With little fanfare but a strong manly embrace Kev and I parted ways at Paris CDG airport with Kev last seen heading towards a flight that would hopefully have him home in Melbourne by the time you read this or if he took a wrong turn somewhere else in the world !
My journey was a little different flying Qatar airlines to India via Doha and not without a few problems along the way .
Issue no. 1 was my not being able to produce the credit card I booked my flight with some 11 months back (it had expired) causing some grief at the check in and needing a phone call to Doha.
Next came the argument about wanting to charge me excess baggage on my bike and check in bag (32kgs) despite the fact that the airlines website clearly shows a 10kg allowance over and above rfe 23 KGS allowed in economy !
Once sorted and probably in some form of
contriteness I was given an emergency exit and my own row thru to Delhi.
but soon renegged with am aircraft change if Doha surely one of tged louisest airports around at the home of Qatar airlines.
Arrival Doha was an entry into chaos with the terminal packed with passengers with some 50 scheduled flights due out between midnight and 2 a.m..
To win my vote for one of the least desirable stopovers , Toilets were hard to find , duty free items were exorbitantly high, the plane parking was a good 15 minutes away by shuttle bus from the terminal and to top it all off the drinking water in tge terminal was hot with an outside temperature of 33 C at midnight !
Entering the aircraft finally after 1.00a.n. was a surreal experience as the cooled air circulating inside had created a pea souper effect making reading your seat number difficult !
To top it all off we sat on the ground for an hour as we waited on the removal of an apparent drunk passenger and his baggage ( I don't blame him)
Thankfully the flight to Delhi was only 3 & 1/2 hours from Doha and arrival here at the tour groups hotel was fairly stress free after being picked up at the airport.
Delhi was a predictable traffic nightmare with lanes unnecessary as cars motorcycles and busus jostled for every square mete of tarmac.
Our tour fires up in just over a day as we head towards the spectacular Himalayas on our trip from Manali to Leh on some of the highest roads in the world .
In the interim judging on this afternoons effort to walk the streets I think I'll be staying inside the hotel with the constant hassling its a lot less stressful !
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