Middle East 2024 - Days 0/1 - 11/28-9/2024 - To Doha

This trip was organized around the last two Formula 1 races of the season, in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. These would be my third and fourth races in person, and the last time seeing my guy Lewis Hamilton competing in a Mercedes car. I’ll probably keep the posts on the short side; but at least I’ll write, unlike my recent trip with my and Fran’s moms to Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Las Vegas.

I took a flight the night of Thanksgiving directly from JFK to Hamad International Airport (DOH) in Doha. The Qatar Airways flight left a few minutes earlier than the planned 9:30p departure, and arrived almost 12.5 hours later just about on time about a quarter to 6p the next day. The flight was fine, save for the rumbling in my stomach (which I placated once on the ground) the last hour or two. I considered upgrading to business class when I checked in, but the additional $2800 was more than I could justify. It turned out that I would have been there with Busta Rhymes, who happened to be on the flight.They served two meals and a snack, though I couldn’t stomach much of the second meal due to the previously mentioned condition. Even though I have ordinarily preferred window, aisle seats for long flights are my new thing so I have easy access to the toilet.

After deplaning it took an hour or so to get through immigration. As a US citizen I was charged a 76 Qatari Riyal / QAR ($21 USD) entry fee, which I think was new as of a couple of months ago. I was in no mood to navigate the longer public transport route, so I took a taxi to my hotel, the Centara West Bay. I also checked Uber, but it was unavailable - I later found out that they only drop off at the airport. I also tried to set up Careem, but the phone number verification didn’t work.

The hotel room was well appointed, though perhaps not the (affordable) five stars promised. It was probably nicer a few years ago when the hotel was built, but there was some wear and tear apparent (including water damage on the bathroom door).

--

Trip highlight photos can be found here.