Exploring Doha International Airport

Hello guys, hope you all are doing fine. Today I want to share with you all some good memories that I had during my last year. This part of my experience which I'm about to explain today occurred when I travelled back to India from Tbilisi. Like any other Tbilisi flight you will expect to have a long transit during which you can explore different places in and around the Doha International Airport.

It was during the month of July my exams were coming to an end and at the same time dreams of returning back to India was slowly building up. The exams usually ends in the month of July between 13 to 18 and when the final exam comes more than the exams it is the feel that you are going to be in India that predominates. Most people pack their bags to India right on the eve of their examinations however I was not quite satisfied with this theory. I usually need time between the end of exams and the day of departure. This usually helps in preventing the unwanted pressure building up within you. A two days rest after the examinations will free your mind a bit after which you will be able to concentrate more on other things.

It was the same thing happening here in Tbilisi last year, the exams were about to end and everyone was ready to pack their bags and fly to India two days after the end of their exams. I booked my ticket a little differently, it was about a 1o day gap between the day of the end of exams and my departure. So as the examinations came to an end I had a little time to relax for a while and make up my towards the next important activity before leaving to India which is none other than shopping.

"Shopping" in Tbilisi is quite easy than shopping in India because you are not going to purchase that are really essential anywhere. All that you are about to buy are gifts and something as a sign of remembrance for your own kith and kilns. So, your journey begins from th very beginning of purchasing. There is which is so specific that you will have to purchase in Tbilisi. It all depends upon your taste and your style.You have to plan the date of your travel first and then begin your purchasing schedule.

I usually try to complete my entire purchase list in one or two days at the maximum because the more your prolong it the more are the chances to miss some important thing from the list. So be quick and act smart.! In Tbilisi there are few places where you can get everything under the same roof.  One such important place in Tbilisi till a year back was a very big hypermarket called as Goodwill found in the Didi Digomi district of Tbilisi. To reach the shop you can board any of the buses such as 15 that starts from stations Square, 14 that starts from baratashivili street etc. Once you board the bus you will get down at the bus stand that is right in front of Goodwill. This stop is celarly visible as there is no other building in this area. If you still have any doubt you can ask any nearby passenger to guide you with the bus stand and they will surely do it. Once you get out of the bus you can enter Good will and can take a whole leisure walk inside it exploring different items and prices. If you want to buy any bar chiocolates it is best to buy here than in any other place. The tastes of the bar chocolates are good and some worth mentioning are the milk chocolates of Baron which is 1.10GEL per bar, Chocolates of a German company which is approximately 3.90GEL also has an excellent taste. If you want to buy massive amounts then you have two different options one is to buy them here and the other one is to buy them at Vukzali. The chocolates which are bought in bulk amounts at vukzali is cheap but you can't really guarantee that all chocolates bought here will taste good. Sometimes your choices here may put you down. Apart from chocolates you would be wishing to buy something for your mom. For example - I used to buy a small jewel not necessarily a gold one but a fancy jewel just as a small present to her. It is "love" which matters here not the material whether it is gold, silver or metal that really matters. Then you will think of buying something for your sibling and in my case its my brother who is really young and very fond of toys. Therefore I often buy him a nice good looking and a geeky toy everytime I go to India. My brother loves every toy that I buy from here as he thinks its kind of super cool. During my first year I bought him a a big radio control remote car, during my second year I bought him a radio controlled race track set and this year I'm not sure what i'm going to buy him but I'm sure that I'll buy something cooler than the previous items because Tbilisi has many new stores that has been opened very recently. Finally remains my Dad who is the head of the family. Buyin gifts for him is the only difficult thing for me in the whole world. I usually get confused over it and sometimes I never come up with an answer at all. I usually buy my dad a shirt from here as I surely know that he would wear it. Depending on your dad's taste you can buy him a watch, a pen, a wallet and many such things commonly used my men.

These are the important people in any family and if in case you have your grandparents living with you then you may want to buy something for them too. Grandparents often don't eat chocolates so buying and giving them chocolate assortment boxes is the dumbbest idea you can ever think of..! If you know really well about your grandparent then you will know what to buy for them. If your grand parents love to drink hot drinks such as coffee and tea a lot then you may present them some cool mugs, you can even present them a plate in which they will eat. So each time they take the plate they will remember you. 

