This post will include some ramblings about the meaning and strangeness of life, as well as about 1.6 million pictures of fancy things only nitpicking travel geeks care about. You have been warned.
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
On arrival from my return flight from Colombo, I headed to the Ritz Carlton Doha. For free. Yes, free. As promised, here's where I reveal the added benefits of mileage running through Doha, especially with the blockade, especially in the summer.
On this trip I was being way more strict with myself than usual about trying to keep on my home timezone. This basically meant staying up all night, and sleeping on the flights during the day. This works though because Doha in the summer, with of without Ramadan, is better at night. Plus, so far the nights have been short due to early morning onward travel.
And so what better place to be up all night in....than a nice room at the Ritz?? When planning this trip, I found the then new +Qatar offer to be very easy to use. You just put in your travel info, apply for the visa, and pick your free hotel. Done and done. At the time, the Ritz was included as an option for Business and First class passengers. I did a check again recently though, and it's no longer there. The sadness....
The hotel, like everything else in the city, was quiet....too quiet... I don't think I ever saw another guest. Granted, I was only there for one short-ish night, but still. Since things like the pool and gym were closed when I arrived late, I headed to my room to relax.
Even better, my room was on a high floor facing the water, and as you might expect, wonderfully comfortable, from the huge bathroom, to the curved flatscreen TV, to the balcony. The hotel is advertised as being on a 'private island' which technically, I suppose it is. However, we're not talking Gilligan's Island here, more a man-made chunk of land surrounded by other man-made land and a marina. You do have to take a bridge to get there though, so I'll give it to them on a technicality.
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| This wouldn't fit in my suitcase...sadly. |
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| Honestly, neither would this. |
The balcony was the perfect place to watch the sun finally rise for the second time on this trip. There are some things I'll never forget. This was one of them. Since it was well over 100F every day, the early dawn hours were the most comfortable of the day, and before sunrise, the strict Ramadan rules were lifted. By 3:30 am people were out on the water.
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| 4am... |
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| 4:30am.... |
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| 5am....Airport time! |
With the summer sun up, and the desert starting to heat up again, it was time to head back to the airport. This was probably my most anticipated arrival at the airport of all my trips, because on certain intra-Mideast flights Qatar sells its business class as 1st class. This means you're entitled to all the extra perks of a 'real' first class ticket, and in Doha, this means a lot!
As discussed earlier, my ticket to Cairo had unexpectedly become my ticket to Amman, Jordan. Right, then, whatever. I did want to at least say I'd been to Egypt, but I suppose I hadn't been to Jordan either, so fair play.
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| What you see when you step inside the doors to first class check in at DOH airport. This level of service is almost intimidating. |
I arrived via Uber back at the airport and was escorted to the private first class check in. It's through the same doors as business class, but then you go to the right and are immediately met by an attendant who takes your luggage for you, and actual check in is done in private lounge areas. There are absolutely no lines here. After that, you get a designated first class security screening, and arrive directly to the first class lounge. Niiiiiice. Another life goal complete.
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| Have a seat, get checked in for your flight today. |
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| This way! |
I was through in a matter of minutes, and into a lounge completely unlike any I'd been in before. It feels like a private museum of some kind, but huge, with insanely high ceilings and wide corridors. Most airport lounges are anticipating....well...passengers. Usually lots and lots of them throughout the day. This place is like a sanctuary, especially on this particular weekend. As I move through, there are definitely people there, but not many, and the architecture spreads people out, so nothing looks full.
I honestly am still not over how simply huge the floorplan for this place is. There are entire airports who's terminals aren't this big, and remember that DOH also has a massive business class lounge, an independent Oryx lounge, and two (not great) Oneworld lounges all serving the same airline's passengers.
Yes, that's a 20 foot water feature right in the middle of the main hallway. What's more, it's nearly silent, with the water slipping quietly from the center....and this place is so quiet, you can hear it. Footsteps echo, chatter is muted, I feel like I'm in airport church.
Now that I've gone off the deep end over the basics, lets talk about some of the insane amenities. There's a spa, showers, bar, full service restaurant, the works. I wandered around and new things just kept showing up.
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| Private Duty Free |
There's a dedicated duty free shop in case, you know, you need to buy some Cuban cigars.... or a $10,000 diamond necklace, right there, before your flight, and you can't bare anyone else to be around.
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| "Family room" |
There are also several large 'family rooms' with their own couches and TVs....several. None were being used.
And speaking of family amenities, there's the most expansive kids' zone I've ever seen in an airport, bar none. It's equipped with a full classroom sized play area, and a game room with multiple consoles....and an F1 car mock up & game. Wow.
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| Kids' space |
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| Lucky kids... |
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| ....Seriously, so lucky. |
It was on this wandering that I stumbled upon a buffet and extra dining room that appeared to be just for.... pastries??? You do you, Qatar, but.... damn.
As for the food and drink, there are several areas with buffets, but the smart choice is to get a table in the restaurant area and order from the full menu. Once again, I was the only one, and had about 3 wait staff looking on.
I had some lovely strong tea, eggs benedict, and fruit. Everything was great, as was the view, which one of my many waiters nicely procured for me by pulling back the blinds by my table.
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| All day. I could stay here all day. |
The one regret was that, due to Ramadan, the bar was closed. Well not closed exactly, just serving tea and soft drinks only. Yes, it was first thing in the morning, so not the typical time to hit the bar, but rumor has it that this lounge regularly serves free flowing Krug champagne. At least as of last year. Sincere regrets, people. This lifestyle is hard.
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| Oh the regrets.... |
After breakfast, I enjoyed the ambiance a bit longer, and then headed out to catch my next flight. Up next was a quick flight, which should have been two hours, but was made slightly longer by having to avoid Saudi airspace. In business class though, a slightly slower flightpath is no hardship....even if you don't get any more miles for it!
Fly well,
~CruisingAltitude
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