Banyan Tree at La Cigale Mushaireb, Doha, Qatar

Enjoyed in our hotel room at the Banyan Tree Hotel in Doha, Qatar.

2 days before our departure to Kathmandu from Boston, with a stop in Doha, I got the email stating our 5 hour layover at Hamad International Airport would actually be 15 hours.

Yikes – that’s way too long to spend in an airport!

So I did some last minute research and booked the Banyan Tree Hotel, a fantastic Accor brand property within walking distance of Souq Waqif. I reached out to the hotel and got us expedited immigration and airport pickup – a small additional expense to make life easier – and 60 minutes after landing we were in our hotel room, ready to do a quick change and explore the area.

The assistant manager of the hotel even gave us a tour of the area and guided us through a walkable itinerary as well as restaurant recommendations – that experience alone was among some of the best hospitality I’ve ever encountered.

And we were off.

I was extremely impressed with the walkability of Doha… it felt in many ways similar to Dubai, but very very different… in a great way. Rachel and I explored the streets and alleys for several hours, had amazing Syrian food, tried shisha, and enjoyed experiencing Doha in a way we didn’t imagine we would have on this trip.

In fact, it probably worked out better than the 5 hour layover, because this way, we got to explore a new city, sleep in a hotel bed, wake up refreshed and – hopefully – more adjusted to the time difference as we departed for Nepal.

Back at our hotel room relaxing, not tired but knowing we needed to sleep at some point, I decided the time was right to order a bottle of wine, and enjoy it alongside a club sandwich. From our 20th floor purview we could see the city light up with cars and massive amounts of traffic coupled with extremely modern buildings dressed from head to toe – a cool scene to enjoy, and I imagine a major contrast to what we would see tomorrow in Nepal.

Glass of Chianti in hand, I gazed at the club sandwich that was plated before me with curiosity, eager to taste what the basic and tomato bread coupled with veal ham and traditional club sandwich fare had in stock for me.

Decent flavors and moistness, good ratio of ingredients, just enough cheese to cut through the protein, and lovely crunchy texture from the lettuce… I was pleased.

Veal ham – that was a first! I have to admit that I did like it and through this ingredient could easily replace ham/bacon in many situations. The basil and tomato bread, it wasn;t really flavorful, and the Trump coloring was a bit off putting…. but it was far superior than its plain white bread counterpart.

The excellent holdability, also lent itself to further enjoyment of this club sandwich, although the French fry dump on top of the meal detracted from my enjoyment.

The Banyan Tree experience is A+ for Doha, and Rachel and I reflected that we wanted to come back and re-visit this city with our kids, that it would make for an excellent 3 day trip from Boston (yes, you heard me right – long weekend!!), but alas, this club sandwich wont be on our itinerary for the next trip, even though I did enjoy it in the moment.

And of course, to top this all off, the bottle of Chianti, absolutely delish….

Location