Time for a family safari trip to Africa, but first a short stopover in Qatar. Our airline choice for this trip was Qatar Airlines which provides the opportunity to spend a few days in Doha at no additional cost. A non-stop (13 hour) flight from Seattle would put us in the same time zone as Kenya and just a 5 hour flight away.

We met up in the Seattle airport with family coming in from Idaho, Utah and California. Happy birthday to Renee (our niece), and time for happy travelers to board the plane.

Everything went smoothly but let’s face it, this is a long, long flight.

After we arrived we settled into our hotel for the evening, testing out the club lounge which would become our go-to spot for evening refreshments - and it was great. With a huge buffet breakfast also included, we really didn’t need much else.

Our first adventure was to do an evening city tour with dinner. We booked this through Trip Advisor / Viator and it was a good way to get started. Visiting the old Souq Waqif (standing market), seeing the Palace camels, the Falcon shops (seems if you live here you must own a falcon), and the rest of the shops in the market was great. We stopped for a local dinner, and then headed off to the newer side of the city.

Much of the newer part of the city has been built in just the last decade or two. In fact, according to our guide, 75 new hotels were built just for the World Cup that was hosted in 2022. They also built 7 new stadiums for this event which was a huge success. It seems France thought it was so successful that they gave Qatar a giant golden thumbs up! Just think, all the US got from France was the Statue of Liberty…

Many of the attractions in the new side of town are various “replicas”. There is a Colosseum, and a replica of Venice, with canals running through it. And a beautiful shopping street that is air conditioned - yes, air conditioning comes up through vents in the street.

Our next adventure included Dune bashing , Sand Surfing and camel riding. We booked this through the same company on Trip Advisor, and it was a good experience as well.

We started with a short camel ride once we arrived at the dunes area, followed by a wild ride in our Toyota Land Cruisers. A little sand boarding after that and a quick dip in the Persian Gulf as well. A fun day for sure.

We did a little more walking around town to see the sights. This was a great way to adjust for the time difference and get a little rest. Now we are off for 10 days of safari. First post from Kenya soon.

Take care,

Tim & Eileen