7th to 8th January, 2024

Well, here we are on our travels again and this time no cruise liners or floating Selfridges (as Flanders & Swan would have described them) are involved. Instead we had a very pleasant British Airways flight from Gatwick to Doha, about 6.5 hours. Nick very kindly gave us a lift to the airport – Gatwick, not Doha (though a lift to the latter would have been useful!) – and right from the special drop off zone for passengers with disabilities we were treated really well. We were whisked off to check in, then through security and before we knew it were in the accessible ‘lounge’ waiting for our flight to be called. It was then off in a wheelchair and pretty much straight on to the plane. Really impressive.

Now Val will tell you that I am a sucker for airline food, but even she was impressed with what BA had to offer. The whole flight seemed shorter as they kept coming with snacks and meals and drinks – plus, of course the on board entertainment. It took about 30 minutes just to check out the films! I will confess to watching Barbie, but to be honest am not sure what all the fuss is about. I then rewatched About Time, a Richard Curtis film that is simply delightful and I can heartily recommend. I started another film called Argentina, 1985 about the prosecution of members of the Junta, but will have to find it somewhere else to finish it. It reminded me a little of Z by Costa-Gavras about the Greek military takeover in the 1960s – which, if you haven’t seen it and can find somewhere, do watch it.

We landed in Doha, where it was a relatively sweltering 18 degrees or so and again, Val was wheeled about like royalty. All went well until we tried to find our pre-booked taxi, who, it would seem was a no-show. Not a major problem as there was a lot of people available to help and we were quickly popped into another taxi and soon at our hotel, the Al Najada by Tivoli. It was about 1.30 am local time by then, but luckily only about 1030 pm UK time, so we felt OK and were shown into our upgraded Executive suite room. Plenty of room, as you would see from the photos, had I not taken them with my wide-angle camera and then forgotten to bring the cable to download them!!!

OK, if you are still with me, well done, especially considering that you have not had a photo of anything as yet. Monday morning started at about 0700 local time which meant we had had about 3 to 4 hours of sleep, but Val needed something to eat so as to be able to take her medication, so we made our way to the restaurant. Most importantly, Val was MOST impressed with the local fare, so it looks like breakfast is sorted. It was then back to bed and a long sleep into the early afternoon. Wonderful!

We decided to venture out to the nearby and much recommended souq, the Souq Waqif, which was busy with early evening strollers out for a promenade and perhaps a coffee or snack. We explored some of the streets and internal alley ways and it was fun. The goods on sale were a bit bling for my taste, but it was spotlessly clean and there was absolutely no hassle form anyone.

We had a look around the shops and dropped into a sort of arty quarter, which had impressive lighting!

We made our way back to the hotel and rested up for a bit. Val had expressed a desire to go to a Keralan (as in from Kerala, South India) restaurant, so we mined the knowledge of Google, found one and organised a taxi to take us there. This was driven by Robert, a charming chap from, as he described it, Tanganyika, which took me back to the old family stamp collection, with stamps from there and Nyasaland!! Interestingly, we couldn’t find the restaurant, so ended up, after quite a lengthy taxi ride, at a South Indian restaurant, part of a worldwide chain (they are in various bit of London, for example), but it was good stuff. Lots and lots of different dosas.

It was then back to the hotel and a restful night. Oh, and before I forget, I have to own up to a bit of a boo-boo regarding our taxi from the airport. Apparently I booked it for the 8th January, not the 7th. Possibly thrown by the fact that we were landing at around midnight of the 7th/8th. So my mistake!