If You Can’t Beat ’em, Join ’em

We had a leisurely morning at our luxe digs, then checked-out midday.  Took an Uber to the Park Hyatt.  We moved hotels because a) our gift certificate money for the Fairmont ran out and b) the Hyatt is way closer to the airport.  Also, all in, including tax, we got a room for $190 Canadian.  You can’t beat that.

We were able to check-in at 1 pm; fantastic.  Stephen popped out for a walk to get his steps in.  I popped down to the gym for fake steps, then took a swim, then enjoyed their spa which had a steam, sauna and something called an “experience shower” which you could program to spray from the walls or ceiling, cold or hot, in various modes of flow and whatnot.

 

Here are some random shots SS took while out for his dehydration walk:

For our last night in Doha we had dinner on the roof of the hotel.  We thought we’d do room service, something simple, but it was actually cheaper to get the guest discount at the rooftop buffet.  Like many restaurants during Ramadan there’s no a la carte; instead, it’s an iftar buffet.  And boy was it crazy busy.  Teeming with families, groups of youth, ex-pats (although not too many tourists).  The iftar meal is a really big deal, this was our second time doing it, but while it’s “the thing to do” it’s also seems ridiculously contrary to fast all day as atonement then gorge each night.  I snapped a few shots from their rooftop deck, where the smog and sand mixed in the desert sunset beautfully.

We were packed and in bed by 10, up before 4 am, then showered, checked-out, and en route to the airport for another (and hopefully our very last) very, very long flight.  We got a taxi and the drive took about 15 minutes tops.  But get this: Business and first have their own terminal check-in, not just a desk, if you are flying Qatar.  So when we got out of the taxi a Qatar Airlines porter took our bags and checked-them in; usually business goes “fast track” security, but at Doha we had our own security gate. So we were through check-in and security in 10 minutes tops.

Qatar had a huge slew of flights with departures earlier than us.  Lord knows when people got out of bed (or even if they got to bed) to be at the airport for pre-dawn international flights.  It’s all about the heat in the desert I guess.  At the Hyatt check-in, the staff person told us that they expect temps to hit 50 degrees by late April/early May.  Yeah.  Need to leave on a plane as early as possible.

Doha, aka Hamad International, recently underwent a major reno.  They can now accommodate 65 million passengers a year.  And let me say, the facility is enormous.  As far as hub lounges go, they are usually fantastic, but Qatar has not one but two.  Our gate was closer to the north or “garden” lounge, so we went there; but in fact we could have gone to both the north and south.  Here are some random views from the north lounge.

The lounge was excellent; as good as the old Turkish biz lounge at Ataturk, with it’s billiard rooms and golf simulator.  Order a barista coffee, say a flat white, they bring it to your table.  Scan the QR code for a la carte.  Extensive buffet.  Full bar.  Showers.  Spa.  And there were people drinking, at 5:30 in the morning, not just champagne (which is Lanson, about as good as bubbly gets in a biz class lounge).  One guy pulled up to the bar next to us and had a scotch and soda.  Go figure.

Soon enough it was time to board.  Additional security screens and checks (given that our destination was the USA).  I scored seat 1K, first row window, and SS was two seats away also on the window.  The Q-Suite layout puts rear facing seats next to the window and forward facing seats closer to the aisle; we both prefer the window.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t the brand spanking new Airbus we flew in from Auckland, it was an older B777 which, although a workhorse plane, has none of the bells and whistles of a newer model (or the better airflow, quiet and design of, say, an A380).

The flight out of the Gulf States went NW; there was a good deal of bump, but once we got to the north, Siberia I guess, towards the north pole, things calmed down.  I had a light breakfast, watched a movie, and took a nap.  Woke up somewhere over the top of the globe.

Two more movies and two more naps later we were winding our way down the west coast.  And, unfortunately, right past YVR.  Drag.

Then, a little early, less than the anticipated 14 hour schedule, we arrived at SeaTac.

We disembarked easily, collected luggage quickly, and had no issues at immigration.  SS was at booth 29, I was adjacent at 30.  Officer says “Are you two travelling together?”  I say yes.  He says “How do you know each other?”  I say, well, we’ve been together over 30 years. He went “whoa” and waved me through. 

And that was the moment SS discovered he didn’t have his phone.  But you can’t stop and look, they yell at you, “keep moving” so we had to keep moving.  We got in the security line to check-in for our connecting flight.  No phone.  We get through there and start looking through all his bags and they yell “keep moving.”  We get to Alaska check-in at which point we can see on his iPad that it’s somewhere, somewhere mysterious in the SeaTac ether.  And that’s when I took two trains to C concourse and went to the (really crappy Alaska outpost lounge) and left SS at the information desk where it took a lot of people and a lot of looking but eventually it turned up and I advised him to go to the N concourse, where the Alaska hub lounge is, which is actually quite wonderful.  And there you go; Japan, New Zealand, Qatar. 

So I lose my phone at the start.  He loses his phone at the end.  I guess it was meant to be.