Wow, I bet the title of this blog is probably the last thing you'd expect from me. What can I say, I'm not much of an active traveler, but get my fair share of USAir miles every once in a while, usually in mass amounts. Where am I this time? Qatar, specifically, Doha.

For the many of you that already know this, and those that do not, I'm not a connoisseur of international travel. Heck, it's hard to drag me away from the greater Pittsburgh area for any extended period of time. Sure, I headed over to Budapest a few years ago, got deathly sick, gave a presentation practically on my death bed, and then crashed for 3 days straight, but that is my only international travel expedition besides Canada, which we really can't count as international. Now, I've managed to find myself in the "drop everything like's it's hot because it is" country of Qatar for some business related activities.

Rather than post this entry at the end of my trip, I thought I'd try something new this time and post updates to this blog throughout the week. It may come on the daily basis or possibly one update may cover multiple days…either way, I'll keep updating it.

Day 1 – The arrival

So I had to get from Pittsburgh to Doha, which is no easy route by any means. Here's the path I ended up taking…

1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Dulles, Virginia (1 hour and 14 minutes)
2. Dulles, Viriginia, to Frankfurt, Germany (7 hours and 52 minutes)
3. Frankfurt, Germany to Kuwait (5 hours and 10 minutes)
4. Kuwait to Doha, Qatar (1 hour and 15 minutes)

Doing the math quickly, that's about 14.5 hours of flight time and three layovers. For the most part, the flight was just fine other than the horrific food that was served on the plane. If my taste buds remember correctly, the only delicacy that I can remember enjoying was a dish of ice cream. For the most part, the rest of the food was a) something that I couldn't pronounce and some bread, b) something fishy, or c) a tray of edible muck resembling a Hungry Jack microwaveable dinner. During that 14 hour extravaganza across the world, I believe my diet only consisted of water, Pepsi, bread, peanuts, and ice cream. Oh well, better luck in Doha…maybe!

Wait, let me back up for a second. I forgot to mention that the Cleveland Cavalier cheerleaders were in the Frankfurt airport. They were all sitting together on the ground signing team cheerleader photographs for the troops in Iraq. I initially thought they were just a group of cheerleaders coming from some random training camp, but my friend Jason noted later that the pictures they were signing indicated there true alliance, the Cavs. Now back to the story….

Stretching my legs after a long 14 hours of travel across dirt, sand, water, and mountains, I had finally arrived in Doha. We had a layover in Dulles that was delayed, which always is a cause for concern especially with international travel consisting of multiple stops. Why, because there is this concept called baggage which operationally speaking the airports can't seem to get the hang of and consistently lose, mis-route, or otherwise force you to gamble by checking your fine collection of clothes and other necessities. Needless to say, I rolled the dice and lost. Yes, that's right, I was in Doha, but my baggage was not. To keep a long story short, I had to have the hotel pick it up the next morning at the airport and all was fine.

Now, I've heard the rumors, interviewed those who've been to Doha, but not yet witnessed first hand the temperature and humidity in Doha. After 15 minutes or so outside of the finely chilled confinements of the airport, I quickly realized that if Doha had a theme song, it should be Nelly's "It's getting hot in here". Not even 5 minutes after leaving the airport, I was already getting sweaty and sticky…it's insanely hot and humid in this region.

After getting to the Ritz-Carlton in Doha where I was staying, I finally dragged myself up to the room, took a shower, called home, and then headed straight to bed…I was exhausted. Well, not quite, I captured a few pictures of the hotel room just because it was about as large as my apartment.

The main room – Lot's of space, not cramped, quite extravagant compared to what I'm used to.

The bidet – Beware kiddies, this isn't a drinking fountain…it's a bidet.

Day 2 – The beginning

Well, I woke up about 7:15am. Why? Well, because that's when they said my luggage would be available for pickup at the airport. After rolling over in bed, I called the front desk at the hotel and they kindly offered to pickup my baggage free of charge from the airport. Sweet! A few hours later, ding dong, they delivered it to my door and I finally was ready to go.

