The Five Yen of Happiness! The joy of Hamad International Airport, and The Oryx Rotana Hotel

The Five Yen of Happiness! The joy of Hamad International Airport, and The Oryx Rotana Hotel

Once out of the plane, it was down a very well air conditioned jet bridge. Directions were out for transit and exit to Doha.

As I was “transiting” to a hotel, I needed to get a transfer voucher first. However, docking at Gate A1 has its disadvantages – as we were exited into the airside terminal area, and not the transit zone.

Words escaped me at that moment in time. Well, that’s a lie – the words I was uttering were not suitable for this audience.

So for the next 40 minutes I was trying to find my way to the transit area – which wasn’t signposted in th airside terminal area

BearLamps don’t make up for decent signs Hamad International Airport. Minor other point – not one piece of fake teddybear fur is used on this bear.

Eventually – a mixture of blind luck and guesswork lead me to an elevator that would lead me to the transit zone, which of course was on the wrong side of security.

So another passenger and myself crossed over with a security guard making directions. With that, I was through and to the transit desks.

Finally, I was issued with my hotel voucher, and directed to the exit.

One of the great things with the transit hotel voucher is that the Visa Entry charge of QR100 is waived. One less cost to worry about.

My passport was stamped, and photo taken – and I was allowed into the State of Qatar. Once through, I was directed to a waiting area for hotel transit passengers.

Don’t worry. Luggage belts look the same across the world.

With buses every 15 minutes, I was soon on a shuttle bus… but not without exiting the airport.

Now, bear in mind I went from around 20c nice and cool to about 37c (at night) in two seconds. So my glasses fogged up within seconds.

However, the bus didn’t choose to hang around and sped off into the midnight of Doha.

An empty highway…

And there seems to be a Pizza Hut here in Doha…

Night-time rush – A bit of explanation. When I was there, it was the Holy month of Ramadan, and as such people were fasting in the day, and out at night.

Soon enough, the shuttle bus dropped us off at The Oryx Rotana.

Hotel: The Oryx Rotana
Price Paid: Nil – covered by Qatar Airways

As everyone came off the shuttle bus, the receptionist collected passports and vouchers and asked us all to wait in the reception area.

Reception

Reception area.

Thankfully, my room was processed first (as it was nearly midnight when I arrived – and I had to be out by 5am), and off I went.

What’s the term for this plane… ah yes, I believe would Virgin Atlantic say “Hello Gorgeous!”

Looks nice enough…

Hotel Corridors are all the same around the world.

With a beep of my keycard, I was let into my room – and a very well appointed space is it was too.

King Bed

TV and hallway.

The first order of business was to lower the temperature of the room. Whilst not as hot as the hallway or reception, it was still toasty by my standards.

Once that was done, it was time to explore further.

Changes to things during the Holy month of Ramadan.

Coffee, Tea and Complimentary water.

Information and remote.

Tradition states I find BBC World, and stick it on. And so I did as I thought about my first flight aboard the A350.

Eventually, the urge to go to the small room was needed, and again – another well-appointed small room

Meanwhile, the bright lights of Doha were in the distance.

As much as I tried, it took me a good few hours to attempt to fall asleep… and with only five hours on the clock… it was a challenge.

Eventually, I got an hour or so doze in.

At 4:45 in the morning, the phone went off with the front desk asking when I was heading off. How nice of them to phone up.

I grabbed my stuff together, and with a quick shower – I was up and about.

The Oryx Rotana during the day. Still quiet.

I handed over my keycard, and headed over to the shuttle bus back to the airport – again, steaming up my glasses between exit of the hotel and the entrance of the shuttle bus.

Back abaord the bus and ready to go.

It seemed the locals liked the hotel enough to write it down on the car.

With the driver going at full pelt, the shuttle bus took 15 minutes to arrive back at the terminal

Even at 5amish in the morning, the sun was still powerful.

With the bus dropping me off at the terminal, I noticed the time, and got a move on into the terminal.

And rightly so, as the queues for both security and emigration were approaching US security levels of waiting. It took around 30 minutes or so to be stamped out, and leave State of Qatar.

There’s that Bearlamp again. No fur (fake or otherwise) was used in the making of Bearlamp.

With time becoming a commodity, I made a bee-line for the E-Gates.

E Gates – somewhere down here.

By the time I arrived at the E Gates, I found most of it was still being built – with an escalator heading downstairs.

So yes, it maybe a brand new airport – but bussing is the order of the day still.

Premium Boarding had yet to begin, but economy boarding was in full swing. I handed over my passport and boarding pass – and was directed onto the waiting bus.

Thankfully – unlike Heathrow Airport – there was both plenty of standing and sitting room on the bus, with the bus not being packed for ride around the ramp.

Qatar Airways A330

A short ride, and thankfully, the bus pulled up against the waiting Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that would take me to Japan.

A short wait, and it was time to board the waiting Dreamliner.

NEXT: QR812 Hamad International Airport, Doha to Tokyo International Airport, Haneda

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