I guess I should have known better.

It’s so important to look at an itinerary carefully and make sure there’s enough time in between connecting flights for delays or mayhem to happen.

The funny thing, my first flight on the way here to Doha was domestic, Toronto to Montreal, could have gone to the airport just an hour before, but that felt weird to me so I still went two hours before, and sat in the lounge chairs waiting.

The flight was delayed!

We were supposed to leave Toronto by 8 pm to arrive in Montreal for 9:15 pm, but we didn’t take off till 9 pm.

My flight to Doha was at 10:20 pm. Only an hour between!

I’ve gotten to the point where I seldom talk to fellow passengers on planes, especially if they’re men, but I started watching that Clint Eastwood film Trouble with the Curve, and the elderly gentleman sitting to my right asked if I was a baseball fan. He said he’d enjoyed the movie even though it got terrible reviews, and I told him it’s because Clint Eastwood’s character was exactly the same as the one he played in Gran Torino, which I really liked.

He was reading Life of Pi, and I resisted the urge to discuss it with him because he wasn’t done yet.

And that got us to talking and it turned out he was an  author too, had written several books on stress management.

And the nice thing was, he realized how urgently I had to get out of there and called ahead to the other passengers when they were lining up to leave the aircraft to let me go through as I had a connecting flight.

It was really nice of him!

Soon as I got through the gangway, there was a man from Qatar airways waiting, saying, “Doha? Doha?”

We ran!

For a while I kept up. But oh, I shouldn’t run. I’m good at walking, not running, and my chest felt cold air going in. By the time I sat down on the seat, I was coughing and coughing, think I had asthma for a while.

But at least I made it. Unfortunately my luggage did not.

Wasn’t surprised when I didn’t see it on the carousel in Doha.

Next flight from Doha comes in Wednesday at 6 pm, which is about the time of my flight to Tehran. But they are trying to get my bag to me earlier. We’ll see.

I am SO glad I took the advice of those travellers who told me to always always pack a set of clothes and all your toiletries and essentials in your carryon. I include a bag of laundry detergent so I can wash a set of clothes and wear one.

I survived for days like that in Denmark when a similar thing happened.

Qatar has a nice feel to it.

Came out of the airport to hail a cab and heard the adhan calling out from a nearby masjid. It sent such a feeling of peace through me!

From my hotel room window (on the thirtieth floor) the view is beige. Lots of beige townhouses in neat little subdivisions against a beige desert terrain.

The skyline though reminded me of Shanghai, lots of skyscrapers with neon lights flashing.

Today insha Allah, friends are taking me around.

Should be fun.