling me that the Gin ‘didn’t sit right’ – this however turns out to be a misconception as the admiral returns from the bathroom to inform me that she might have a case of Gastro (have I mentioned that we have not even left the country yet?). With an onset of stress, and stomach cramping for the admiral we decide to wait and see what happens, hoping that what ever ails Akbar goes away.

Patiently waiting to board our 14 hour flight we notice some blood on the admirals hands – this often is a call for concern for me. After some fast debugging we realise that this is coming from the nose of my co captain. At this point my thoughts are of concern as well as ‘What have I done?!’. Once again we follow my doctrine of ‘lets wait and see’. Shortly after the blood stops and the cramps subside – seems like the hypothesis worked and we have the team operational at 100%

14 hours later we arrive in our first stopover destination Doha, Qatar, our next flight is due to depart in 2 hours.

14 hours is a long flight. Not one that I have Not done before, but even then, every time I wonder ‘why do I do this to myself’. A few movies and naps later we are landing. The ecstasy of simply walking around is bliss. I mentioned that the team was 100%, however this is not quite true, as soon onto the flight the captain had an onset of a migraine. Struggling with nausea and the symptoms that walk alongside migraines, team made it to the closest airport pharmacy upon landing. The Captains medical needs are addressed and some supplies, such as water and gummy lollies have been acquired.

In a casual pace we walk to our gate for our next flight to Amsterdam. 50 meters from the gate we decide to brush our teeth and freshen up. As we are doing so the over head announcements advise us that the gates close 20 minutes prior to departure. 15 minutes are left till our flight departs. In a frantic rush we throw down the tooth brushes, and still frothing at the mouth, we run to the gate arriving 12 minutes prior to departure.

Here we are advised “Sorry, the Gate is closed, you can not get on this flight, your luggage has been off boarded”. What pursued was a mix of shock, anger and angst. When we argued that there was no announcement for final call etc. we were advised that “Doha Airport is a silent airport” and the fine print on our boarding passes stated this. Pleading and and begging did not get us far, exhausted we were asked to make our way to the sales desks.

“The next flight is tomorrow” as advised by our friendly sales representative – with other options being flying to another European country and then connecting with a carrier to Amsterdam. This seemed great, and after hours of researching where we could fly to we decided on London, then fly out to Amsterdam from there. Seconds before this was confirmed our flight from Doha to London, we noticed a discrepancy in our search query on our connecting flight from London to Amsterdam – the dates. Turns out a lot of people want to travel on x-mas eve, hiking the prices for a usual $64 dollar flight to $478.
The financial implications in mind we had to revert back to staying in Doha for the night.

Commence Doha adventure – receiving assistance from our friendly representative, we were able to secure some accommodation and transport for the night, we ended up paying some hefty “missed flight fees” (~$700), which included fees for things like ‘Passenger movement fees’. We took our transport to our hotel, checking in and resting after our 24 hour travel ordeal

With a renewed purpose both the Captain and Admiral set out to explore the desert city, walking around, admiring the beauty the city had to offer, walking along the water overlooking the modern business district comprising of buildings that would make London jealous.  We soon hit up Souk Waqif, a middle eastern themed marketplace with hidden laneways that sold everything. To demonstrate the extent of ‘everything’, the Admiral and I found ourselves in the laneway of Birds and animals. Here amongst the Rabbits wearing Tutus, hundreds of bird species and massive Parrots, the Admiral decided to take hold of a oversized Parrot which immediately expressed interests in the admiral’s chest region. Escaping borderline animal rape, we fled to find ourselves some food.
Soon after a debate with a tourist Indian family over a table at an established eatery, we secured our seats, enjoyed our meals of meat, bread and salad, and finished our night off smoking some Grape Mint Shisha, reminiscing and planning our next escapade.

Amsterdam Approaching.

Doha, Qatar, A Modern oasis stuck in the midst of a baron desert, passenger movement fees not included.