Stage One: Melbourne – Doha - Stockholm
Thursday 14 January 2010
After packing and repacking to try to be close to the luggage limits (which wasn't easy given all the gear needed for the Polar Expedition Medicine course in Arctic Norway), I set off for the airport with some trepidation. The long term carpark charges seemed to be capped at $129 for two weeks (note: upon returning I found this to have gone up to $189 – ouch!), so at least that wasn't an ongoing spiral. I was lucky and found a spot close to one of the parking stations. I had decided to check-in early in case there were luggage issues. I was flying Qatar Airways for the first time as it is a new entrant to the Australian market and offered a very good deal (procured through AMA Travel). My suitcase was 21kg, and then the polite gentleman on the desk asked to weigh my carry-on luggage (laptop bag and coat bag exempt). This was something new, and was repeated as a cross-check just inside the departure area. 8kg was the most they would allow, so he kindly allowed me to put a couple of kg extra into my suitcase. After an uneventful wait in the departure lounge (during which I established that my new TravelSim mobile card actually works) we departed more or less on time and sailed off into what seemed to be an endless night, leaving at midnight and travelling backwards in time to Doha in Qatar.
The plane seemed slightly more spacious than some, and the cabin staff, both male and female, were beautifully groomed and unfailingly polite. The in-flight entertainment system is very extensive and my only complaint was that the 'moving map' wasn't working. I also used my iPod for the first time (with noise-cancelling headphones) to help block out background noise whilst (fairly unsuccessfully) trying to sleep. It did not help being right next to the toilet and the rear wing tip/engines being right outside the window. I had requested a window seat not over the wing in case I wanted to take any photos. We were kept well-fed and watered, with a choice of dinner and breakfast selections, and then regularly bringing around snacks/drinks in-between. The air was very dry, but that actually seemed to help the stuffiness of my head cold, which was starting to resolve after several days of misery, but unfortunately my eustachian tubes remained blocked on descent into Doha, which caused some discomfort. Judging from the ground lighting, we flew over a lot of densely populated country (?India) without the tell-tale runs of street and freeway lights you see in highly developed areas. It was a clear starry night (with significant turbulence at times) but I couldn't see any familiar constellations in the sky. However, I did wonder if one of them might be Ursa major ('the big bear').
I watched "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (unimpressive) and "Julie & Julia" (somewhat interesting) and after breakfast saw a blood-red sky over Dubai heralding dawn. From the air the vastness of the unoccupied desert is quite impressive, and the Gulf was punctuated by the shimmering beacons of oil wells reflected in the water underneath them, with faint plumes of smoke trailing behind them into the still air. The descent into Doha was accompanied by some 'rock 'n' roll' music I found amongst the audio tracks and as we neared the ground it became clear that the desert really is sand everywhere! Self-evident perhaps but such a stark contrast to what we are used to with our Australian urban and rural environments. most buildings were low-lying, very symmetrical and rectangular, and appeared to be crafted from the sand itself, in muted tones of beige and brown. Some skyscrapers of steel and glass shimmered in the hazy distance. As we stepped off the plane a huge orange sun the size of a grapefruit rapidly rose over the horizon.
After a ten-minute bus ride we arrived at the terminal (business and first class passengers have their own exclusive terminal!) and, having read some unfavorable reports about lack of facilities for the general public at the terminal (a new one is under construction) I headed straight for the Oryx lounge (140 Qatar dinar entry for 6 hours). Facilities include sandwiches, sweet snacks, fresh fruit, water, soft drinks and tea and coffee as well as internet availability and scope to take a shower (which I did). Not having had a great deal of sleep in the past 72 hours it would have been nice to doze off but alas only comfy chairs but no couches! I have been eating (and hungry) fairly constantly since leaving Melbourne but I rhink that is all part of the sleep-wake cycle being disrupted.
After munching my way through the six-hour stopover, getting started on "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown (thus far a rollicking tale with more twists and turns than you could imagine and a typical crazed uber-villain who will stop at nothing in order to achieve his objectives) and catching up on some emails, all aboard a much smaller (and older) 'plane for the onward leg to Stockholm. I was personally welcomed as a member of the Privilege Club ('frequent flyers') and was given first choice of the meal selections! With 'pfaffing around' with them serving refreshments and lunch we were kept in our seats for over two hours after boarding and the need for a toilet break had reached the truly desperate for a number of people (not just myself!) judging by the stampede that occurred. My right ear finally 'popped', with much relief of both pressure and relative deafness on that side!
Having flown over the calm azure waters of the Gulf, we then crossed over to the mountainous countries in the north-west. It was simply the most stunning geological panorama I have ever seen. Beginning with escarpments rising steeply from land's edge with sheer vertical cliffs to create a plateau where the earth variously appeared to be brushed out, chiselled, crinkled and folded with massive glacial cirques with razor-sharp ridges casting massive shadows forming their boundaries, fertile valleys, rivers, flood plains and deltas. The mountainous ranges stretched as far as the eye could see, and many higher ranges were kissed by windswept old snow and in some places what looked to be pale glacial scree. Awesome and inhospitable landscape, and not difficult to understand why there is a lot of ongoing seismic activity. If Afganistan and Pakistan are similar it is not difficult to understand why it has been impossible to find Osama bin Laden! Unfortunately sitting right behing the wing again, so only poor quality photos were possible, but good enough to appreciate the massive natural scale. Finish reading about half the book. Determined to stay awake now until bedtime tonight - will have been travelling for around a day and a half by the time we disembark at Stockholm in the early evening of Friday 15 January! In a perfect bookend to sunrise there was a deep orange and red cloudless sunset in the west.
I’m not sure what I was really expecting when I arrived at Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport for the first time, but I was certainly struck by the drabness and ordinariness of it compared to the spacious well-lit and airy Oslo Gardermoen, which architecturally resembles an uplifted wing. After waiting patiently in a queue to be processed by some obviously tired immigration officials, who were simultaneous battling with some new arrivals who spoke neither Swedish or English, I was able to collect my baggage and rushed outside in the hope of catching the hourly courtesy bus to the hotel nearby where I would be spending the night. Fortunately I got there just in time, and we set off through the snow-covered landscape to the Connect Airport Hotel. My attempt to engage the driver in conversation (in my best Norwegian) proved futile, but I established that the temperature had been fairly mild that day in contrast to the recent very cold temperatures sweeping Europe and North America. There was a lot of snow, creating a very pretty winter wonderland. I had a small single room for the night on the second floor, and was quite pleased with myself that I managed to stay awake until bedtime, but was kept awake for some time by some excitable visitors drinking and chatting in a nearby lounge. I also managed to do a little bit of handwashing which I figured would dry overnight in the warm ensuite, but the room was also very stuffy and I woke up coughing at one stage and then woke up at 0430 and did not succeed in getting back to sleep properly after that. At least there was some free internet at the front desk and a basic breakfast was included in the morning.
