Everybody knows that logistics of air routes don’t marry well with geography. Guess what, we flew from Barcelona to Athens via Berlin does make a good laugh. Indeed, our last week trip was the pinnacle of air travel creative routing.
Sofia –> Chicago
Couple months ago, Qatar Airways had a fantastic deal for business class tickets between these two destinations. In fact, their prices beat competitors’ economy class offers. This was really the kind of a deal that no one could refuse. Obviously, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. We had to fly via Bucharest, and spend 9 hours and change planes at Doha’s Hamad International Airport, the main hub of Qatar Airways. Not a big deal: perks of flying in business class and access to the lounge of one of the world’s newest airports easily outweigh geographical inconvenience.
Here is the amusing part. About 20 hours after our departure from Sofia, we found ourselves flying just couple hundreds kilometers south of… Sofia… again.
Understandably, air routes are not functions of geographical positioning only, but of much more complicated web of variables. Nevertheless, I stand for branding this particular experience as absolutely crazy.
Despite this little mischief, overall, Sofia—>Chicago flight with Qatar Airways was the worthy experience. The new and shiny lounge at Hamad Airport was great. The amount of food we consumed was gargantuan. Nevertheless, I am still undecided about “irresistible deal on business class flight” vs. “total length of travel”.
Some random photo memories from our journey
