As soon as the Covid-19 related lockdown looked like it might be relaxing, we booked our trip to Jordan. I’d been before and Ange was interested in whether my stories about Jerash and Petra were accurate, and I had omitted Wadi Rum last time, so I was intrigued as to whether it would live up to expectations.

We arrived into Amman quite late at night – we were supposed to be there at 10pm but with an hour delay with our connection in London (one of the crew’s PCR test result was late), it was closer to 11pm by the time we touched down.

We’d arranged to be picked up by our hotel which was a little more expensive than the posted standard taxi fares, but being able to not have the hassle of dealing with the local taxi drivers and potentially being ripped off when you’ve spent a long time on a flight was worth the trade off. We stayed at the Marriott Amman Hotel.

Jerash

In the morning we checked Uber to see how much it should be to go to Jerash. The previous time I’d been to Jerash, I had gone with a private tour which pretty much consisted of just the transport there and back, so I was interested in how much just the transport would cost.

According to Uber it should only be £20 each way (Jordanian Dinars are almost 1:1 with GBP – GBP 1.04 = 1 JOD / 0.96 JOD = 1 GBP). Which meant if we went on the same “tour” as I did last time it would cost £150 for the pair of us, whereas if we Uber-d there and back it should only cost £40!

So we ordered an Uber. Who promptly told us a sob story about how Visa had blocked his account and that he would not be paid for the trip and so we could either pay for a cash fare (for the same amount), or else we would have to get a different driver.

I’m not sure how much was true and how much he was just trying to get around the various fees that he would be charged by Uber/Visa but we eventually agreed, me hoping that if he decided to murder us and leave our dismembered bodies in the desert somewhere that we had left enough of a digital trail to point to our driver.

Forty minutes later we were getting out of his car at the Jerash carpark. The driver had tried to enter the complex at the Visitor Centre which was being renovated and so we’d gone to the main entrance, which really he should have dropped us off at anyways – from my memory of my last trip that really is the only entrance.

We then fought our way through the street merchants to the entrance and showed our Jordan Passes to the ticket office. I expected the local convenience shop across the path from the ticket office to have extortionate prices but we were offered water at a reasonable rate and picked up a couple of punnets of nuts to fuel our day.

Jerash soaked up a good two hours of wandering in the hot sun (take lots of water and some snacks for energy!) and then we headed to the entrance to try and find an Uber.

We couldn’t access WiFi and my SIM card didn’t have internet access, so we went out into the carpark to see if there were any taxi drivers there. The local tout for the restaurant helped us out and introduced us to Ali. Ali agreed to take us back to the hotel for £25, and on the way quizzed us on where else we were going and for how long.

He suggested that he could take us to each of the spots on our itinerary. I was wary, and agreed only for him to take us to the Dead Sea the following day, and on to Petra after that. I was worried that he would charge far more than what Uber said the route should cost. I knew that he would be less than what a taxi organised by the hotels would cost, because they would be adding their cut!

Back at the hotel I checked with Uber what the costs between each of the stops should be and found that Ali’s quotes were very competitive. I also checked him out on social media to find references on him on TripAdvisor – all of them complimentary. I began to feel a little more comfortable about our new best friend!

We had a late lunch and enjoyed the pool and Jacuzzi in the hotel, before dinner and bed.

Dead Sea

Ali picked us up at the appointed time and took us to the hotel on the shores of the Dead Sea. Apart from a brief pause while sheep crossed the road (reminding us of country roads in New Zealand), and a mask checkpoint, the trip was non descript.

Our access to the Dead Sea was all through the hotel we stayed at – the Movenpick Resort & Spa Dead Sea, and we didn’t end up leaving the resort the whole time that we were there.

Petra

When we left the Dead Sea, we headed south along the coast and then cut drastically to the east, ascending the mountains very steeply. Ali proudly told us that not many people came this way, and judging from the goats on the road and the sheer drops from the side of the road, I can’t say that I blame them. Great views admittedly!

We arrived at Petra and stayed directly opposite the entrance to the complex in the Movenpick Resort Petra. This was my second time staying at the hotel, the first time was in summer, so a totally different experience. I hoped that this visit to Petra would be better than last time.

