En route

Overland. Best way to travel. Overland by bike. We'll that's almost perfect.

New city, long flights. Overnighting in Qatar reminded me of Shiraz or Yazd in Iran. Monotone, sandy hues and oppressive heat. That was a trip.

QatarAirways was a great service. I prebooked preferred seats. And managed a whole row to myself despite a moderately full plane. Probably because row 17 is directly behind the parent row, and yes it was in use. Fortunately well behaved junior and excellent ANC buds took care of most of that and I managed some useful zzzs, albeit a little compressed even with all 3 seats in play. As expected I sampled the available Dewars whisky. Acceptable but was expecting JW Black on Qatar. Doha Hammad airport is huge and opulent. And sooo air-conditioned.

I taxied to a nearby hotel and after a quick Lao around the block at midnight, I tried to catch some zzzzs.

Arriving back at the airport at 6.15 am I grabbed a salad for breakfast, went device shopping - to replace the tablet I'd left by the door upon departure - and chilled in the massive arcade that is duty free.

A longish bus trip to some distant stand nestling the plane saw us on board 30 minutes late, and on our way to Johannesburg.Read more