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Are you crippled by indecision and a sense of impending doom as you whittle away your days in bleak anticipation of yet another drag through the doldrums in 2015? Have you spent the last hour clicking through photos of your friends’ dream vacations, wondering how they pull it off, and what lucky bastards they must be?
Well, consider this the proverbial lighting of the fire to get off your rump (actually, umm, stay on it – for a few more minutes) and click your way to an adventurous new year with promotions from Qatar Airways for up to 25% off to over 130 destinations. To add a little sugar to the deal, you can enjoy these promotions with fivestar service on one of the airline’s new Airbus A380 superjumbo jets – the largest civil aircraft in history – configured for first, business and economy class travel.
The Qatar Airways A380 provides outstanding levels of comfort and reliability using state-of-the-art technology for a totally unique passenger experience. The cabin of the A380 unites all the key parameters related to passenger wellbeing.
Wider seats, the lowest noise levels, draught free air circulation and the most accurate temperature control are among the many variables that reduce the feeling of fatigue after a long flight. Combining the lowest seat mile costs in its class with unprecedented revenue potential, the A380 delivers efficiency to the heart of airline networks.
The New Year discounts are good for travel between January 20th and December 10th of 2015, and can be booked anytime up until January 8th, so to help you make up your mind, let’s take a look at two trips that are a bit off the beaten path, but all the more dreamy therefore.
Paris… of the Middle East
“Paris is always a good idea,” Audrey Hepburn’s character remarked in the classic 1954 film “Sabrina”. And, to be sure, Paris is a good idea. And, to be sure, you already know that. But what about the so-called “Paris of the Middle East?” Beirut, Lebanon, that’s what.
Beirut’s downtown area. Photo: Qatar Airways
Such a long, long history is clearly visible on the landscape of Beirut, with ancient ruins, vibrant public squares, verdant gardens, Ottoman, French and traditional Arab architecture, souqs (markets) and cafes dotted throughout the Mediterranean metropolis. You can also venture to one of the many ancient sites within reach of the capital, like Baalbek, where you can see some of the most awe-inspiring Imperial Roman architecture still standing, or Byblos, a UNESCO World Heritage Site which is said to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world – about 7,000 years.
In Byblos, Lebanon, the ancient mingles with the modern. Photo: Giorgio Montersino/Wikimedia Commons
Lebanon boasts a long coastline and brilliant blue waters of the Mediterranean (in Arabic, it’s known as al bahr al abiyad al muttawassat, or “the middle white sea”, but rest assured: it’s blue), so don’t forget your bathing suit if you’re traveling during the summer months – contrary to whatever images you may have of the Middle East, the Lebanese are not shy about showing some skin in the sun.
So, you’ve seen the sites, hit the beaches, and you have thus (by any reasonable justification) earned yourself a shopping spree and/or a drink, or two, or three, which Beirut not only condones, but encourages. Yes, that’s right. Toss your image of gender inequality and religious abstinence aside – Beirutis of all sexes like to party, and are free to do so.
Locals enjoying beer at cafes in central Beirut, Lebanon. Photo: Bertil Videt/Wikimedia Commons
Qatar Airways has a steady stream of flights available from Bangkok to Beirut, and with the discounts on offer, a dream trip to where the ancient meets the modern puts that box on the bucket list within ticking reach.
The White House and the Land of the Setting Sun
The grand Hassan II Mosque. Photo: Qatar Airways
“Dar Al Baydah,” the “White House”, or “Casablanca” – that port city on the Moroccan coast made famous by the eponymous 1942 film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman (give yourself a pat on the back if you noticed the Bogart connection, and another if you know that it was filmed entirely on set in California and gives us no taste whatsoever of Casablanca) – is where Qatar Airways will leave you to your adventures in Al Maghrib, as Morocco is known in the native Arabic language. (Al Maghrib translates to “the land of the setting sun” as it is the westernmost muslim country, and thus the last to hold the sunset call to prayer.)
Although Casablanca has many rewards for the traveler – not least of which are the grand Hassan II Mosque and the ancient village of Azemmour along a beautiful stretch of Atlantic coastline – we are here to step into lands a dream away from the tropics of Southeast Asia.
Food carts, music and magicians — nearly anything imaginable at the nightly market in Jama’a al Fna square, Marrakesh, Morocco. Photo: Boris Macek/Wikimedia Commons
Stop first in Marrakesh, a nearly 1,000-year-old former Berber imperial city known as the “Red City” for its red sandstone constructions. The Jama’a al Fnaa, a square in the city’s medina, is the focal point of local life and tourism alike. Here, in the evening, you can wind through the daily set up of food and orange juice stalls, the cacophony of magicians, dentists (pliers are a tool of choice), fortune tellers, comedy troupes, musicians, monkey touts and, well if you can imagine it, it’s probably there. The square is deemed by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity which, oddly for such designations, conveys some real sense of what it’s like.
Leaving Marrakesh, head toward the mountains looming to the east (in the non-summer months they are snow-capped, which makes the view all the more impressive), past mud-walled Berber villages, through the famed Atlas Mountain passes and out into the sandy horizon of the Sahara. Find yourself a guide, some camels and head off into the dunes where you can arrange for pop-up accommodation at five-star levels, and night views of the Milky Way that are… Well, there are no words – book your flight and see this wonder for yourself.
The dunes of M’hamid in the Sahara Desert, Morocco. Photo: Michal Osmenda/Wikimedia Commons
So, these are just two options. The best two? Find out for yourself. When the savings are big, go big, and you will thank yourself for the rest of your life. With Qatar Airways’ new fleet of Airbus A380s flying daily out of Bangkok, your options are anything but limited – from the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and Africa to Asia, these deals can fly you around the world.
