It’s always a strange feeling sitting here in Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar. First of all It’s a beautiful place. It’s the kind of place where the floor is never soiled and each bathroom stall is cleaned between each and every use.
There are gourmet pastry shops and middle eastern eateries. Gold can be purchased by the bar here and you can drive a brand new Lamborghini right out of the airport and into the bustling capital.
All facilities are gender specific from prayer rooms to quiet rooms. You will find no gender neutral options and traditions are ingrained in every aspect of the Airport. All signage is written in Arabic first yet it’s central location is turning Hamad into one of the world’s central hubs.
Direct flights can be taken from Hamad to almost anywhere in the world as I sit and wait for my flight to Da Nang now. It’s a place where East meets West, old meets new, Ancient meets modern. Often voted as one of the most luxurious airports in the world, Hamad is a place were technology and tradition collide in a symphony of beauty and luxury.
I often enjoy my time here as I watch the airport go about it’s quiet business. And by that I mean very quiet business. Rarely are announcements made and exclusively in a way only those near the gate can hear. Most moments in the airport you can hear a pin drop.
Time seems to be wrong and in constant flux here. 10 in the morning back home, 6 in the evening here and 10 at night at my second home in Da Nang. It feels like morning though I am greeted with good evening.
With so many from so many parts of the world transiting through, Time seems to only exist here for the purpose of flight. My plane boards at 19:10 and only in the context of when the board at my gate reads it. Time here is only for here and then I move on.
Though beautiful and calming the Hamad may be, it has become a symbol of isolation. A realm of nothingness. It resides in a place and time that almost doesn’t exist. Behind me is the old world, the world of my childhood, most of my family, children and friends. Ahead is the new world. My wife and a new family and friends.
It is hard to take such time between visits to my wife. Diễm, I miss you all the time. There isn’t a moment that goes by that I don’t think of you. I will see you very soon.
It is also hard in that same vein to leave the old world behind. I will not see my old world friends and family for some time. I will miss them all. But right now in this place, there is nothing. I am neither here nor there, I am in Limbo.
The beauty and uniqueness of the airport only serves to reenforce my separation. I sit now and listen to conversations around me in at least a half a dozen languages, but none I know. Isolated in reflection, I take this time to write this experience.
I will board flight QR 966 for Da Nang in 2 hours. Until then I will rest near the gate. As I sit and watch the sun set over the Arabian desert I take comfort in knowing the next time I see her climb in the early morning light that Diễm will be there.
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It looks very clean and quiet.
To quiet sometimes. Very different from Hartsfield.