I quit. Not my job and life but my geographical location. My jobs were never a vocation, and my life is what I live every single day. But to change my habitat, I missed the courage.. until now. I change (grow?) all the time. I’m more and more myself and connect with people in a healthy(er) way. I have no idea where, what, and how – I just go with the flow and wonder every day how fun and simple life is.

The first step was to get my flight tickets. The second step was taking in all the events of the first 48 hours of my journey – I travelled during Mercury Retrograde, which clearly spiced up things. I flew with Qatar Airways and used their promotion (free hotel + transfer) for the long 19-hour layover (it’s always worth checking for airline promos, you never know).

The landing in Doha felt like the captain just woke up from his nap and grabbed the wheel like ‘damn, I almost missed the exit’. I arrived at the hotel at 2 am (getting through immigration, finding the hotel transfer, and waiting for the minibus took a bit long). I wanted to watch the sunrise and have a kinda productive day, but waking up at 5 am was unrealistic. I ended up waking up late (the king-size bed was so comfy) with only 5 hours to explore the city. I visited the three most famous places, and honestly, if you’ve seen them, you’ve seen it all.

I started at the Souq Waqif because I had to find something to eat. When I got out of the air-con car, that 45 degrees punched me hard in the face. Wow. I hadn’t experienced this kind of dry and stifling hotness before – it really felt like arriving in hell. After 5 minutes, I was not hungry anymore, just wanted to drink water and survive, so I only bought 2 simple but really delicious cakes from a bakery.

During the daytime, the market looks like a ghost town; the shops and restaurants are open, just hard to see that as everything is closed to keep the air-con cool inside. The only people I saw were labourers cherry-picking around. I always wonder when I see men sitting in the middle of nowhere, in the burning sun, doing nothing. What did they smoke, and are they not boiling?

From the market, I walked to the Museum Of Islamic Art – it’s no distance, only challenging under these weather conditions. The museum was out of my interest, so I just walked around and enjoyed the architecture and the aircon.

After I got back my normal body temperature, I called an Uber and headed to the Katara Cultural Village (just another ghost town by day) to be disappointed. The Pigeon Towers look bigger in photos, and honestly, the Katara Masjid next to it was more beautiful and interesting.

As I finished my Doha tour (as a bonus, I saw the biggest key in the world), I only needed a lunch and to leave this purgatory behind (seriously, it was super-hot). I chose the Ard Canaan, where I had a freekeh (roasted wheat with chicken stock and spices) and a mansaf. When I ordered, the waiter started shaking his head. I got confused, so I asked him about his reaction, and the situation ended with the chef at my table. Mansaf is lamb cooked in fermented, dried yogurt. I knew this, but somehow they didn’t believe it, so they brought me a taste to make sure. The situation was funny and overreacted. The lunch was tasty, but nothing exceptional, and if I add how expensive this country is, it was totally not worth it.

While waiting for my Uber, I walked to Katara Beach, which was pretty gross, and I had the feeling that even the sand on the beach in Doha was dull.

Getting to the airport happened in a rush because of road constructions and the missed hotel transfer, but at the airport, everything went smoothly again, and I had the time to think about why Urs killed Teddy with a lamp.

Maybe it’s just me, but I am so unimpressed by Doha; it wants to kill you with climate and boringness for no particular reason. Desert, shopping malls, expensive life, and guest workers everywhere (which is barely different from slavery). I don’t want to be offensive or too judgy with Qatar, but there’s so much more to life than money.