The Endless Travel

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It can’t be denied, the trip to Vietnam is a gruelling one. A seven-hour flight to Doha in Qatar then another connecting hop to Hanoi that weighs in at another six hours. That’s quite a journey. Not one I’d recommend you do regularly.

Flight #1 on Qatar Airlines was everything you’d expect. Only just big enough seats that you pack with your possessions creating a sort of flying wheelie bin. Eating a meal feels a little like keyhole surgery. A seat-based entertainment console played a frankly poor selection of movies. Not QALs fault of course, its just a time of year when genuine blockbusters are thin on the ground.

For my entertainment I watched: Can You Ever Forgive Me? And what a good movie it was. Melissa McCarthy doing some proper acting and Richard E Grant offering a post-millennial take on his cult Withnail character. Not bad, give it a go if you want a break from guns, explosions and aliens.

Seven hours later and safely on the ground, we had a very boring three-hour stopover in the very bland Hamad International Airport in Doha. The only thing of note seemed to be a huge wooden figurine depicting some kind of Arabic Mickey Mouse. Weird.

Flight #2 again on Qatar Airlines was, well, exactly the same as the first. Same seats, same food, same mewling kids. So, instead of me writing it all out again, just reread the above. The only difference is I watched The Girl in the Spider’s Web and it was rubbish.

Finally after a wait for our transfer we arrived in Hanoi. Capital of Vietnam and daunting prospect for a group of knackered, fresh off the plane tourists. OK, here we go, but first, maybe a little nap...

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