It was Ange’s first time at Petra, so I wanted to make sure she had the full on “reveal” experience by walking through the Siq to let the Treasury have its full impact. I think she enjoyed it.

After walking all the way down to the restaurant, we took a camel back to the Treasury as our legs were tired and I managed to get us a good price.

We had to walk the rest of the way out of Petra. The next day we got up early and took the golf cart as far as the Treasury before walking back to the restaurant for the steps to the Monastery.

Now the last time I had come to Petra I was maybe 15kg (30lbs) lighter, so I thought it might be a little harder going up the steps. But I had also had two years of sitting around not doing any exercise, so the ascent dang near killed me!

The two main attractions seen, we made our way back out yet again, this time to have dinner and then return for the Petra by candle light experience. This is an additional cost, and reviews we’d read online had ranged from breathless wonder to cynical sneering, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect.

Objectively, both extremes were factually correct. It costs more. It’s windy and cold. It’s a little dangerous walking on uneven ground at night. There are musical performances. There is a reading which is hard to hear 2/3rds of the time unless the speaker is pointing straight at you (he has a megaphone).

But for me the candles on the ground look nice, and the coloured lights they put on the Treasury at the end were good too. But what made it all worth it for me was my slight pyromaniac streak. You see the candles are in waxed paper bags, weighted down with sand so they don’t blow away.

But occasionally the wind would blow the sides of the bag so that it was close enough to the candle’s flame for it to set the paper alight. And when that happened, the paper would burn away into a shower of sparks before being extinguished by the wind. It didn’t happen very often, but I enjoyed the fleeting chaos when it did. It wasn’t very dangerous because the same wind which made it happen would also blow out the fire very quickly.

We still didn’t quite get to all the different parts of Petra, it’s just so tiring to get into the complex, let alone using your energy to climb all the stairs and see all the parts. I guess we’ll just have to come back.

Little Petra

Just up the road from Petra is its little brother, Little Petra. This is much more compact and accessible. A short walk from the carpark and maybe 30-45 minutes is all it takes, but you get a more intimate insight into the Nabateans and their construction methods with the cisterns you see here.

We stayed nearby at the Seven Wonders Luxury Camp, which was a five minute drive from Little Petra. Or a thirty minute walk if you were keen.

Wadi Rum

We had arranged for Ali to organise our transfer from Little Petra to Wadi Rum and for a jeep tour of Wadi Rum. He dropped us off at the meeting spot on the edge of the Wadi Rum Protected Area and our jeep tour began.

As we drove through the desert I could recognise scenery from various movies: Wadi Rum plays Mars in many movies and other planets also. I was looking around at the different colours – splashes of red on the regular beige/tan before I realised I was basically looking at the inspiration for the spice of Dune.

I amused Ange by illustrating the non-rhythmic walking patterns the Fremen used to avoid attracting Sandworms.

Dotted around the grand expanse of the 720 sq km (277 sq mile) Wadi Rum Protected Area are attractions and features which link up to form the journey. Some are only visible in a six hour trip, some are clustered close enough that you can get them all in a two hour trip.

We got our money’s worth with a three hour tour which took closer to four hours (and included lunch), but by the end of the day when the sun was dipping we were happy the bouncing around in the back of the truck was coming to an end.

The driver brought us back into the cab of the truck because it was getting chilly and the wind was getting up. And because a sandstorm was on its way! We drove through near zero visibility for about half an hour before our driver dropped us off at our next hotel, the UFO Luxotel, which is just outside the Protected Area.

The next day we went for a walk across the desert to the nearby French Fort. This was actually a film set for a TV series that has since been abandoned except for a caretaker Bedouin family who look after the place. Or they might have been squatters.

And then off to our next hotel, the Aicha Memories Luxury Camp, which was right in the middle of the Protected Area. The hotel had a free pickup from the Wadi Rum Village, and they took the time to discuss whether we wanted to do a jeep tour. They looked a bit put out to learn that we had already done one.

