Inter-railing? With a wheelchair? You have to be crazy! Part Two

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I have started to travel to Europe via the Middle East, having spent decades flying back and forth between the UK and Australia via Asia.  Each of the Middle Eastern airlines flies into a different hub.  Emirates into Dubai, Etihad into Abu Dhabi and Qatar into Doha.  I’ve chosen not to fly Emirates for two reasons; one is the cost as they tend to be much more expensive than the other two Middle Eastern airlines and the second is because a couple of years ago they denied boarding to someone with the same wheelchair as mine and I’m simply not willing to risk it.  

Having had a very challenging time with Etihad, I decided on Qatar Airlines who didn’t cost that much much than Etihad and also have a very good reputation.  I wanted to give them a go to see if their reputation was worth it - short answer, it was.  In my preparation for a trip, I compare fares and then check out the airline’s reputation and reviews.  I was surprised that some of the airlines I hadn’t rated in my mind had excellent reviews and reputations; such as Vietnam Air and Turkish Air.  I’m going to keep them in mind for future travel.

Flying to Europe from Australia with one of the Middle Eastern Airlines means you can take advantage of the ridiculously cheap short break offers they have associated with the ticket.  I decided to stop over for 2 half nights (due to the flight times) and 1 full night in Doha and chose a stunning hotel about 20 minutes outside the city.  

I realise that everyone has different needs when it comes to accessibility and accommodation, so I don’t intend to recommend one place over another.  What I did consistently however, irrespective of the booking platform, was to contact the hotel to ensure it met my needs prior to booking.  I am an ambulatory wheelchair user, so as long as the place is step free I’m generally ok.  I never rely on the website’s description of “accessible”.  I ask them specific questions and, when necessary, ask them to either take photos and email them to me or I look at the photos on the website very carefully.  

We stayed at the Al Samrya which was absolutely stunning and has detailed explanations of their accessibility on their website.  Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your view point, our trip coincided with Ramadam so we were disappointed to find that many of the hotel’s services were closed.  This included the restaurant however breakfast and other meals were served in guests rooms.  If you know anything about Ramadam, you will know the evenings are full of socialising and eating, which was wonderful.  

Arriving from a long flight in the early hours of the morning is never fun, particularly when you have any kind of disability but Hamad International Airport was a breeze.  We had assistance staff plus a manual wheelchair waiting for us at the plane door and Ruby, my wheelchair was brought to the Gate.  We were supported through baggage claim and customs. Be aware, the airport is massive so it was a long way to walk/wheel and we had to take a slightly different route to utilise the lifts rather than the escalators.

Even though my experience with Etihad and Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi previously was pretty negative, I knew that the Middle East is very well set up for people with disabilities so I didn’t even think about booking a taxi in advance.  We aimed straight for the Information Area and requested a wheelchair accessible taxi.  It arrived in about 5 minutes and off we went.  

Check-in at the hotel was easy and we were taken up to our room which was beautiful.  The hotel was previously a palace and boy can you tell!  After breakfast and a couple of hours sleep we had a tour around the grounds of the hotel, in a golf buggy because it’s so large.  It’s still a working farm, estate and stables, houses the billionaire Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al-Thani’s personal museum collection, including the largest collection of classic cars in the world, a herd of the near extinct native Oryx and has an on-site mosque for visitors, staff and local people.  Everyone was genuinely very warm and complementary about the Sheikh.

We decided to travel by public transport into the Old Souk in Central Doha for the evening.  This was the only negative part of our stay.  I asked reception to organise a wheelchair accessible taxi to take us to the closest metro station.  The receptionist was quite dismissive of the local taxi service and told us Uber would be much faster and cheaper.  I was concerned about the accessibility of an Uber but she re-assured us they do have wheelchair accessible Ubers in Doha.  She spoke to a couple of people on the phone and reassured us they would send an accessible car for us, they didn’t.  Well I suppose they did if you count the uber driver and my companion lifting my 75kg wheelchair into the boot!  

My advice is not to listen to the hotel staff if they suggest an Uber and be firm about them ordering a wheelchair accessible taxi, which we did on the second day.  Despite the receptionist’s negative comments about the taxi service, they were efficient, fast and helpful.  I was suspicious that the particular receptionist we spoke to had some kind of relationship with Uber because we didn’t come across this situation again.

In terms of appropriate dress, for men and women, I would suggest reasonably modest clothing.  On the first day I wore summer pants and a short sleeved shirt and on the second day wore a summer, short sleeved, midi dress.  Women in Doha wore everything from the Niqab to everyday women’s apparel.  Many of the men wore a Thobe and Ghutra, but certainly not all.  It was winter so after the heat and humidity of a Sydney summer a mid 20s temperature was appreciated.  

The metro system in Doha is second to none.  Clearly signposted, accessible, clean and efficient.  The trains even have first class areas in their carriages.  We easily found our way to the Old Souk station which brought us out right at its entrance.  We arrived just as the sun was setting over the water; golden hues turning to pinks, peaches, purples and reflecting in the glass of the office buildings and hotels close by.  We were a little earlier than sunset which meant it was initially quite quiet but very quickly the restaurants started to open, as did the shops in the Souk.  I wondered if we would get lost in the narrow lanes but eventually each one brings you out to one of the two or three town squares, all interconnected to a boulevard.  We quickly found our way around.  

