Basboy’s Weblog

I am sitting here in the main living room of my father house in Doha, on the morning after the night of my arrival. It was a good plane trip, all things considered, but not a very fun one. I find that traveling alone can be quite lonely, for obvious reasons, although not having to watch out except for your own self has its advantages.
One thing to note for the future, for all the good it does me: Lufthansa economy class seating is quite cramped, and there are no air vents to cool a very hot cabin. Also, sitting next to an inconsiderate German man, I realized just how annoying it is to have one’s arm over the armrest protruding into the next person’s space- I wanted to strangle him, and take his much more desirable aisle seat! The only thing good about the flight is the entertainment screen, with its ample choices of movies and shows.
Arriving in Frankfurt at what was for me the middle of the night (even though it was morning there), I was in a funny mood that only hits me during night shifts. I was very energetic, but grumpy and knew nothing of my next step because my connecting flight had no gate number, as yet. The airport, while big and with a good amount of shops and restaurants, held no interest to me at this hour. All I wanted was a coffee and a place to sit and charge my equipment, but while there was plenty of coffee, there seemed to be no power outlets (inconsequential, I realize in retrospect, because I had no power adapters). Wanting to log on to check my e-mail, I was hit with another disappointment: You have to buy a card, and pay a lot for it, to surf the web here; so I decided to try one of their many internet machines. Guess what? For those you pay even more, 21 euros an hour for something I got for free at Pearson airport in Toronto (on my laptop), and Canadians do not always throw in their services. The woman at the machine next to me was extremely vocal about the injustice of all this! To make this story short, I went on for a minute, and was kicked out of my gmail account inexplicably, and then gave up.
My second plane, a Qatar Airways, had better seating and was a less cramped flight. Air vents were available, making for a cool and comfortable seat, and a perfect sleeping environment. This flight seemed to go on for all of an hour, because I actually slept through most of it (unusual for me) and watched an old favorite movie: Strangers on a Train. For those who don’t know it, this is an early Hitchcock movie that present an interesting setup and plot turns, although it looks as if you were reading it from a book- that is to say, the actor do little than say their lines and move through the scenes, and it is up to the viewer to fill in much of the emotion and subtext (which I was happy to do in my head). It is one of the few movies I would want to see redone because of this, even if I know it would not be done the proper justice.
Anyway, I arrived to little fanfare. The airport was small, but efficient and elegant. The drive home was speedy and comfy in an elegant Mercedes. And the evening was short before my father, tired from his long day, turned in. I hope today that I can do a good amount of exploration in the city, and I have already started my day right with a refreshing shower, egg breakfast and a nice brewed coffee. There aren’t any shops too nearby, so I will have to take a taxi to somewhere, and I hope that I will be able to do this without any issues.

Until later…