Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: Spring Fever 2008
That will bring us back to DOH
Oh no, not The Sound of
Music again! Stop it! STOP IT!!
Ahem. As there was no particular need to be up early this morning, I didn't bother setting any alarms. I went up to the Club Lounge at around nine to have breakfast, expecting the busy period to be over, and was amazed to see it was nearly full. In fact, the attendant immediately said that she would give me a voucher for the restaurant downstairs, which suited me just fine due to the smoky atmosphere in the Club. (I'm not a fan of smoking at the best of times, but how anyone can bear it at breakfast is completely beyond me.)
Having got nowhere the previous evening with my attempts to arrange a tour, I decided to have a lazy morning by the hotel pool. I caught up on the first of three books I'd brought with me and, when the time came, I had an al fresco lunch at the poolside cafe. Next, I visited the Club Lounge in order to use their printing facilities to obtain boarding passes for both sectors I'd be flying that evening. In the afternoon, even though it was arguably the worst time to do it, I decided to set out on foot and at least attempt to see something of the area immediately surrounding the hotel. It went better than expected, although there wasn't really a huge amount to see, but what did I care? I was mainly there for the flights!
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Look again - not what you think! |
I returned for a refreshing shower and change of clothes prior to my night out in BA First. I caught a taxi to the airport, the journey being fairly slow due to the heavy rush hour traffic. There was no problem with the formalities at BAH and I was soon relaxing in the rather busy Dilmun Lounge.
(Link to flight log in side panel)
Although it
wasn't the same as the transfer vehicles used the previous day, a
separate bus was nevertheless provided for the three First Class
passengers disembarking at Doha! It must simply be the way that
Qatar Airways does things. Of course, we didn't get taken to the
Premium Terminal, which is purely for QR passengers. At the main
terminal, I knew enough from the postings of previous 'runners' on
this route to head straight for the transfer security checkpoint.
Armed with my self-printed boarding pass, it was a breeze - no
awkward questions about where I was coming from and where I was
going to. (Answer : Bahrain, in both cases
) I soon found the appropriate lounge and waited while the
aircraft was made ready for its return to Bahrain and London.
(Link to flight log in side panel)
At that time
of night, it was very easy to grab a taxi and make a nice fast
journey back to the Regency. It had been a fun night out, I'd joined
the ranks of BAH-DOH-ers and, best of all, I'd earned a whopping 360
BA Executive Club tier points
