NYC to Dhaka via Doha

The trip began uneventfully enough with a subway ride on the E train out to JFK.  My flight schedule dictated that I head out to the airport during rush hour on a Friday night, not a fun time to be juggling a carryon-sized suitcase and a backpack.  This is the lightest I've traveled in years for a trip of this length (40 days), but after lugging a huge suitcase around Laos in 2012, I never wanted to do that again.  This time I'm traveling with 4 days of clothing, a water purification system, a laptop, Kindle, iPod, noise cancelling headphones, two guidebooks, camera and a white noise machine along with various meds and toiletries and a  book on beginning yoga for those lonely nights in hotel rooms without wifi.

Doha at Night From the Corniche

I decided to fly Qatar Airlines based on its stellar reputation and it truly earned the raves; even in coach, there's a great individual entertainment system with over 500 movies and TV shows to choose from.  The flight started with a tasty dinner (yes, a tasty meal in economy), then I watched the Stones most recent concert in Hyde Park followed by a 1972 Stones concert film.  Finally popped a valium and managed to get 4-5 hours of sleep prior to arrival in Doha.  I had learned that Qatar offered a free hotel room to those with an 8 hour layover or more; since my flight got in an hour early, I made a vain attempt to argue that I would be there for 8 hours, but they weren't buying it, so I hit the streets and walked the 3 miles into town.  Lovely city and nothing like the Middle East I remembered from a 1982-3 job in Saudi.  Friendly people and incredible architecture.  A nice blend of the old and new.  The final leg of the 27 hour trip began with a huge scrum at the ticket counter.  I had been warned that Bangladeshis get a bit rowdy at airports (surely in response to the natural instinct to fight for every inch of space in a country with such population density), so as I found myself becoming impatient with the ordeal, I realized that I'd better chill out or face misery for the next 30 days.  Boarded another excellent Qatar Air flight, listened to Highway 61 Revisited (the entire album was on their entertainment system) then watched Blue Jasmine (is it unPC to watch Woody Allen movies now?  Probably) and some highlights from No Country for Old Men (i.e. all the Javier Bardem scenes).
We touched down in Dhaka right on time at 9:45 AM, so the trip that began at 6:30 PM Friday night in NYC finally ended on Sunday morning.