After taking a shower, I decided to take some pictures from my balcony at the hotel. That went over like a fart in church. By the time I took the camera from the air conditioned room to the balcony and tried to snap the first picture, the lens was just covered in condensation. I actually had to take it back inside, wipe it off, and then head back out for a second try. Here are some of the shots I have from the hotel.

Some bay – I'm not sure what bay this is, but I'll tell you what, it sparkles like no other body of water I've ever seen and certainly beats the fine flow of water we call the Allegheny river up in Pittsburgh.

The rest of some bay – I think this all belongs to the Arabian sea, but I claim to be no ocean expert.

Sparking water – It ain't the Allegheny you Pittsburgians, in fact, I think the fish can survive longer than a month passing this type of beautiful water through their gills.

Some more shots of the resort – Here's another shot from my balcony, not sure what that oddly shaped fountain is supposed to be, but like most fine art, who cares.

Wrapping things up, I did some work-work down here today. After that we headed to a few of the shops in downtown Doha and then made our way to one of the malls in the area. I'll tell you what, this mall was big enough to have its own small city. Three floors, shops out the wahzoo, and a circumference that would make even the most athletically talented mall walkers quiver in fear.

Finally, the end of day 2. There will be more to come, but I've got to head to bed now as I've got an early start (i.e., 6:15am) tomorrow.

Day 3 – Shopping at the Souqs

Well, this day started early. I got up around 6:15am and took a shower. I headed upstairs to meet up with some of my co-workers and we enjoyed the free breakfast compliments of the Ritz. I must say, I've eaten more sugar this week than a 7-year old can get his hands on in a year. While we were awaiting the cab to take us to downtown Doha, it seemed like a good idea to get a picture on the hummer golf cart…with approval from the Ritz of course.

Big Pimping…D-O-H-A – Yeah, that's right, not only are there Ferraris, Rolls-Royces, and enough Cadillacs to transport half of Pittsburgh, but they even have P. Diddy like golf carts for show as well.

After breakfast, we headed out for to do some business work for the day…but I'll spare you the details.

After work, I decided to head done to the pool to try and rid myself of this pasty white tan I have…didn't work out so well though. It's different here, the primetime hours for the sun seem to be from like 9am – 2pm and then the shadows get long very quickly as the sun sets around 7:30pm. Overall though, it was less of a humid day which made it more pleasant to parade the streets like real tourists.

I then decided to head down to the "so-called" beach in front of the hotel, but that wasn't anything to write home about. It was more like a few dump trucks poured sand and then the Ritz stuck some fruity umbrellas in the sand to make it more agreeable to their guests. The water seemed to be about 80 some degrees and as salty as a Pittsburgh driver is over bicyclists who fail to follow proper biking etiquette.

Later in the evening, a co-worker and I decided to head to something known as Doha's souqs. These are actually narrow alleyways of small shops where goods are piled from floor to ceiling and bargaining is encouraged. I purchased a few knick knacks for friends and family as well as a pair of sandals and dress shoes for myself. I won't go into great detail, but I paid 115 rials (Qatar currency) for the two pairs of shoes. That equates to about $28.00 in US currency, not a bad deal ey?

New Sandal from the Souqs – Boy, these things are extremely light and comfortable, just what the doctor asked for.

Dress shoes, Doha style – I actually don't know if these are actually in "style" around here, but I needed a dress shoe that wasn't black and these fit the bill.

After purchasing goods all night long and picking up a small vanilla ice cream cone from the local McDonalds, it was time to head home. Before we left, we took a picture of the Islamic Learning Center.

Islamic Learning Center – While I didn't pay a visit to the Islamic Learning Center, I certainly marveled at the nicely designed structure.

Now that I'm back in my room, finishing up the blog for today, I thought I'd slap one more picture in here. This one is actually from Day 2, but I didn't get the image until today.

Beware of inanimate animal statues – Man, that's the last time I talk trash to one of these furry plexiglass like creatures…that left hook really knocked me for a loop.

On that note, or K.O., it's time to bring an end to Day 3.

