Arriving in Qatar
After leaving Brunei, I was about to fly back to Germany. But why not go to another country along the way? The flight was long, but I was able to fly with a good airline. Unusual, but it was the cheapest flight, including 20 hours in Qatar.
When I arrived in my now 83rd country, I met up with Dan, my host. Also, they did not realize that I had my drone with me, amazing! We left the airport, and it was super hot. The heat was blasting in my face, and I quickly realized why I don’t go to the Middle East in summer anymore. But one day for sure should be fine. Nope, no more summer visits anymore!
It was over 40 degrees, and you could feel it. It was windy, but the wind was hot as well, of course. Dan gave me a ride to the center and gave me a task: do a promotion video for the metro in Qatar. I had never done that, but there’s a first time for everything.
The Metro
The metro is super modern. While buying a ticket for the metro, I talked to a worker from the Philippines who was quite chatty. The ticket wasn’t expensive, and the trains are super modern; they drive without a driver, how cool. There are seats in the front where it looks like you’re driving yourself. There is also free wifi, which doesn’t work without a local sim card. Not very useful for travelers. That wasn’t planned well.
I got connected by a local, luckily, because I wanted to meet up with locals during the day as Dan was busy. It was quick finding someone, a guy from Mauritania, who has been living his whole life in Qatar but still not getting citizenship.
Before meeting him, I wanted to check out a local mosque, so I walked from the metro station there, which was not more than 500m, but it felt like the longest 500m of my life, even longer than after my first marathon when I couldn’t walk well for a few days. The walk was pure torture, and then the mosque was closed. Like what the heck. At least like that, I was able to meet him earlier.
National Museum
The meeting point was the national museum, where I met him and his friend. It was their first time there as well, which was cool. It also worked out decently, even without having the internet. They were on time, which was unexpected, usually Couchsurfers are always late.
Locals could enter for free, but tourists sadly did not. It wasn’t that cheap, but 20 hours’ time, and it’s one of the biggest tourist attractions in the country. Actually, there were almost not many Western tourists, which was nice to see.
In the museum, we were able to learn about the country, to see where they are coming from, and how it happened to be as rich as they are now—oil, of course. They have more history than I expected, which was already worth going there for that! They were making money with pearls from the ocean. Now it is mainly oil.
After going through the timeline of the country from beginning to present, there was a room with many lights, which was amazing. Peaceful music was playing during that, and the security guard was super annoyed by the people not walking the way they should. It was hilarious, but he was super annoyed at his job, I guess. I had some talk with him; he doesn’t have an easy job, for sure!
Local Market
Now it was time to not use the metro anymore because the guys were coming with their car, which was for sure a positive upgrade. We drove to a local market where they gave me local karak tea, which always tastes amazing. Here it was not looking so fancy like you see in the media, which just felt authentic, my style.
They were selling everything from the local famous falcon to camels and many other birds which were in a small cage and didn’t look happy, like the other smaller animals. The only animal which looked quite happy was the falcon because it’s really valuable. Seeing that in markets outside of the Western society is just normal, so it’s not nice, but it feels normal when I am outside of Germany; it just doesn’t shock me anymore.
It was nice seeing the locals drinking some tea and enjoying life after work. It was slowly getting colder, and the temperature started to feel great again.
Sea View
It was slowly getting dark, and they went with me to see the skyline from a distance. It was super windy, and I felt like home! I love wind, when it is not hot. The skyline looked cool; we don’t have a skyline like that in Europe so it’s always great to see. Maybe Frankfurt has a little bit of a skyline like that, but it is still different.
We were driving along the street and were listening to local music. I enjoyed the time with both of them, perfect to spend the time. They were dropping me off before driving home at a mall, where I was about to meet a friend.
Meetup with My Friend
Zac, one of my friends from Austria, who I was meeting during a hangout in Malta almost exactly three years ago. We were in contact but hadn’t met each other during those three years, always missing each other by a few days. This time we were both in Qatar on the same day, how amazing!
We met each other in a mall, and he invited me for a super tasty drink. It was such a good mixture and quite refreshing as well. We talked a lot, and it felt like there was no time in between the last meetup. Zac is also planning to visit every country in the world and often spends time in Qatar, where he has many friends.
It was just nice to catch up, but we didn’t spend that much time together, just a few hours. I had to meet up with Dan, who actually also had contact with Zac, which was funny.
Finishing the Trip
Dan picked me up at a metro station, and we drove home. There he showed me his money bill collection, which was amazing; I really liked seeing it. He made watermelon juice, and we had long good talks; it was amazing to spend time with him.
He is from Lebanon and has been working in Qatar for a few years. Dan has also hosted many people already and was a good host. We got along super well, and he offered to drop me off at the airport after only a few hours of sleep. Along the way to the airport, I had to redo some videos to make them good for the Instagram account from the metro.
It was weird for me to do the videos, quite uncomfortable to talk in front of the camera, but the end result was decent, I guess.
At the airport, before flying to Germany, I was still able to check out the teddy bear, which costs several million. Quite weird, but that’s Qatar! I enjoyed the trip, and I am excited to come back in winter for another transit.
Munich and Getting Back Home
When arriving in Munich in the south of Germany, I had to kill many hours, but I met up with some Couchsurfers downtown. I arrived downtown with my 48L backpack and had my travel clothes on, quite unspectacular. I just didn’t know what would happen. I was surprised because Christopher Street Day was happening. The Couchsurfers wanted to go over it. It was quite hot, and I felt like I was at the wrong place. I felt I didn’t belong there, but it was fine due to spending time not alone.
We walked around for a while, and then it was time to go back to Hamburg in the north of the country. I showed my ticket to the bus driver; he told me it was the wrong ticket. We realized it was the right ticket but the wrong day. It was super stressful because I didn’t want to stay in Munich. Luckily, he let me ride the bus for free, which was amazing! So I canceled the bus ticket for the day after, which cost me 7 Euros. Basically, I went from Munich to Hamburg for 7 Euros, how amazing!
Home sweet home!
For sure check out this article: expectations vs reality Qatar !
What’s Up Next?
Next personal blog will be about a short trip to a neighboring country, stay tuned!
