Doha, Doha, Qatar
The trip started according to plan. Daughter Jonelle to drop us off at the station and then the journey into the airport. This was to be a late flight, 21:45 hours which ultimately gets us into Milan at about 12:30 on the 27th March. The big hurdle being the some 15 hours direct to Doha, Qatar. Both of us are looking forward to this leg as much as receiving a kiss from your mother-in-law. Although I think that both of us have broken the mould here: both being lovely ladies !! Besides, isn’t Easter just around the corner ?
Into the airport without too much fuss and then through all the preliminaries to get us to Gate 10 to board. No red carpet when we arrived though: perhaps there was a slip up with their organisation? We decided not to make a fuss on this occasion. They won’t be so lucky should it repeat itself, though.
The long flight couldn’t end quickly enough for me. Some sleep, but I think the earth decided to spin clockwise instead of anti-clockwise, as Doha didn’t seem to get any closer. Finally, “fasten your seat belt in readiness for our landing”.
A few mental fist pumps were organised, I can tell you. It’s not that I don’t like flying. Just being locked up for so long is the issue. So much so, that we get our very efficient travel agent, Geoff to make quite specific seating arrangements where he can. We avoid window seats for this very reason.
Our plan was to spend the 3 hours in the Al Maha Lounge: a place that we have frequented in the past. Nice and relaxed: good food and “beverages”. Wine not being on the agenda on this occasion, as it was about 5am Qatar time. Breakfast items like scrambled egg and toast, thank you !!
I reminded Fred, that we would be stopping in Doha on our way from Russia to Malaysia in about 5 weeks. The quick thinking self, then suggested that we put a “Reserved” sign on two of the chairs in readiness for this pending visit. This would enhance our settling in process.
A touch of brilliance I thought: Fred hadn’t mentioned it to this point, and consequently I felt that this massive contribution so early in our global pursuit, was (putting it mildly), purely and outstandingly “out of the box”.
Yes, one could exaggerate in circumstances such as this, but I feel that a little conservative editorialising should prevail on this occasion.
Much to my surprise, a series of facial contortions unfolded, from you-know-who. Initially, I thought that some of the scrambled egg had lodged itself in her throat. This was summarily dismissed, when a few verbal retorts were registered in response.
Can’t understand her: she “went off” over this act of human kindness. I was just being proactive and thinking more of her more than me. Well, that’s the story I promoted anyway. Thinking about it, she didn’t really go off: just registered a strong objection. Yeah, that’s what she did.
Anyway, lounging at airports is a comfortable experience and especially good with the food and wine that is on offer. I do keep an eye on Fred’s level of consumption: it’s the “responsible me” coming out. Being in a foreign country brings out the diplomatic skills that I have acquired over the past. Keeping Australia well respected must be a priority.
Admittedly though, Fred doesn’t necessarily relax, as she wants to ensure that we get to the boarding gate early enough. She was somewhat burnt in one of our early overseas trips, when we had to chase the plane across the tarmac as it “taxied” to prepare for take-off. No sense of adventure has been displayed since.
To maintain domestic harmony, we did leave early enough on this occasion to make our way to gate D21. Doha’s Hamid Airport is a massive structure, and one does need to allocate a great deal of time. A terminal train exists to assist with this.
The flight to Milan, was 6 hours. For once, very few on this flight: perhaps 25% full. And yes, guess who was seated over the wing again. Fred noted this: it’s uncanny, as it usually is our possie. The flight path took us essentially north, with a few deviations to avoid the Middle East trouble zones. One noticeably being when the plane steered around the current Iraq / Syrian areas where “ISIS” and its caliphate had recently been overthrown.
Our Qatar flight number 909 landed at the Malpensa airport (Milan) on time.
From here we caught the MXP express for our comfortable 35 minute trip into Milano Centrale Station. A massive and very impressive building just some 600 metres from our “Hotel Charly”: a journey we were able to negotiate quite easily. To this point however, Milan (albeit we have seen very little), has not impressed us. We are hopeful that the next few days changes this.
Hopefully, some pizza or spaghetti washed down with a local Chianti tonight. The trip to this point has been long and I don’t think either of us will need to be rocked to sleep.
Prior to closing, I felt it best to introduce those newer persons who were so foolish to request to be placed on the blog distribution list to those keenly sought after competitions that enhance these literary pieces and thus cause it to stand out from others: unique springs to mind. Typically, this one is a little quirky.
Flying from Doha to Milan, allowed us to pass over places like Kuwait and Bahrain. So this got me thinking (stop laughing). Creative juices were abounding no straw necessary though.
Prior to this however, a short note on this area. From the air, the land appeared flat and desolate. Roads, especially in Doha multi lane, with little traffic and some appearing to stop in the middle of no where. Yep, no exaggeration: obviously lots of oil money that needed to be spent. Indeed, if you were to look at a listing of rich countries, Qatar is near or at the top of the list. Yes, Parno does often supply these little edifying facts, that surely must add to one’s self esteem ( that’s not an Italian iron!!) at least.
So the competition on this occasion is to list as many place names (worldwide) that have another meaning eg “Kuwait” (can you wait). Just like Kenya (can ya ?). See how you go. Again the incentive to the winner will be the opportunity to sample some stale pizza from Milan. We’ll probably post it to your registered residential address or perhaps your home “base”. There is a joke there .....think about it.
Don’t forget, to be able to enter, you must hit the “add comment” button found on this page ...usually at the bottom.
Grazie and Ciao
Jennie
2019-03-24
Happy holiday and safe travel. Sounds fantastic!
Alex
2019-03-27
Bon Jorno to you both, I don’t envy your initial journey. Travelling in planes is not natural. Ann and I were told to avoid Milan, but I’m sure that there is much to see in the City. There are some beautiful lakes close by and the history of the area is fascinating. Safe trip, enjoy the food and wine.
Glenn Parnaby
2019-03-27
London, Sodoff
John K
2019-03-27
Have a great trip. Hanover (hang over?)
Jonelle
2019-03-27
Howarewe! ArentyouTina?CatchitStan!
Louise
2019-03-28
Have a wonderful time! We weren’t overly impressed with Milan either. Hurt ‘me arm’ in Milan!
John S
2019-03-28
Glad you’re not going to Ethiopia otherwise it could be Abyssinia!
Annie Crooton
2019-03-28
After reading your informative, interesting email, I went and brought Aussie Qld Pizza ingredients for indulging during the Broncos V Cowboys game tonight. Mos go now
Diligent wife
2019-03-28
So, if the aforementioned booking of seats at Doha Airport was a topic of conversation the facial expressions from me would have been around the fact that from Russian we fly via Helsinki and Bangkok..so do I do Homer Simpson I think..Doh...a
Tim O'Brien
2019-03-28
Enjoy, no slips or falls this trip