It’s included

Doha, Qatar Airport Lounge

I’m just so glad they let us on the plane. I swore we could get Kenya visas upon arrival at the airport, but apparently not. It’s not the first time we scrambled to apply for visas at the airport, hoping we wouldn’t miss our flight. Hasan from Qatar Airways went above and beyond. He grabbed my phone and made sure we were on the right website for submitting our applications. He called his colleagues in Nairobi and said that the children were crying (they weren’t) because they wanted so badly to get to Kenya and could they please expedite the visas. He made sure everything else was all ready to go, asking the desk attendant to print our luggage tags while our applications were pending. And finally, he got approval from their side to allow us to go through. We got through security in no time and on the plane just as others were boarding. PHEW.

Now, on our layover, we found the Al Maha Lounge here in the Doha Airport. It’s one of the nicest airport lounges we’ve visited. The Middle Eastern snacks are divine, house white and red are flowing, and there’s even water feature in the middle of the large room with a wall of windows overlooking the airport foot traffic.

The American Express Platinum credit card has afforded us many hours of airport lounge-ing. It’s a chance for us to work on school, upload photos, book flights and hotels, while eating and drinking in a comfortable space. It also allows us the opportunity to continue defining the difference between “free” and “included.” No, this food is not free, it’s included in the price. Which we paid. With money.