Day 4 – Work, work, work

Woke up around 7:30 and got a shower. After feeling zest fully clean, I met up with the crew for some breakfast, Out of all the days so far, I would say this was one of the most productive from a work perspective. Heck, I even put some of the techniques I learned at my AMA Project Management into action, but we'll see if they prove effective. We stuck around work until about 6:30 and headed back to the hotel.

After getting back to the hotel, we proceeded to obtain our daily intake of free food from the magical 23rd floor at the Ritz. To put this whole free food thing into perspective, imagine walking into a room about 30x30 feet. The room has several areas with tables that contain various small entrees such as appetizers, desserts, salads/bread, and even a cook that fixes you whatever the special is for the night.

Despite being very filling, it's probably the worst diet known to man. The breakdown of my breakfast and dinners usually looks like desserts (75%), entrees (10%), and appetizers (15%). This is not a diet that "does a body good".

After polishing off the last of my Pepsi and some form of fruitfilled cake, we headed down to the gift shop to pick up some more knick knacks to take back. I'm now back in the room and officially in for the night. Unfortunately, they do not have FX down here and I'm going to miss this week's epsidoe of Nip Tuck, at least for now. Knowing this ahead of time, my buddy Will was kind enough to record it for me so that I could watch it when I got back.

Night all!

Day 5 and 6 – Internet Fails Us and Then Some Touring

Day 5 was mostly consumed with relaxing in an exquisite apartment while conducting some work activities. Heck, we took down a picture on the wall just so we could hook up a projector and connect our laptops to it. However, the internet went down about half way through the day which stalled the discussions for a little bit. You know us geeks, we can't live without being connected. After the connectivity crisis was over, we resumed our work and then finished up around 5:30pm.

At finishing up things at the apartment, we headed back to the Ritz to eat at their seafood buffet at a place called "The Lagoon". I'm not a big seafood fan, but they had some lobsters the size of small children and fish that could probably swallow me whole. Once dinner was done, a co-worker and I headed out to the lounge and I had my first international Guinness….yummmm! My fine alcoholic beverage went down extremely smoothly while being entertained by a live Spanish band…sorry no pics of them. That was about it for Day 5. Let's move on to Day 6…where the most likely Arabic statement echoed as we took pictures was "Damn Americans"!!!

Day 6 was much more exciting. Instead of starting the day with more work-related activities, we were kindly given the opportunity to be tourists. A group called Qatar International Tours (QIT) picked us up in an SUV around 8am and we were off on our international adventure for the next three hours. Camels and falcons and horses, oh my!

While we traveled around the city, we were snapping pictures so fast not even our cameras could keep up. Yeah, I know what you are thinking…."Damn American tourists"!!! Here are some of the pictures I captured during the tour…

Stare down – I don't know about you, but this particular 4-legged masterpiece didn't seem to fond of us. I think he was camera shy.

Off to the races – In preparation for the Doha games, they have been constructing a horse racing stadium. Here is an early shot of what it looks like.

Humpty Dance – Why is it that as soon as I saw this picture the song "My humps, my humps, my lovely lady humps" started playing in my head.

Sir Falcon the 3rd – Man, even the falcons around here pimp themselves out in extravagant decor. That falcon headdress must have cost at least 50 rial.

The Pearl – This might not be Jack Sparrow's "Black Pearl", but it certainly is a monstrous oyster, huh? I had to get a shot of this one because I have a postcard with this statue on it.

Doha games mascot – As some of you may know, the Doha games are quickly approaching and this athletically dressed animal is their mascot.

Well, our tour ended around 11:30am and we made our way back to the hotel. We'll be meeting up with the rest of the crew in a bit for lunch and then it's time to finish off the rest of the work we came here to do. If I'm lucky, I might be able to squeeze an hour or so of jet skiing in right up the road, but that all depends on how late we work until.

I'll need to pack later tonight as this will be my final day in Doha and then it's back to the states. I must say, despite this being a work trip, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I know, I know, I wasn't really looking forward to this trip before I left, but now that I've been here…it's certainly somewhere I'd enjoy visiting again. If you ever get a chance, Doha is somewhere I'd certainly recommend visiting.

Consider this blog complete and may the force be with me on the way back home!