After buying for all the important persons in a family now it is time to decide what to buy for other people in a family. They may be your relatives, friends, neighbors etc. You can't be buying them all some rich souvenirs from Georgia unless you are a son or daughter of  a big shot.! Now you must think how many kilograms of chocoloates will you be needing and how many assortment boxes of chocolates you will be needing. Assortment chocolate boxes can be purchased from Goodwill or any such hypermarkets than opting for the cheap ones available in the local stores because you may not know how it will taste inside. After purchasing all the basic components for your packing such as gifts and chocolates now you can search for something that is not common or very rare in your country. Usually in India Mangoes are found in abundant but when it comes to Georgia Mangoes are like unicorns.! The same is the case with strawberries and apples in India. Therefore select some items which are uncommon in your country but you find it in cheap and abundance in Georgia and take them with you. Believe me this would be a really special one.! If you want to buy yourself something, buy it in the same day. Don't wait for another day.! 

Since all your items are ready now its time for you to pack. You can be very sure that your baggage wont exceed the allotted amount and you don't have to worry over tha fact that your mom or dad is absent here who regularly packs things for you. Just arrange them neatly and close it tight. If you want to identify your baggage easily without delaying tie some bright coloured ribbon at a prominent place in your main baggage. This will help you to minimize the time loss in identifying your bag. After packing I usually write a piece of personal info and stick it to the main baggage. With all these process done my bag was ready to depart and so was I. I arranged for a taxi to pick mee up the next evening. My flight was in the night at 8pm but to be on a safer side I left few hours earlier before the flight departs. I reached the airport two hours before the flight departure time. I was waiting for the check in counter to open and after 30minutes the checkin counter was opened. I went in there to check in my main baggage and to recieve my boarding passes. I had window tickets in both flights. The route of my flight was from Tbilisi to Baku, Baku to Doha and finally from Doha to Chennai. After getting my boarding pass I took the escalator to reach the second floor of the airport where I had to pass through the passport control or the immigration. It was not a difficult process and there was no crowd as well. I passed through the pasport control to the other side where was a small duty free shop exhibiting some popular brands of alcohol, cigarattes, chocolates and many more. I was waiting for my flight gate to be announced and after sometimr the first gate was open. I had to pass through the security check again in the gate and this time I didn't wear any jean with metalic designs or belts. The security check went on smooth for me unlike the previous times. I was waiting for my flight to start boarding. I was able to see the flight from the gate. The captain and the crew were standing beside me. As the flight just arrived Tbilisi I was able to see passengers getting down from the flight and walking through the gate into the arrival area. It will obviously take some more time for the flight to undergo some basic maintenance work and prepare it for the next journey. Another 30 minutes passed by and finally the fligjht gate was opened. One by one the passengers began to board the flight. The flight was looking beautiful from the outside. I was about to travel for the first time in Worlds Five Star Airlines and I had some expectations about it. Once I got into the flight there were seats arranged in three rows. Although it was a short flight it had individual screens for watching movies, playing games, checking flight info and many more. There were two vacant seats near me and after sometime a women came and sat in the seat after 1 seat to me. She was a Georgian Lady and I could very well recognize that. Exactly at the scheduled time the flight started its journey. The flight made its way slowly into the run way and it was airbound in no time. The journey was quite smooth without any turbulence and after a little while they offered a snack which was actually a beef sandwich which was delicious. This was followed by a refreshing hot drink where I got a cup of tea

The flight was about to make a short stop in Baku. Yes! I was landing in Azerbaijan without a visa ;) We didn't have to get out of the flight here. Only those people who had their tickets till Baku left the flight and also some passengers from Baku also boarded the flight. The vacant seat between me and the Georgian woman was occupied by an Azerbaijani man. He was looking fat and strong.! When everyone boarded the flight the airhostess gave everyone a chocolate. As I was sitting near the window I was actually not able to get my hands to it. This man who was next to me took some chocolates and gave them to me. The flight was back on its runway and soon it was in air. Azerbaijan was really beautiful to see from the top especially within the city limits with numerous colured lamps lightings. Then the flight was on its way to Doha the capital of the sate of Qatar.  Dinner was about to be served on board and the man near me again placed a paper spread on my table then when the food was about to be served the air hostess asked me fo which dish I prefered and as usual I asked for the non-vegeterian one, Even this time the man near me bought the food from the airhostess and gave me. I thanked him for his help. But he didn't give any reaction, to my surprise he sat continuously without speaking a word. I have never seen someone like him before but he was too gentle in his actions. The flight landed in Doha the same night and I was out of the flight to a airport bus that took me to a transit terminal. 

