First Impressions & The Why Behind This All (the blog, not the whole Qatar or World Cup)
First Impressions
It’s quite odd to board a plane where all the passengers are heading to the same place for the same reason. The closest experience to that has been going to a real estate conference in Vegas from New York, but this is another level. That energy on the plane leads to many groups intermingling a bit as they discuss their plans and football in general. Here are some of my thoughts from my first few hours here:
Lots of families. I always surprised in general when anyone travels with children, but there are definitely a lot of families on the flight. Not with babies, but young kids.
Sports people are sports people. Doesn’t really matter which. I saw a lot of travelers watching other sports (College Football) while they waited. Maybe it’s an American thing.
Qatar Airways is perfectly fine. The First class area looks nice, but I would have had to literally add a zero to my ticket price to get a seat. I don’t really mind, I can sleep most anywhere. Quick movie at takeoff, slept the middle, and a quick movie at the end, and I’m ready to go. The nicest review I can leave is that the metal silverware was nice for meal service. Lewandowski and Cafu featured in their safety video, which furthered how this whole place is so branded.
I’ve never been anywhere for a big sports event. But Doha is wrapped up in this. The metro car’s poles are connected via soccer ball joints. There are World Cup signs and banners up everywhere. Flags from the 32 teams are always present. Iconic images of past World Cups. Even the passport stamp says FIFA World Cup on it.
Customs was maybe the fastest I’ve ever seen at an airport. You know how when you get to international customs, they have dozens of lanes, but they’ve only staffed like a quarter or half? Well, Qatar had every lane open. I literally had a zero minute wait time.
Mexicans are the loudest fans so far. I’m very impressed. They’ve showed up in good numbers. Also, incredible how they all have very impressive sombreros. Can’t be easy to travel with those.
Generally a lot of South American representation. Not a lot of European. But I haven’t covered much area yet.
Waiting at the Metro stop at the airport, I’m assuming there was some sort of service that just drops off your luggage at your hotel, because almost nobody had any luggage. 6 Mexicans who had clearly just arrived had full sombreros on, but no luggage. I’m confused. I felt like I must have been doing something wrong? Or right? Unclear.
The Metro WiFi required a code that they would text you, that you wouldn’t be able to get if you didn’t have service… so that didn’t work.
The Metro is nice, trains are fully automated (no conductor), but they seem to be running at 10-15 minute intervals… which isn’t going to work for the tournament. When getting off at my stop I had to very very gruffly shove oncoming traffic that was very intense, even for a New Yorker. Good thing I only have a back pack. Not a chance someone would have gotten through with a rolling luggage. At that stop they had many attendants trying to help the doors close, and make sure no one was caught in it. Not looking forward to dealing with this in the coming weeks.
There’s a lot of event staff here. A lot a lot of people. The staffing count must be huge. They are everywhere. I suppose if it’s related to money, the Supreme Committee of Qatar can solve it. And they’re well trained. All very friendly so far.
It smells a bit weird. My gut is a slight sulfur scent, like low tide of a body of salt water mixed with a bit of sewage? That’s my guess.
My first accommodation is a newish apartment building that is being operated by Accor as fan housing. It’s no frills, but quite nice. It came down to just under $100 a night per bed for this 2 Bedroom Apartment. I decided to avoid the fan villages, shipping container converted units, and FEMA-esque tents. All looked a bit Fyre Fest-y. Some of the Fan Villages were more expensive than what we got. The tents were definitely cheaper. I saw some for around $50 per night per person. I was intrigued, because it could be a cool environment, but real pictures of the sites in the last month didn’t inspire confidence that it would be a good idea.
Plus being in the city means we could “easily” get places and have some conveniences within walking distance. Prices are quite reasonable in this part of the city. Had Mutabbaq for my first meal here, and it was about $10 a person. Mutabbaq is basically like a filled flatbread. It’s very light and filled with spices. I definitely recommend.
Oh, and this is a car city. The longest wait I had today was crossing a main street. You have to get 4 walk lights to (there are essentially three medians for pedestrians to wait on) cross one large boulevard. I saw some jaywalk, but they were scolded by event staff. Maybe when I don’t have luggage I’ll start joining them.
Whoops
Google Maps doesn’t quite work well here either. Should have gotten the coordinates to not get lost. My phone hasn’t quite figured out how to work either. But I wandered the back alleys of Doha until I found some helpful event staff who pointed me in the right direction. The blue dot is where I’m staying, the red dot is where Google sent me. Not quite right.
It’s always remarkable to me how much easier it is to travel solo as a man than a woman. I wandered dark alleys and quiet streets without too much of a worry. That said, it helps that I know Qatar has the lowest crime per capita for the past few years in the whole world.
The Why Behind This All (the blog)
Some of you may be thinking why am I writing this at all. Who is my audience and what is the objective of this blog? Why am I a decade late to this mode of communication (I did do a blog ages ago during one of my semesters I spent in Russia)? It actually stems from my family’s annual New Year’s Resolution Challenges. Like all normal people, we found that keeping our resolutions was quite hard. So I proposed annually sharing our resolutions and creating a penalty (through a “forced” increase to the annual Secret Santa minimum). Thereby promoting a level of accountability and negative reinforcement. Neither works particularly well, as my family, like most, doesn’t operate like a business. Plus we all don’t mind spending more on gifts for one another. Over time, we added a challenge segment to the Resolutions. Where members of the family suggest things for you to do. i.e. of both are One Spa Day a Month, Go to the Gym Weekly, Learn How to Sail, Weight Goals, and Cooking New Recipes Weekly.
My two this year are Watch Oscar Best Picture Nominated Movies from 1970 - My Birth Year (which has subsequently been expanded to just watch all Oscar Best Picture Nominated Movies since 1970) and Write 2 Pages a Week. As you can guess. I have obviously not written two pages a week. However, my life is full of procrastination, and here we are, near the end of November, and I’m gonna catch up! I did write a bit; like some board game variations, a Letter to Myself at 35, and a first draft my Last Will and Testament.
But alas, here I am, trying to still complete it. Whether or not anyone really reads is not the point. I’m writing to express myself in a more thoughtful way than just muttering ramblings to myself on the subway. If you do stick around, hopefully you find it enjoyable, interesting, or even possibly learn something!