After the trip to the hotel and settling in, we signed up for the sunset camel ride. Without many clouds in the desert, the sunset was a far different experience than the one over the Dead Sea from the infinity pool at the Movenpick’s Zara Spa. But we did enjoy the view from the rocks, a group of Italians in recently purchased head gear occupying the spot below us.

After dinner we went out for a spot of star gazing, a free activity including some free photos, taken with very long exposures. Each room in the hotel had Bedouin jackets which were lifesavers against the cold.

Aqaba

And then it was time for one last stop, this time in Aqaba. Aqaba is the port town on the Red Sea, just across the Israeli border from the town of Eilat. I was surprised that the land border had been closed, though because of my experience crossing the border I didn’t mourn the closing.

We checked into our hotel, the Movenpick Aqaba before heading out to explore the city. We decided to walk to Aqaba Fort along the touristy area of the City Centre. The fort was a little underwhelming so we walked to the Fisherman’s Harbour and tried to dodge the touts wanting to take us out in their glass bottomed boats. And then we headed back to the hotel for a soak in the Jacuzzi.

And then to the airport for the flight home. I was surprised that such a small airport (three gates and a walk across the tarmac straight onto the plane) had a lounge, and then I was astonished that the lounge had alcohol. In an Islamic country!

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Aqaba is a port town on the Red Sea, and the Movenpick Aqaba is a sizeable hotel with a private beach and four swimming pools.

The bed was only a queen but they’d upgraded us for free to a suite. It was therefore a little churlish of me to be miffed that the room was the furthest from the lifts – the lengthy walk along the corridors going some way to work off the breakfast and dinner.

We’d stayed at the Movenpicks at Petra and at the Dead Sea and were always interested in how many cans of soft drink that they gave you. We hit pay dirt in Aqaba with six cans!

The room overlooked the street but was on the fifth floor so we weren’t overly troubled by street noise. The hotel is at one end of the main sea front street, so a little isolated from the night life which also made it a little quieter.

It was supposed to be a non-smoking room, but the evidence of the ashtray on the table and the most disgusting stench of cigarette smoke proved that wrong. Fortunately opening the windows and running the fan at max speed dissipated the smell.

By now we were half expecting the Dead Sea toiletries from Natural Care.

The hotel complex sprawls over both sides of the main road, the overpass significant enough to support a swimming pool and Jacuzzi.

And while they do have a private beach, since its December we didn’t go for a swim despite the cloudless blue sky. The temperatures of the water in the pools were posted and after a dip in the “25C” pool we hastened back to the Jacuzzi on the overbridge.

Pity the poor bored lifeguards patrolling the empty pools! In summer these would be packed!!

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Memories Aicha Luxury Camp is an accommodation provider within the Wadi Rum Protected Area. They provide a free pickup service from the Wadi Rum Village, and breakfast and dinner are included.

We stayed in one of the Luxury Tents – a geodesic dome on the edge of the complex meaning that it was very private with only one neighbour, even though that did mean a slightly longer walk to the restaurant!

Inside, the king-sized bed had independent duvets, and an air-con unit directly overhead.

There were also a couple of bedouin coats for our use to ward off the chill when venturing outside at night to the restaurant tent or for stargazing.

Most importantly, was the view out of the windows. Drapes allowed you to block that off, but by night you could stare out at the cliffs and watch the lights of the odd SUV drive by in the pitch darkness.

The toiletries were ones we were familiar with, being locally sourced from the Dead Sea.

The breakfast and dinner were buffet styles with an impressive array to select from, all served in a huge white dome nestled at the base of the cliffs. There was another restaurant actually built into the cliffs behind the white dome, which was where you could buy lunch or enjoy shisha after dinner.

I’m only including one photo, but the buffet selection was actually pretty awesome for both dinner and breakfast – definitely something for everyone.

We took advantage of the free stargazing in the evening, which involved walking out into the desert and having a few of the constellations pointed out to us.

More impressive were the photos that our guide took. He’d get each group or couple to pose, set up his camera with an extremely long exposure and then shine a torch across the subjects mid shot (each took about 10 seconds).

