When people ask me what my favourite country is, my first response is often that it’s an unfair question. But if I really had to give an answer (and often times that’s what it takes to move the conversation along) my answer would be Qatar.
Qatar gained a lot more notoriety after hosting the 2022 FIFA world cup. It went from a relatively unknown country, to a country everyone was talking about. Now I’m no football fan, but I was convinced to visit Qatar after all the hype. So after the FIFA world cup had concluded, and all the football fans had departed, I went to go check Qatar out for myself.
I went to Qatar in March which I would recommend as a pretty good time to visit Qatar. The weather was perfect! I landed in the capital, Doha very early in the morning and found Hamad International Airport to be a very pleasant airport. One thing I really loved about Qatar was how cheap it was to get around using Uber. Qatar has the 13th most proven oil reserves of any country, making a litre of fuel cheaper than a litre of water at the time I was there. For a litre of fuel in Qatar, it was about $0.88 AUD, compared to about $2.08 AUD a litre back home in Australia at the time I went. I took an Uber from the airport to my 5 star Hotel in Lusail, and as it was midnight, I got to experience Doha lit up in stunning colour. I had never seen anything like it.
Qatar invested an unfathomable amount of money into its infrastructure since winning the hosting rights to the 2022 FIFA world cup, including a number of gorgeous 5-star hotels that no doubt during the FIFA world cup would have been completely booked out. However, the FIFA world cup was well and truly over when I arrived, and the hype along with it. This meant that I was able to get a 5-star hotel room for $120 AUD a night, vastly cheaper than most 4 star hotels I’ve stayed at. I stayed at the Century Marina Hotel in Lusail, in a room that had an unhindered view of one of my favourite buildings, the Katara Towers. It was so nice, I almost just wanted to spend a few days in the hotel relaxing. But that was not what I was here for.
For a small county, both population wise and particularly geographically, Qatar has many things to see and do. Qatar is mainly made up of big sandy deserts, so I found a guide to take me into the heart of it. We drove in a Landcruiser from Lusail to Ash Shaqra’. On the way, we passed the Al Thumama Stadium, designed to resemble a gahfiya cap, and past a petroleum refinery spanning 11km. I arrived at Ash Shaqra’ with my guide, where just a few minutes later, I met a friendly local who let me go for a ride on his camel. There was a bit of language barrier, but he was able to tell me that the camels name was Colin.
After my ride with Colin, my guide introduced me to cardamom tea. I thought it odd having hot tea in the middle of the desert, and even though I’m not usually a fan of tea, I did really enjoy it.
After a relaxing start to the desert trip, things were about to get a lot more intense. The one thing deserts have no shortage of, is sand and giant sand dunes. So with a fair bit of air now taken out of the tyres, we went ahead and spent a good hour doing some dune bashing. Now, no words or video recording could ever do justice to what the experience was actually like, but I’m going to attempt to convey to you the experience as best I can.
Qatar is incredible! We love it here!