Yes This Is Real Life Part 11-- Up All Night To Get Miles

 

Yes, This Is Real Life- Preview

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 1- Location, Location, Location

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 2- Brits In Beantown

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 3 - Shades On, Wheels Up

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 4 - Welcome to Ghost Port

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 5 - When You Layover During Ramadan

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 6 - Birds In Doha

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 7 - Dealing With Dragons

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 8 - A Place Most Exceedingly Rare

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 9- I Still Can't Believe This Is Real Life

Yes, This Is Real Life Part 10- Royally Jordanian


(Fair warning- this post was written in real time... and now published much, much later.  What follows is my ramblings from my third and final night in Doha after landing safely back from my tight turn in Amman.  Consider it the companion piece to Birds In Doha, but one where I'm left to my own devices.)

Well, friends, it's come to this- I'm currently alone in yet another free Doha hotel room, listening to music on my phone, spinning in a hotel desk chair, making it a decent way through some room service wine at 2am, and texting my mileage buddies about the flags outside my room, and how much I love airplanes...and stuff...

As a caveat, when I go back over this entry in retrospect for editing purposes I will be tempted to delete much of it entirely, but then I'll hold back because the point of this blog is mileage running- the good, the bad, and the ugly, and the name of this run is literally 'yes, this is real life.'

4 more hours.... maybe I'll shower.  3 more hours... I guess I could re-organize my carry-on.  2 more hours...what to wear?  One more hour....I should write all of this down. (I shouldn't)

So, how did we get to this moment?? Glad you asked.

I arrived back at the DOH airport yesterday afternoon after the quickest AMM turnaround in history to try my hand at sorting out QR's stopover accommodation voucher situation.  I picked up my voucher on arrival, and was shown to the free shuttle, which turned out to be more or less the hotel van.  Not fancy, but fine.  The voucher included the transport and room, along with the equivalent of about US $80 for hotel food.  This could be used at the hotel lobby restaurant, or yes... room service.

The hotel they're currently offering is the 'Oryx Rotana' which is a '5-star hotel' close-ish to the airport.  I'm putting the quotes there because once again- location, location.  Overall, it's a totally fine hotel.  On the level of a nicer Westin or Sheraton stateside, with a little extra Qatari bling.  In this town, if we're being honest, this a 5-star hotel it doesn't make.

I got here on the early side, checked into my room, and promptly went to sleep.  Since it was 'night' for me until it was night here, I set an alarm for 10pm.  No pain, no gain.  After that, it was time for a quick stop by the pool until it closed at 11 (every hotel seemed to have swimming lessons for the locals going on...wtf, anyway?), then a midnight dinner at the lobby restaurant, for free, of course.

Free is my favorite number.

 

 

Fast forward to my last sunrise over Qatar, and it's time to go back to the airport.  As we ride in the shuttle, I contemplate if it's bad taste to try and yell up to the driver from the 5th row to please 'Stop At The First And Business Class' doors.  I decide it is about the time the guy in the second row does it for me.  Win.

Seen around the DOH airport.  What even is life at this point?

A quick and painless check in later, and I'm back at the Al Majoran business class lounge for breakfast before boarding the final flight of the weekend.  16 hours more on Qatar's lovely planes is all I have left of this adventure.  It's not going to be enough.

One more meal in Qatar for the year.

In true form, it's another half empty widebody plane.  No one next to me, so I have an embarrassing amount of space.  My cabin bag essentially has it's own seat.  We push back on time, roll the desert shore runway, and in a few minutes the last and most beautiful flight of the trip is underway.  And that final post is up next.

~CruisingAltitude

Up Next: Yes, This Is Real Life Part 12: The Bittersweet Flightpath