The result was that the subjects were lit well enough to show up with the stars behind perfectly visible. The following morning the guide was at reception showing us the photos. We could give him our details and he would WhatsApp the photos. For free.

That’s right, while they did offer the standard excursions like the jeep ride and the camel ride (with or without sunset) all naturally with a cost, the stargazing and the photos were free. Nice!

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We pulled up at the UFO Luxotel in a sandstorm, our driver pretty much driving by intuition as visibility approached zero. The hotel advertises that you should arrange to be dropped off at their welcome centre and that they would come and pick you up from there, but our driver was a local and made his way through the swirling dessert sands directly to the hotel itself.

It should be noted that the UFO Luxotel and its sister hotel, the Bubble Luxotel, are not actually in Wadi Rum: rather, they’re… Wadi Rum adjacent in the middle of the desert to the north of the Wadi Rum Protected Area.

They still offer the same tours and outings that the other hotels do – there’s just a little driving to get into Wadi Rum itself.

By the time we arrived and checked in (with sandy luggage from the Wadi Rum Tour we’d just been on), the wind had died down and all that was left of the sandstorm were drifts of sand on the cobbled path that led to the domes.

The guy checking us in smiled apologetically when he told us that the electric golf carts which would normally ferry us to our dome were all being serviced so we would have to walk.

It wasn’t far though – we were about mid way along the path, on the edge of the complex. We could see something under covers on the fenceline adjacent to our dome and it didn’t take us too long to figure out that these were the telescopes for the star gazing that the hotel offered as an excursion.

We’d been told that because of the sandstorm that they wouldn’t be offering the stargazing – too much sand in the atmosphere interfering with the view.

The room was a double dome, one for the bedroom and the other for the bathroom. The bed was huge and the air con did a great job of warming the place up.

The plastic of the dome was more translucent than transparent, so I’m not sure how much of the night sky’s constellations would have been visible. There was also a skylight directly above the bed in the ceiling with an electric shutter allowing it to be closed.

The Bubble Luxotel and the UFO Luxotel were really just two collections of themed domes with communal check in and restaurant sandwiched between them. The room booking came with both breakfast and dinner included, which was a bit of a relief as there was nothing else for miles around and I doubt that Uber-Eats would have delivered all the way out there!

The food itself was your standard buffet and we looked suspiciously at some of the turreens of vegetables at the breakfast serving. Surely those were there last night also?

While breakfast didn’t have an omelette station, they did have a chef making mini pancakes. I collected enough to equate to a standard sized pancake which probably defeated the purpose of making them so small, but they didnt have any waffles, so it had to do.

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A fifteen minute drive from the Petra Visitor Centre and a four minute drive from Little Petra (or a 30min walk if you’re keen!), Seven Wonders Luxury Camp is a collection of tented accommodation nestled beside a butte in the desert.

They have a sister camp next door the Seven Wonders Bedouin Camp, the chief difference being that in the luxury camp you have your own bathroom but in the standard camp you have a block of shared amenities.

While I looked wistfully at the domed tents, we would be staying at two different domes in Wadi Rum, so I focussed on our tent instead.

The camps share a restaurant for breakfast (included in the room rate) and dinner (JOD10pp), both buffet styles and reasonably priced for what they offer.

The bed was a serviceable queen sized and comfortable. The coffee station had some nice chocolates plus a couple of bottles of water which were always welcome in the desert.

The bathroom had everything you would need including a lovely rainforest head in the shower.

Being stuck out in the middle of the desert, they know that entertainment may be lacking, so they have a communal fire pit and nearby tent where local musicians play traditional instruments. We got chatting to a couple from England and even though we were the only guests, it felt very convivial.

The location is a great spot for hiking, with options for guides on any number of treks: the back way to the Monastery in Petra and the Tomb of Aaron being two that we shall have to return to do! They also offer a trip to Wadi Rum and back, with three hours in the Protected Area visiting the sights.

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While it’s certainly possible to stay cheaper in Wadi Musa, it’s not really possible to stay closer to the entrance to Petra than Mövenpick Petra. It was my second time staying here and not much had changed. Well, maybe.

