First impressions & Travel excitement

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Like Burbank, California; Doha's "City Center" is a mall. Everything's air-conditioned and everyone drives large unnaturally clean cars. The comparison might end there. I learned that "Thobe" is the word for the men's traditional dress. "Abaya" is the women's. Service staff is imported and may speak English better than Arabic.

I made it to town without much ado, but with increased kindness toward travelers. I now realize that many of the people in airports could possibly have multiple connections, which increases the importance of the earlier flights... My optimally resolved mishaps include:

• Dropping my red hat in the middle of the street while running to catch the first bus to the airport! (I learned that the Seattle 5 Express Bus which stops right in front of my house is often late, so the thing to do is to stand on the corner, and cross the street to the 5 Local when it comes. I still can't believe that while getting on the bus, the driver turned to me and asked, "would you like to go back for your hat?" --I love that hat, almost as much as I love Seattle's kind-hearted busdrivers. The first bus was running a little slowly, and the second bus waited a few extra seconds for me, which made all the difference.)
  
• Having a paper ticket and traveling to the Middle East. (Which means I had to wait in the customer service line for an hour just to get a boarding pass. The agent then walked me to the front of the security line, but I had to go through the extra-super-secure check which thank goodness only took an extra minute.)
  
• Severe fog in Chicago! (Thankfully the rumor that O'Hare was totally shut down was inaccurate.)
  
• Chicago to Paris flight delayed almost an hour. (Resolved in advance by an itinerary that included a five hour layover, and made more pleasant by running into my friend Jason on the first plane.)

I'm now sitting in my brother's office, which is really just how it appears when we video-chat. Surreal!
Krisma stopped by to deliver tea, and I'm about to have a tour of the building...

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Comments

[d]

amazing
i'm thrilled that you're both together and having a day already in Doha, architecture, ex-pats, education campus, malls and money and all so you can catch up on lots and plot out your adventures; much love, d

[Hannfor]

not a bad beginning!
Who's tea is better : Kris-ma's or grand-ma's? It all sounds awesome!

[Deb]

Glad the "getting there" is over now so you can enjoy your brother's company. Also glad you got to miss the mess back here in Seattle (power outages everywhere). Will look forward to hearing more. Bruce starts his trek home late tonight. This ability to travel across the world is amazing. Happy adventures!

[Jared]

Happy Holidays!
Well, despite the few small mishaps (some of which were out of your control, like the fog!!) you made it to Qatar!! Wow. I hope you and your brother have a fabulous time and I'm thrilled to read about it on your blog :) Seattlites like me are missing you this holiday, Kate!

[Jason P]

Awesome!
It was awesome to be on the same plane. That was the best layover I have ever had. I can still remember being in Kuwait like it was yesterday. Most people probably have percieved notions about what the middle east is like. Its funny to go to the small oil rich states and see Applebees, Friday's and malls everywhere.