I had another 19hours of transit time for my next flight. However I was not going to stay in the airport for a long time as I got a hotel accommodation with the flight ticket where I could stay for my transit time. I thought of first having a look at the Doha Airport and then enquiring about the accommodation. On reaching the entrance of the transit terminal I had to pass through a security check as usual but there were a plent of counters therefore security check was over in no time. Like in Dubai I was able to see many number of Indians and Srilankans who were working as airport staffs. The Airport was not as big as the Dubai airport. A part of the airport was said to be under construction. There were two small duty free shops in the airport where I could see some special binoculars, cameras, cellular phones, play stations and computers. On the opposite side were chocolates, cosmetics and some fancy stuffs. The other duty free was found on the ground floor which was big and was having a Jaguar as a price for Duty Free Luck Draw. I was wandering inside the Duty Free showroom for a while having a look at all the new collections. Finally i bought a pack of Qatar Delight and two pens with some Qatrar pictures and a logo "I Love Qatar". Finishing this I went to an information desk and enquired about the accommodation. The man who was there at the information centre sent me to another area where a women verified my ticket and other documents and gave me a letter confirming my room in the hotel. I was allotted a room in a hotel called "Rittal Al Jial" to which I was taken by car. Getting down at the hotel I could see a large number of indians and srilankans people who were working here. I got my room key and a attendant showed me my room. The hotel was elegant and luxurious. There was a big double cot in my room, with a work table, fridge, an elegant rest room and so on. The beauty of the room was so amazing. standing from the window I was able to see the Ocean which added upto the beauty. Being really tired I went to the bathroom to have a shower. On returning back from the shower I opened the fridge and inside was heaps and heaps of chocolates. I tasted few and after some time the breakfast was at my door, It was the best breakfast ever.! The taste, its presentation and the way it was served was awesome. After my breakfast I was about to take a deep sleep, I jumped to the cot and I was fast asleep. One hour before flight's departure time I got a wake up call asking me to get ready.! I got ready to board my second flight that would take me to India..! The hotel stay was an amazing experience as I got some new friends who were from my state and they became god friends. I had some special food served in a royal way. I got ready and checked out at the reception. There was a car waiting for me in the entrance. I boarded the car and the car took me through the beautiful city of Qatar and I finally reached the airport. 

In the airport I started looking at the screen to note the gate number for my flight. It appeared on the screen and I made my way to the respective gate. Before passing through I had to go through a security check again and even this time it was not time consuming. At the gate I showed my boarding pass and the passport. The airhostess examined it and gave me back a part of my boarding pass taking which I had to go down an escalator. Once all the passengers check in here airport buses comes to the doorsteps. Once a bus is filled it takes you to your flight where you will get down and board a flight through the classic stairs. The flight I boarded was even bigger than the one which actually took me from Tbilisi. It was a full flight to Chennai that day and there were no extra places available. After every passenger arrived the flight started to move slowly and chocolates were distributed. The children in the flight recieved a small complement from the airlines. The flight started to move into the run way and in few seconds the flight was in the air. The journey was approximately for three and half hours and on board I recieved a classic Indian meal with chicken, The meal was quite ok although it was not delicious. I was seeing a movie throughout my flight journey, As I had a great sleep last night I was not feeling sleepy in the flight. Refreshments such as juices, coffee and Tea were served. On reaching the Indian borders the airhostess handed over the immigration form which we had to fill before reaching the immigration counter in the airport. As the flight came near chennai I was able to see through the window the beauty of it. The  flight made a big U turn over the sea and again moved towards the city but this time with a much lower altitude. In no time the flight was on the ground and it had a smooth landing. As the Chennai International Airport is under construction the flight had to move slowly to a gate where it came to an ultimate stop. I collected my hand baggages from the over head cabin and I moved towards the immigration counter. There was a long que standing to pass through immigration and after a long time my process got over and I was cleared. Then I took a trolley from the stand and came near the belt to collect my luggages. I was able to recognize my luggage from a very far distance because of the  ribbon that I tied to my baggage. Collecting the baggage I pushed my trolley along the way to reach the exit where my mom and brother were waiting for me. They received me with a warm welcome. So a big trip came to an end here. I got into the car with my family and I was in the busy roads of chennai city to reach my home.

The journey I had through Doha was a memorable one starting from the flight, the hotel, the airport and the people. I gained some new friends and at the same time some new experience at Doha. Thank you for reading it patiently. Please feel free to mention your comments and suggestions below. Till I publish my next artilce keep smiling and cheers :) :)