Last time I had stayed in July, rather than December, so naturally enough it was hot. So the pool was refreshing instead of chilly. The roof-top restaurant was open instead of closed for winter. Little things like that.

The rooms had been refreshed, and this time we had a queen sized bed. The free mini-bar was downsized from four soft drinks and two fruit drinks to just four soft drinks, but apart from that it was a very similar experience.

This time there was no free ice cream, although they did have a chocolate hour. A selection of brownie and pieces of fruit to dip into white or dark molten chocolate. Very rich and decadent!

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When the Dead Sea has been on your bucket list for years, it’s only natural to want to know how to easily access it from your hotel, in this case the Mövenpick Resort and Spa Dead Sea. Which is why I’m totally confused by the map that looks like something out of Disneyland. 

The check-in clerk is waxing lyrical about the restaurants, the spa, the live music, the belly dancers … the pools, so many pools …

I’m bemused. Surely the Dead Sea is the main point of the hotel? Apparently not. Guests want a lot more options than just a patch of salty water to float upright in. They want summer pools, winter pools, childrens pools, infinity pools …

‘What’s the quickest way to the Dead Sea?’ I ask, since we’ve arrived late afternoon and it’s getting on for 4pm.

‘Oh just follow the path, go left, and right, then straight, you’ll see it,’ he says vaguely gesturing to the map. ‘We close it at 4.30 though.’
‘So, why can’t we go there after 4.30?’ I persist.
‘It’s too dangerous for guests.’ 
‘Ah …’

I’m none the wiser, but I guess we’ll find out why.

After dumping our luggage in the room, we do a dusk reconnaissance to get our bearings.

The resort is 6,000 square metres in size so it’s a fair trek to actually get down to the beach and the sun is quickly dipping in the sky. On the way, Chris is distracted by the Hydro Pool which he thinks may have hydro slides but the gate is locked and we can’t figure out how to get in. 

‘It must be part of Zara Spa,’ I say. 

People pass us on golf carts because the place is so large it warrants them. There’s even a funicular but it’s not working. Eventually we reach the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth. So the sign says. But as Chris points out there are stairs going down further so isn’t that the lowest point? Maybe they should move the sign.

Down at the shoreline, there’s a square patch of the sea marked out by buoys where a handful of people are froliking about being careful not to get water in their eyes.

Apparently it stings like hell and has been described as like ‘acid burning your eyeballs’. You’re temporarily blinded until it’s washed out with fresh water. If you have any cuts or scratches you’ll know about it too. 

The pain is because the water is 33% salt, ten times more than normal salt water. I dip my hand in and lick a finger. Yup, it’s pretty salty. 

A couple of men are covered from top to toe in black mud. I’m not sure what that’s about but I guess it’s like the silica mud at the Blue Lagoon in Iceland that you can slap on yourself. A hotel staff member seems to be in charge of the mud pot and the freshwater hose. There are also newish looking showers and sun loungers set up. 

Chris suggests we come down early tomorrow after breakfast and give it a go. There’s an unspoken feeling that the Dead Sea is unpredictable and might be off limits if anything untoward crops up. And I don’t want to miss my chance, because the whole thing is shrinking. 

In the last fifty years it has dropped by 45 metres and is continuing to decrease by over a metre each year. You can actually see where the waterline used to be. This isn’t a climate change issue but a manmade one. The water flowing into it has been diverted for other purposes. The mineral extraction industry is another reason. And Jordan and Israel being extremely dry countries in general.

The next morning, we troop down to the beach again to actually get in. Even though it’s Jordan’s winter, the Dead Sea is warmish, 23 C according to the helpful sign we passed on the way down that indicated the temperatures of the various pools. 

‘You’re only meant to stay in for fifteen minutes,’ cautions the hotel staff member at the shoreline.

Otherwise what? I wonder. Do we explode like slugs? Ignoring the rules we stay in for a decent forty-five minutes. Nothing bad happens. It’s fun being able to float without needing to swim. But incredibly difficult to float on your front without feeling you’re going to pitch face forward into the water. 

