Our family is finally back from a week long vacation in Australia.  The long flight and the six-hour difference between The Land Down Under and Abu Dhabi's time zone are nothing but exhausting.  Nonetheless, I am here blogging about the trip so I could turn such experience into a wonderful and timeless memory.

Our vacation in Oz was quite an adventure.  Let me tell you why.  Firstly, Ronnie had a biliary colic attack at the airport while our flight was already boarding.  Thank God Buscopan worked right on time and we got to board the plane 20 minutes before the gate closes.  Secondly, we missed our connecting flight to Melbourne because our Dubai to Doha flight was delayed.  And lastly, we spent seven days traveling to four different cities (Melbourne - Griffith - Canberra - Sydney), not to mention having to brave the long drive using a car with the steering wheel on the right!  It's stressful yet exciting.  Certainly, this family holiday is one for the books!

I've got tons of photos from this trip but I don't want you to get overwhelmed, so I'll be blogging about our Oz adventure on an installment basis.  For this post, I'll be particularly sharing our layover in Doha, Qatar.

Upon arriving in Doha, a staff told us that our connecting flight had already left and that we had to stay for the night because the next plane going to Melbourne would not be available until 24 hours later.  In short, we're stuck in Qatar for one night and one day, making our short vacation to Australia even shorter.  Nevertheless, we're still grateful for Qatar airways took care of everything we needed -- visas, hotel accommodation, land transfers, and full board meal allowance.  What an excellent customer service, indeed!

Ronnie took this chance to catch up with some of his friends who are based in Qatar while I grabbed this opportunity to relax from the two stressful biliary colic attacks my husband had in the last 12 hours. 

Qatar's Hamad International Airport is massive!  It's the world's 6th best airport and the best in the Middle East.  Imagine, a two-way train/metro operating inside the airport?  Crazy, right?!?  They also have two luxury cars displayed in the lobby, an indoor swimming pool, a no ordinary kid's playground, and a mac computer station with free internet access.  If those didn't impress you enough, then I don't know what else will. 

After our 24-hour layover in Doha, we finally got to fly to Melbourne.  It was a gruelling 16-hour flight.. it's actually the longest I've ever experienced and I'm telling you, it's no joke!  How I wish we can splurge on flying first/business class, but economy's all that we can afford (as of the moment).  Maybe, when we've become billionnaires, my husband would be generous enough to allow us to travel in style. *daydreaming*  Anyway, in my next post, I'll be giving you a virtual tour of Victoria's capital, MELBOURNE.  Until then!