Delhi to London (via Doha)

My short stay in India has come to an end. I took the morning flight from Delhi to Doha, connecting to a mid afternoon flight from Doha to London Gatwick, with both legs on Qatar airways 787 dreamliners.

As these were daylight flights I enjoyed taking in as much of the view as I could, including some lovely views of Doha as we landed in mid-morning (with a view from the coast to the Al Janoub Stadium, one of the venues for the World Cup in 2022). The second flight offered up some spectacular views of the Iranian mountains around Isfahan before the scenery was cloaked by swathes of low lying cloud.

Midday in Doha

The last 10-15 minutes of the flight were among the scariest that I can recall in a long time, as we came in to land during the early stages of Storm Dennis. Nevertheless, we were quite lucky as we made it in with only the slightest hint of a hold while other flights around this time were making multiple attempts to land or diverting (to Heathrow, Barcelona, Cologne, Manchester and Paris among others). I was glad to be down on the ground relatively quickly and trudging the corridors of Gatwick’s North Terminal.

It’s always good to reach home after a long day of travelling, but especially so with the increased threat of disruption from the storms and the steady sweep of the coronavirus across the world.