Afterwards we get out, use the showers to wash off the salt and sit on the loungers. I bypass the mud mask as it smells a bit. It’s ten o’ clock in the morning and we realise that we don’t have anything else to do for the day.

We can’t go out and explore because we’re in the middle of nowhere, and only surrounded by other resort hotels. We can literally see the Marriott next door from our balcony. Hiking excursions are available but organised by the hotel because the landscape is rocky and steep.   

I’m beginning to understand the necessity of the Disneyland approach. 

The Zara Spa seems to be the logical choice for the afternoon, and at 25 JOD each to use the facilities without treatments, we figure it’s actually not that expensive. We each get a locker that contains a robe, slippers, a towel and a few other goodies. The outdoor hydro pool itself is 28 C and huge. It has various waterfalls, bubbles and jets to target different areas of your body.

Off to the side, overlooking the Dead Sea is an infinity pool with a row of individual Jacuzzi chairs. It’s fantastic.

We stay in the pool for at least three hours, and happen to witness an incredible sunset, until hunger drives us back to the hotel for dinner.

I can now see why the spa is the drawcard for many of the guests that stay in the hotel, a stay which may or may not actually include a dip in the Dead Sea.

In saying that, the spa does have an indoor Dead Sea pool that is 28% salt water and basically gives you the same floating experience as the beach. But without myriad steps, sand, mud and effort. The cheat’s version. If the real thing ever does dry up, there will be a remnant at the Zara Spa for anyone who doesn’t make it in time.

I’m glad that during our visit that we got to try both experiences.

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I’d previously visited the Israeli side of the Dead Sea as part of my trip to the Holy Land, so I was very interested in how the Jordanian side differed. My (admittedly limited) experience of that side was that the shoreline wasn’t exactly well developed and so I was a little surprised to see such a cluster of high end hotels on the banks of the Dead Sea at Samarah.

The Mövenpick Resort and Spa Dead Sea is a sprawling luxury resort featuring nine restaurants and at least six pools, but the prime feature is the private beach on the Dead Sea.

We’d been given a free upgrade in the Zara block of the resort, which had the benefit of being above the breakfast restaurant, and views out across the Dead Sea.

The bed was very comfortable and the room was spacious. I was more interested in the contents of the minibar though which became a bit of a running gag throughout our trip, seeing as we stayed at so many Mövenpick hotels (Petra & Aqaba in addition to the Dead Sea): which ones would have the most drinks?

But we immediately went out exploring – straight down to the private beach. We were there in December, so the Summer Pool was empty, but the other pools promised to be reasonably warm.

We investigated the Dead Sea and established that the water was in fact salty! The next day we went for a more substantial swim. They recommended only staying in for fifteen to twenty minutes, but we stayed bobbing around for nearly an hour.

And also the second day, we checked out the Zara Spa. While we didn’t have any treatments, we enjoyed the private pools including the water jets in the main infinity pool and the sunset that night was simply magical.

Inside there were some more pools, one of them only slightly less salty than the dead sea (27% salt in the pool vs 30% in the Dead Sea – normal sea water is 3% for context).

Ange wrote up her thoughts on the different experiences – the Zara Spa vs the Dead Sea.

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Starting our trip in Jordan, the last thing I wanted was the hassle of negotiating a taxi ride at 10pm after five hours in the air. So I booked a transfer through the Marriott Amman and they had one of their staff come and meet us at the airport.

Convenient for us, less so for the driver who had to wait an hour when our plane was delayed leaving London due to one of the aircrew’s Covid19 test results being delayed. I hope he had his phone so he wasn’t bored. It’s always a relief when you see your name on a board in the Arrivals area.

We arrived at the hotel in early December and they were putting the finishing touches on their Christmas decorations, going over and above what I would have expected a Moslem country to have done. The piece de resistance was a huge Christmas tree in the atrium.

The hotel is in the middle of Amman, the capital of Jordan. We used it as a base for the first leg of our Jordan trip.

We had gone up to our room in the same lift as some guests who had obviously been visiting one of the local bars, which made for some amusing banter on the way.

