Doha in Qatar
Flying out from Heathrow was something we have not done for the best part of 40 years, as we normally choose Stansted or Gatwick, but with our fight being with Qatar airlines it was now time to revisit Heathrow. The Qatar airlines check-in all went smoothly and the flight itself we couldn’t fault it, fantastic service and flying on an A380 was also a first for us.
The A380 is a plane I had wanted to fly on for many years, as I had the pleasure of working on it in the early stages of its development, machining several large parts for the undercarriage for the pre flight prototype and then the first flying development planes.
Arriving early morning into Qatar airport and clearing customs at about 1am, then picking up our bags... FYI: we’re travelling light, our two bags are mid size and weigh less than 13 kg each and our carry on is just a small back pack for Ann and shoulder bag for me.
Before exiting the airport it was a quick stop at the Ooredoo ( sounds like the biscuit) sim card provider to purchase two local visitors Sims. 50 QTR ( £10.50) each which would give us 7 days of 5Gb data and some calls, but it also gave us free access to another app called Urban point which then gives you discounts at various places. More about that later.
Google mislead us here as you cannot get an Uber from the airport, you can only get them to the airport, as when we tried to use the Uber app at the airport it just came up with an explanation mark when we tried to book a cab. When we asked at the airport they explained the above. It's not a problem as there is a large taxi rank just outside, it’s metered price but it was only a 15 minute ride to the hotel, and considering it was now 2am it only cost 52 Qtr (£11) and we used our chase bank card to pay. Infact we are using the chase card every where without problems and as long as you pay in the local currency we are getting no charges and an excellent conversion rate.
Arriving at our hotel the Souq Al Wakra Hotel By Tivol at about 2:30am, the checking in was quick and as our room was near the beach it involved a ride on the golf cart.
Coincidentally the hotel turns out it is the one the England football squad stayed in when they played in the world cup in 2022 in Qatar, and there is signed football shirts, footballs etc around the hotel.
Our room at the hotel was lovely and the aircon was welcome fab.
First morning we took the golf cart to drop us off at the breakfast room. Breakfast is a buffet arrangement with local cuisine and European, and the members of staff are very welcoming and friendly.
At about midday we decided to go for a local explore, it was very quiet along the beach and around the markets, we walked probably about a 3 mile loop circle, and in that time we had drank a bottle of water each. Yep it’s quiet at that time because it’s very hot. So for the rest of the day we chilled around the pool and there was no problem with sunbeds or finding ones with brollies.
Whilst sitting around the pool I started looking at the Urban point app and found it covered lots of restaurants that were close to us. We chose Jarnen which served local cuisine to eat that night. Using the app here was seamless and it got us the offer of buy one main course and get one free, which saved us 60 Qtr. The price of the sim card was only 50 Qtr for 7 days, so in one meal we’ve paid for one sim card.
On leaving the restaurant that evening, we took the beach walk back to our room, a lot more people around with a safe feeling atmosphere.
Today we have learned from yesterday, so it was a late breakfast, those that have done weekend breaks with us, have never heard them words, Yes breakfast at 9:30am, then a laze around the pool until 3pm. Then we caught an Uber into Doha city centre for exploring.
Conclusion:
There is a lot to see and do in Qatar and we feel we could go back to explore some more. We had 4 days there as it was part of the offer when we booked our flights with Qatar airlines to Bangkok, as they offer a discounted stop over rate at various hotels.
Qatar is extremely safe to visit. In fact it has a very low level of crime and violence and is, in fact, the 16th safest country in the world.
Visitors must obey local laws and customs: alcohol is prohibited except in certain 5-star expat hotels and bars where it is served all be it at very expensive rates.
Next part is we fly to Bangkok for 3 nights
#robandann
#SouqAlWakraHotelByTivol
