A little geography for my American friends (er, me). Doha is in Qatar, nearly the first country to the west of UAE. However both share borders with Saudi Arabia, which also has a short coastline between UAE and Qatar.
Ooh, one more thing about the flight. It shows as 20 minutes, but really it is 1 hour 20 minutes with a time change. However, the captain and flight attendants worked like it was 20 minutes. I understood zero of the Captain's Arabic typical intro speech, Arabic just sounds so fast! But then I understood nearly zero of his English version, he was setting some sort of land speed record for reading through it! Maybe he is an auctioneer in his spare time?? So fast!
We grab a quick meal in Doha's Hamad Int'l Airport (DOH), discover the QAR trades 1 to 0.36 USD and that airport food prices are inflated the world over. But, in a surprisingly expert culinary move, DOH serves fresh hot french fries with each slice of pizza. Power meal! Already I like it most of my middle eastern countries. However, does this really count as having "visited" the country? I consider doing a prohibited action like kissing my wife in public (it is Valentine's Day😍🥰😍) so I can spend a night in jail and really say I've been here.
Our tour guide related this well known joke: what do you call a person who knows 3 languages? Tri-lingual. 2 languages? Bi-lingual. 1 language? American.
Ok, on our way to Madrid! As soon as we board the plane it looks like Madrid. Remember when we're got on a bus to Little India in Singapore and it looked like southern India? Same same.
The time zones are -1 to Doha and additional -2 to Madrid. So when we land at 8pm it will feel like 11, or maybe later after being sardined together for hours.
I watch an Italian language movie and then a Bollywood, also nap and read. Really should be practicing Spanish, I know.
Arriving in the Madrid airport, international terminal, it looks like the day is close to done here. But as we get closer to the exit there are more and more people. By the time we're on the subway it is well-populated. Two easy rides with a simple transfer. Then we have a 10-minute walk.
Wow, we are in the city! There are 100s of people everywhere! Of course it is Valentine's day, a Friday night. Couples walking arm in arm everywhere. This is more people on the street in one block than in UAE entirely. Bars and cafes everywhere -- I bet we'll be able to find lots of cute local eateries within a block or two.
Yay, Madrid!
Yay Madrid! Ola, Espana y especialmente la ciudad de Barthelona (I just wanted to say it).
ReplyDeleteFinally a country where I can understand the language, unlike those other foreign countries like Australia & Hawaii (according to John :)
Anyway, we continue to follow your trip as if we were there with you. All I can say is this Flamenco outfit really itches. Lol. Disfrutate!
Interesting commentary. It will be a bit different when you return home and the update goes something like this: we brushed our teeth after having coffee then Kathy put the empty cups in the dishwasher. So you better live it up for 1 more week!
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