The room was on a high floor at the far end of the corridor and was very spacious. The view out the window was just a nondescript city-scape, but we could now see what the weather forecasts meant when they mentioned “haze”. Fine sand sediment on the wind making it difficult seeing the horizon some days. The bed was king-sized.

The second best part of the hotel stay was the pool and Jacuzzi area. The hot pools had multiple jets and bubble areas, including a treadmill and exercycle which were submerged underwater allowing you to have a resistance training session.

Continuing this trend, the main swimming pool had vents on the side which allowed a steady stream of water to be pumped through the pool, giving you additional resistance for your swim.

They also had a hamman and a very well stocked gym. The cardio gear had a built in video screen allowing you to run through the woods of Germany or even through some of the National Parks of our native New Zealand.

But for me the best part of the stay were the breakfasts – they had almost everything that you could think of as a breakfast food. Gluten free options galore, fruit, vegetables, cold cuts, extensive bread section and all manner of eggs and traditional hot dishes.

And while they didn’t have pork bacon, they had some beef bacon which wasn’t too far off in terms of texture if not taste. Very impressive.

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My return to the Northern Hemisphere was made comfortable by travelling with Qatar Airways. The journey started with a visit to their partner’s Qantas Business Lounge in Auckland, then the 18 hour Auckland to Doha stretch in their normal Business class offering, a marginally briefer stay in their Al Mourjan Lounge, and then finally, the Qatar QSuites Business Class seat for the 7 hour hop across from Doha to London.

QSuites have been around for a little while and pretty much set the standard for Business Class seat layouts as evidenced by BA recently announcing their new cabin design (https://simpleflying.com/british-airways-club-suite-tour/) which, if not a copy, is a least inspired by the Qatar QSuites Business Class seats.

The point of difference to standard business class is that there is a little wall around your seat which can close off giving you privacy. Like having your own little office.

Qatar has managed to appeal to three groups of passengers – the solo passenger gets privacy, the couple travelling together get an intimate shared sleeping space (the partitions between their seats fold down) and the family or business group of four can fold down the panels between them and play cards or discuss business.

Qatar QSuites Business Class seat layout

The layout is hard to describe, so a screen grab from SeatGuru will illustrate – every other row is backwards.

The 1-2-1 layout means fewer seats but in my case at least, that means more attention from the attendants. Carol introduced herself on my boarding and deposited menus and a hot towel before returning with my welcome drink.

I’d love to be a champagne aficionado because the range of champagnes available on these flights keep those knowledgeable of the differences amused for hours on the travel boards. I stick instead to the non-alcoholic drinks – personal experience reminding me that the only thing worse than a hangover is a hangover in an air conditioned pressurised tube which dehydrates you for 8 hours.

The QSuite seat

The seat looked smaller than the photos I’d seen but as I settled in I could see how that was misleading – the Airbus A350-1000 (in this case A7ANE – almost new beginning service in November 2018), hid most of its 79” length tucked into the foot cavity.

The 21” width made me raise an eyebrow because there was a side ottoman with a lid which folded down to give you more seating right beside you, so it seemed ludicrous that they couldn’t somehow use that additional room to give more width. Especially when other airlines are giving 25” (Singapore) wide Business Class seats.

I must admit that I was looking forward to sleeping on a seat which looked like it might actually be able to accommodate my height!

The curved edge of the console gave exceptional access to the ports, remote and seat controls – in stark contrast to my previous flight. The whole suite just exuded space – there was the table top (currently occupied by the blanket, pillow and amenity kit), a shelf under the table top, the ottoman beside me (currently holding the noise cancelling headphones and a bottle of water).

Qatar had removed the luggage bins above the middle rows of the plane to maximise the airy feeling of space, but I was glad they had kept the ones above the window seats. It definitely didn’t feel smaller for a slightly lower ceiling and I really appreciated having my own personal double-nozzled air flow.

The screen for the entertainment system was touch screen (the one on my previous flight had been too, just too far away to reach!!) and even though there was a remote on a string available, I don’t know why you would bother. Again, the entertainment system was operational from terminal to terminal, so no downtime!

