Had a relatively uneventful flight last Tuesday/Wednesday. It was hard to say goodbye to Carolyn in London but I was glad she was there with me at the airport to help me with all my bags. We had a nice dinner at a place not too far from the airport, and then visited with Carolyn's aunt and uncle for a few minutes. After a short hop to Toront, and a short wait, I boarded for London UK around 10:00. The skies were clear but dark for most of the way down the St. Lawrence, but then got cloudy. I got a bit of sleep, but woke up when it got day light (about 3:00 AM, EDT) I was able to see a bit Ireland as we flew over, and a large bit of the coast of Wales. The English countryside looked marvelous from the air, so green. The most striking feature to me was that the fields were not laid out in nice straight lines and rectangles, but the fence lines ran every which way. That a big difference from southern Ontario for sure.
After a seven hour flight from Canada, the layover in Heathrow was for about 3 hours, and I just wandered the airport looking at the shops. I was tempted to buy some stuff, but would just have had to stow it in my carry on, so that wasn't really practical. Another almost seven hour flight took me to Doha, Qatar. (by the way, it's pronounced CAT-er by the nationals here) This time it was cloudy most of the way, but just as we were going over the Alps, the clouds opened up and I was able to get a picture through the window. I got in here just after Midnight local time on Thursday morning. I was met at the airport by a greeting service and fast-tracked through customs and immigration, so got into my hotel about 1:00. I was put up at the Marriot Hotel for two nights. Wow, what a nice place. I took some pictures of the pool area the next day.
In the morning I was taken to the College for some paper work, but they are just starting a weeks holidays, so some of the people that I need to see have gone until next week.
On Friday I got moved into my quarters which are not too far from downtown Doha and there are lots of interesting shops around. I had a chance to walk about with a couple of other guys who have been here for awhile, and got orientated a little. It's a confusing place to get around in. And the traffic is insane. There are few traffic lights, but many round-abouts. They might be good for low traffic times, but at rush hour it's just a dog-eat-dog mentality that prevails.
Anyway, I'm now here, getting settled in and have about a week to go before classes start.
The pics were take on the campus, and near the pool at the Marriot Hotel
