Hi Flyertalk! So I have been an aviation geek since I was 14 and flying seems to be more addictive as years go by. After many years of waiting I, finally, turned 18 and started Uni in the UK in 2016. With a hefty scholarship I decided to treat myself to some flying and travelling before I sit in an office six days a week.

A few days back I suddenly thought- why don't I share my travel experience before my memories and the prints on our favourite BA thermal boarding passes start fading?

As a OW diehard based in HKG(not quite), I take advantage of ex-EU on Business class fares (CX, BA, AY), so I would fly to an European city beginning and end of a holiday. Hence, I will arrange my report by University holidays, also to give a refreshing, diary type trip report.

Dinge

Disclaimer: English is my third language so I am sorry for any un-fluent sentences or misuse of language.

Summer 2016: journey began

I left school with 150k Qatar Qmiles to support my flying activities with all the commutes I took regularly. Since I wasn't sure about which Uni I would end up in and exact term dates, I used straight miles redemption to book myself on HKG-DOH-LHR, to allow flexibility (QR offers free cancellation fee for Gold members or above). Unfortunately, I was sent to A&E three days before I was due to fly for severe Swine influenza, which forced me to cancel my ticket, fortunately for free. I did some searches and found CAN-DOH-BHX available which would make as much as sense as my usual HKG-LHR route since I don't exactly live in those cities anyway.

Itinerary:
CAN-DOH-BHX, full redemption ticket (80k)



CAN-DOH, A380, seat 15A
Dropped off by my father at CAN pretty late at night exhausted, I headed straight to Plaza Premium lounge and found a quiet spot for myself in a rather empty VIP room.

I have no idea why gate A117 was used since it's in a domestic, non-CZ/MU section. Also walls were being rebuilt as I was guided to another section, maybe they were reallocating the sections from 3-2-1 (CZ/MU domestic- other domestic- international) to 2-2-2 which would make more sense?


I was first on the plane to take this amazing cabin shot, purple and pink give a very moody welcome as opposed to no colour.


With a sink like this you can really tell how much an Airline has spent on customer satisfaction


Had a cup of tea in a proper mug that cannot be found on BA, AY. Am I the only one who would rather have tea as welcome drink?


I missed dinner but there is never the concept dinner or breakfast on an a-la-carte airline. Slept through the majority of the flight and started my day with an amazing light breakfast.


Well, wasn't so light.


Landed in DOH. After a brief visit to Al Mourjan, I had to hop onto my next flight to Birmingham.


DOH-BHX, B788, seat 2K

Had my second breakfast with my favourite airline meal ever.


For lunch I had the Nobu designed option: Octopus, enoki mushroom and chive salad. Honestly, it was rubbish. Having tried many Qatar Airways celebrity chef dishes, in my opinion chefs' menu limit creativity of the catering staff and since no one in the kitchen really knows how the dish is designed to taste like, celebrity dishes have always been a bit off from normal Business class food catered.


Finally landed in BHX, a national express ride of 4 hours took me to my new home for the incoming three years.


My apologies that my first trip report turns out to be a bit dull without any city shots and lack of other aspects of the flight- I was barely alive to make it through those flights.

I will keep posting once every few days in order to catch up with my rate of travel.