At least you posted this while I was having dinner last night. In the past you've interrupted work. Your trip reports are the 'book I can't put down'! And good to see you here again!

I am not going to do post quotes here, but I'll add my own commentary.

Yes, I am a solo traveler especially for long haul trips. Friends and family can't figure that out. But, like you, I want to do when I want to do it with no discussion (other than getting some input from locals at times).

Glad to see QR is back on track. I've flown Qsuites, twice pre-COVID and once after COVID (sort of) (February 2022, DOH-IAD). Service was fairly minimal on the 2022 flight and I was quite disappointed. I do have to say that I did like the sliding door on my 2022 flight as Qsuites included a group of six children who were quite curious about the other passengers! And glad you got into the DOH QR business class lounge. I've read that QR has placed some restrictions on lounge access; dependent on the various subclasses of QR J.

Re: 'smart phone'. I have a flip phone for work - small and others can't hear the other side of the conversation (although most can't hear either side of the conversation because I try to be courteous to my fellow humans). I also have a smart phone and it does have its advantages. Especially with apps like Google translate and Maps.me, which if you prepare properly, can be utilized without a data connection. Both of these apps have been very good, especially Maps.me for walking routes! But you are correct in that the smart phone has made a lot of people quite unsocial (and rude in some cases, like those streaming video without earphones).

And I too like to have a book in hand - my go to at home. But I've found with having a tablet, loading on books from my county library, passes the time away on flights without any other entertainment - most recently DUB FRA OSL TOS.

I'll be skipping over the train trips for now. I have always enjoyed the trains in Europe (and once KUL->Penang). But I have yet to do any train travel in the US. I am now semi-retired and I want to experience US train travel. I'll be reading your reports in detail this spring.

Re: backpacks. I am in a senior executive government position. I use my North Face backpack everyday. Many of my colleagues also use backpacks. And I use the same backpack for travel. It is an excellent travel tool. For long-haul travel, it contains everything I need to even spend a night unexpectedly at the airport. With regards to backpacking 'age', I was quite concerned about that when I visited a locale in Guatemala in 2021 and only hostels existed for lodging. But I found that there were others lodging in my age range and that nobody else really cared what my age was. (First time in a hostel for me.)

Thanks for posting about the Mount Nebo hotel. I'll be in Jordan at the end of the month and Mount Nebo is on my list. I'll check out that property.

I am up to the BA flights now. Got to pause and get a few travel things finished. In mid February to mid-March, I do IAD FRA IST MNL SIN HAN SIN MNL BAH AMM BAH JED CAI VIE ZRH GVA EWR IAD; mostly in J, except MNL<->HAN will be in SQ Y. Given that I am semi-retired, I intend to try a trip report.

I respect the time and effort you put into your reports! Thanks!