On Friday, September 15th, 2023, friends drove us to the airport in Zurich. From the almost hundred kilograms of luggage, you could have guessed that we were flying with an Antonov – a Russian transport plane. (Three very heavy and large bags, two of which are fortunately mobile, and a diving backpack are flying with us via Doha to Windhoek.)

The Airbus A350 took off from Zurich at 4:40 p.m. After the climb phase, the aircraft turned in a southeasterly direction. We had 4,500 kilometers and 5.15 hours of flight time ahead of us. Soon it became night and lights could be seen every now and then below us. Three hours later dinner was served. As usual, Brigitta had ordered something Asian-vegetarian – we can eat enough meat in Namibia again.

Two glasses of red wine gave us the necessary fatigue and soon we dozed off. At least I do, because Brigitta loves watching films. I, on the other hand, prefer to follow the flight route. This took us via Turkey, Syria and from there via Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to Qatar, where the plane began its descent. Then the brightly lit Doha, located on the Persian Gulf, appeared below us. At 11:25 p.m. the plane touched down gently on the runway.

The first leg of our flight to Windhoek was completed. After a two-hour stay at the airport, the journey continued. We had another 6,500 kilometers and almost nine hours of flight ahead of us to Windhoek.

PS. If you want to know more about Qatar, read here.