Holidays like Christmas and Easter are the perfect opportunity to travel and explore the world, and I wasn’t about to miss out.

Back in September last year, I figured it would be a good idea to have another GUFs from BA even in 2025, so I jumped on the opportunity and booked some popular flights with SriLankan Airlines. Then… I forgot about it.

Fast forward to the end of December, we all know what happened - British Airways announced changes to their FFP. By January, I realised Easter was approaching fast, which meant it was time to start planning. That’s when I discovered in TripIt (a fantastic app for keeping track of everything) I had already booked some flights.

The next step was using my BA voucher to book flights to Doha (DOH). From there, I expanded the trip to include Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait. As I was adding more stops to my trip, I had to change my BA flights to allow for more time in the region.

When trips get a bit more complex, I prefer to have a paper copy of the itinerary. Two days before departure, while writing everything down, I had a mini panic: I’d forgotten to book hotels in Oman.

In my rush to book a place in Muscat, I didn’t notice there were two Crowne Plaza hotels. I booked the one near the airport instead of the one in the city center. Oh well, mistakes happen.

And so began my Easter journey through the Arabian Gulf:

• -BA123 LHR - DOH
• QR1126 DOH - MCT
• Muscat
• WY921 MCT - SLL
• Salalah
• WY904 SLL-MCT
• EY695 - MCT-AUH
• Quick stop to buy coffee in Jakarta
• Abu Dhabi
• EY643 AUH-BAH
• Manama, Bahrain
• GF215 BAH-KWI
• Kuwait
• QR1073 KWI-DOH
• BA126 DOH-LHR (as there was no BA124 that day due to reduced service to DOH)