The door closing off the suite from the rest of the plane was only closed after takeoff and I was instructed to only use the gold sliding handle, not the emergency exit handle. In the event of an emergency you’d be able to lift the door out of position and fling it away to assist in escaping the plane, but that would obviously preclude using it for privacy under normal circumstances.

There was a DND (Do Not Disturb) button on the rounded console which I thought amusing – the walls looked high from the seated position, but when standing even my attendant could peer in without standing on tip toes.

Qatar QSuites business class food

After takeoff the food came – served as the previous flight on a lovely table cloth with a flickering electronic candle and accompanied with real cutlery and a basket of warm bread.

My appetisers this time were better than my main – salmon to start with, followed by four of the largest prawns I’ve had on a plane (big and juicy!) and then the beef fillet for a main. Not quite as good as the lamb on the previous flight, but still perfectly serviceable!

The rest of the flight

I managed to get a bit of sleep this time, but the width of the seat again was a little uncomfortable – of note was a three way seat belt with not only a lap belt but also a shoulder belt coming from the seat top and clipping onto the lap belt where it clipped into the seat.

Before landing I had a look around and took a photo of the aisle, or I guess with all the suite doors being closed it was more like a hallway – a bit of a novelty when typically the flight exposes you to all your fellow passengers for the many hours you are together.

I remember one long haul flight trying to get to the bathrooms in the middle of the night, picking my way over people’s feet dangling in the aisle and avoiding tripping on blankets pillows and other detritus like some sort of obstacle course. None of that in the Qatar QSuites Business Class.

It was around this time that I discovered that the Complimentary WiFi was working. You got an hour for free and then they’d charge you for the rest – but that was per device so if you had a couple of devices you could get quite a bit of usage if you really wanted to.

I’m not quite sure what you would need to use the internet for though. I just used it to check in on Facebook from Kirkuk in Iraq, but I guess if you needed to check business emails or had some work that needed doing and sending to someone it would be cool to be able to do that. I suspect since it used satellite technology that it would be slow. My experiences with satellite based wifi haven’t been the best so I left it well alone.

We were on the final part of the journey and I was impressed with the journey tracking part of the entertainment system. You could zoom in or out on the map, you could rotate your view of the plane and surrounds from any angle and you could even select a side of the plane and it would show you which towns or cities were in your field of vision.

I was glad I’d played with that because it allowed me to notice that it was a clear night, and that a little later we were following the Thames into Heathrow. There’s something quite magical about seeing the iconic sights of London from a plane at night.

The Tower Bridge, HMS Belfast, The Shard, The London Eye, the various parks all welcomed me back to the city, and before you knew it Heathrow was reaching up and greeting our wheels.

Conclusion

So the point of the excercise was to compare and contrast the two Business Class offerings of Qatar Airways, so how did they stack up?

The Qatar QSuites Business Class seats really made a difference. Sure, the standard seat was good, but there were a number of reasons you’d have to pick QSuites over standard business class:

• The privacy – it was just so unusual not to have any interaction with any other passengers – no “oh, have you worked out how to plug in the headphones”, no “how do you work this?”, not even seeing the other passengers out of the corner of your eye. From the moment you take your seat to just before you leave it’s like you’re travelling alone.

• The seat – while both seats were a little narrow for me, the design of the QSuites seat meant that it was more comfortable to sleep – the fact that the foot cubby meant that you were legitimately 180 degrees all the way along was way more relaxing than the standard business class offering.

• The space – the standard business class seat was “just” a seat. A good seat, don’t get me wrong, but fundamentally it was a seat. The QSuites seat came with space – with places to put things and to put things away so you didn’t have to see them but could get them without getting up. Hard to explain but so much better for the psyche.

I’d love to have the Qatar QSuites Business Class available for the flights from Doha to Auckland (or reverse) – and hopefully at some stage Qatar Airways provides this option, because if you have to travel for 18 hours on a flight, and have elected to spend the money on business class to do so, it would be great to be able to take advantage of the best in this class of seats.

(Edit – The New Zealand Herald says the Q-Suites will be introduced on the Auckland-to-Doha route from 1 June 2019).

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