Andrew and I woke up very early on Friday to catch a bus
that would bring us to the Nice airport. I was very tense and nervous on the
way there. On top of that, we both took our first anti-malaria pills so I
couldn’t tell if the churning in my stomach was coming from the pill or from my
nervousness.
Everything went very smoothly. The flight was close to empty
and the flight attendants gave us a ton of really good food. It seems like they
handed out “refreshing towlettes” maybe ten times throughout the flight. It was
the calmest, most serene flight I’ve ever been on. This was especially nice for
me because I was pretty scared of going to the airport in Qatar. I really didn’t
know what to expect.
The Doha airport was similar to many other airports I’ve
been to before. It had places to buy food, as well as “duty-free” shops with
all kinds of products, ranging from whiskey, to perfume, to chocolates. We went
through security and sat in a waiting area near our departure gate.
It was also strikingly different from many other airports I’ve
been to in the past. For one thing, all of the signs were written in both
English and Arabic. For another thing, this airport had a mosque in it. Going
through security was far more pleasant than is the case in U.S. airports. I
didn’t have to show my little Ziploc bag of liquids, or take out my laptop, or
remove my shoes. We just put our bags on the conveyor belt and went through the
metal detector and were merry. On top of that, the people in the airport were
incredibly diverse. I saw all kinds of clothing on all kinds of individuals. I
lost track of how many cool hats I saw people wearing. It seemed there was a sampling
of people from every country and every continent.
Warning: content in the following paragraph contains gross
stuff!
The airport had an upscale feel to it, even though it was a
relatively small building. However, there were some unsettling experiences in
the restroom. When I first walked into a stall I narrowly avoided stepping into
a puddle of vomit. No big deal though. I just left that stall and found another
one. But when I came back to that restroom later and was inside a stall, I
heard someone come into the stall next to mine and start vomiting. I know it’s
normally kind of sickening to hear another person vomit to begin with, but this
was especially disturbing. The woman was wailing in pain during pretty much the
whole episode. I got spooked and promptly made my escape. It was nice to
have Andrew at the airport with me. I needed to talk to someone to get my mind
off of what I had just heard.
Our layover lasted (I believe) for six hours. We landed at 7
pm and left at 1 am. It was pretty brutal, especially since I’m already jet-lagged
and sleep deprived. To make matters worse, I was overdressed and sore from the previous day's hike. I’m very glad that Andrew and I were on the same flight and
could keep each other company during the long wait.
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