The Souk is a magical place and just as I imagined; spice lane, kitchenware lane, homewares lane, pashmina lane, you get the picture.  Shop owners were friendly and enthusiastic but not pushy.  I bought a couple of beautiful pashminas as gifts which were very reasonably priced.  I had wondered about the accessibility of the Souk but you will see from the picture I’ve uploaded along with this post that I didn’t need to worry.  I know everyone will be wondering about the accessibility of the toilets, it’s a thing wheelchair users wonder about for a very good reason.  I can confirm there was at least one accessible toilet in the Souk, it was very easy to find and perfectly clean and well laid out.

The Souk amused me in terms of the way it had been retro-fitted to be accessible.  Drop kerbs were everywhere but whereas in Australia they would all have been built “to code” (which we all know doesn’t actually mean easily accessible), in Doha they were clearly just hacked out of the pavement and concreted.  Making the Souk basically accessible was clearly the priority, gradients were definitely not considered, nevertheless they were all manageable.  I imagine that in Australia we would be told it was heritage listed so they couldn’t put in a ramp at all.

After a bit of shopping food was on our mind.  It took us ages to decide because there was a veritable smorgasbord of restaurant options all tempting us with their delicious aromas.  Many of the restaurants were serving either a buffet or set menu in light of Ramadam.  We checked out a few and decided on one serving very typical middle eastern fare where we could sit outside and watch the world go by.  The food and service were excellent and from what I could tell pretty much all of the restaurants were accessible and staff were incredibly helpful at ensuring furniture was moved out of the way for me.

The atmosphere in the city was laid back and friendly.  Lots and lots of families mixing with young adults, teenagers and tourists alike.  It felt very familiar to me; like a summer’s evening in Sydney in the lead up to Christmas, but less stressed.  I felt much safer in Doha than I have in many other capital cities and wouldn’t have any concerns about being there by myself in the future.

Our second day involved a much needed lie-in and me being disappointed that because of Ramadam the day spa was closed and my companion being disappointed that he couldn’t go for a ride on one of the horses.  Not to be people who mope around, we decided to book a taxi and go to the nearby and fairly new Shopping Mall.  Everyone told us how impressive it was so I was expecting great things.  Alas it was actually pretty similar to any large metropolitan shopping mall.  Again, because it was Ramadam it was quiet but we explored and did a bit of shopping.  We popped into the supermarket at one point and I was quite surprised by the number of dads with their children doing the shopping.

That evening we decided to have dinner in the hotel and join in the large Iftar communal meal.  The whole of the lobby area had been transformed into a gigantic restaurant with long shared tables, multiple buffet tables, small stalls with sweets and a significant bbq out by the pool.  The food was divine and oh how I wished I could have fitted more into my stomach!  Similar to the previous evening, the atmosphere was family focussed and festive.  Many of the women wore the most exquisite long dresses and the men wore their crisp white Thobes.  Located in the middle of a palace it was a sight to behold.  A full sensory experience in every way imaginable.

After dinner we wandered over to the Sheikh’s Personal Museum.  It’s hard to find words to describe the museum but vast and eclectic are the two that come to mind.  A bit like the V&A museum in London, you could probably spend days in there if you wanted to look at everything.  We were time limited however, we were flying out that night and wanted to have time for a snooze and shower before we left for the airport.  We wandered around appreciating the exhibits but not spending time reading all the details.  That was until we wandered down a ramp into the vast car museum, which had been our goal all along.  

I should say that I like cars, especially vintage classic cars, but this, what I could only describe as a hangar, was something else entirely.  Every single conceivable classic car or vintage type of motorised transport was there.  As I looked around in wonder, I thought this is going to take a while… and it did!

We headed off to the airport for our middle of the night flight to London.  Hamad airport is huge but well organised, check in was easy and I kept Ruby (wheelchair) with me until we got to the gate.  Each section of the airport has its own services and shops so you don’t have to go far from your gate.  I decided not to organise lounge tickets for this part of the trip, partly because there are so many other options at the airport.  Sensory rooms and quiet rooms being two of the most appreciated for people with disabilities.  We found one of the quiet rooms with two available stretch out chairs and chilled until it was time to go to the gate.

The staff and baggage handlers at the gate were great and I felt confident handing Ruby over to them.  Whilst waiting to board, we were sitting next to the tv which was broadcasting the news.  There was a brief story about US ships heading for the Strait of Hormuz but we didn’t think much of it and boarded our uneventful seven hour flight.  I hadn’t purchased return tickets because I wasn’t entirely sure what we were going to do but we both decided we’d liked Doha so much we wanted to stay there again, this time right in the city, on our way home.

We arrived at Heathrow which was a bit chaotic as usual and annoyingly no one appeared to know where Ruby was.  Someone thought she had been taken to oversized baggage, someone else thought she was still waiting to be brought up to the baggage area but eventually, about an hour after we arrived, she was found - at the gate, as I had requested, only after everyone had disembarked.  To be fair, this is the first stuff-up I’ve experienced at Heathrow who are usually across all things wheelchair.  Whilst we were hanging around, I switched on my phone and had a text from a friend of mine in the UK asking if we’d arrived ok.  “Yes, why”, I texted back.  “Turn on the tv” she replied.

Once we got to my aunt and uncle’s house, we did indeed turn on the tv and watched the news in horror at the bombs which had reigned down in the middle east overnight.  We all looked at each other in silence as our brains did the mental gymnastics of shock and horror at what had happened, questions about whether we were we going to be able to get back to Australia and then the timeline calculation and slow motion realisation that we were on one of the last flights out of Doha immediately prior to the bombing.