Traveling with the Jones

After spending five nights in paradise at  the Conrad Maldives Rangali Islands, we boarded the float plane back to Male, where we caught a flight on Qatar Airways to Doha, Qatar. Since we had a long flight home, we decided to make a 3-night, two full day layover in Doha, for our first visit to the Middle East.

This was our 2012 Thanksgiving week trip and we were using frequent flyer points to fly in Business Class via the Star Alliance network. (Qatar Airways is no longer a member of the Star Alliance.)

Doha is a fast-growing capital city of Qatar, a small but wealthy country on the coast of the Persian Gulf. New skyscrapers were being built like crazy.

We stayed downtown Doha at the Marriott Marquis City Center Doha Hotel, which is connected to the huge City Center Mall.

The City Center Mall has an ice skating rink, and every chain store and restaurant you could think of visiting in a U.S. mall.

The mall is also home to a huge Carrefour, a French-based chain of hypermarkets that we are always interested in visiting in European cities to get a sense of the local food and culture.

The produce section offered an amazing array of choices.

We had to smile at this display of pillows that were branded “Alaska USA.”

After checking out the local shopping mall, we took a cab to the Museum of Islamic Art, designed by architect I. M. Pei.

Inside the museum there are major collections of art, but one of the most beautiful views is out of the 3-story windows looking at the skyline of Doha’s City Center.

On the ground floor there is a cafe with this view, which is stunning.

For our second full day, we decided to get out of the city and explore the desert.

We booked a full-day desert safari adventure tour through our hotel. This hummer pulled up to pick us up at the hotel.

There were also two young men on our tour. They were consultants from Hong Kong working a multi-week project in Doha. We enjoyed talking with them during our ride to the desert.

Our driver/tour guide was from Pakistan. He drove us south of Qatar to a Beach Resort.  First, he stopped the Hummer and deflated the tires to make the vehicle ready for dune bashing across the desert.

Mr. Jones sat up front with the driver. I set in the back seat with the two guides from Hong Kong, and held on for dear life.

Up and down and over and through the sand dunes we went. (This was thrilling and yet also a very frightening experience.)

When we reached a huge inland lake, we stopped for a look. Nothing but sand more as far as you can see. Our driver didn’t say much, but he was a cool dude.

After more sand dune surfing, we arrived at the huge inland sea area near the border of Qatar and Saudi Arabia borders.

Our tour had several hours at this desert “camp” with sandy beaches with swimming, beach volleyball, and a buffet lunch.

We chose just to relax and read under the shade by the water.  (If we were doing this again, we would take the half day tour that just does the sand dune surfing. The beach is a little boring after that experience.)

Early the next morning, we headed to the massive and crowded Qatar Airport. Here we were about to board our plan to fly to Washington-Dulles Airport.
Here we are ready for take-off for the 14 hour flight from Doha to Washington, Dulles (IAD) Airport. The business class seats are spacious and the champagne is good, but we found the service of Qatar Airways to be lacking, and certainly not the 5-star service that the airline advertises.

Singapore, Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways, United — all of these airlines that we flew on this grand adventure — were significantly better than our experience on Qatar. For example, we had to ask three times to get a bottle of water (on a 14-hour flight.)

Still, we were glad that we made the Doha stopover, and experienced both the city and the desert.

Have you visited Doha? What was the best part of your experience? Please share in comments below. 

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After traveling what seemed like forever, Mr. Jones and I arrived at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island. We used Hilton Honors Award Points for this once-in-a-lifetime trip to paradise, during the week of U.S. Thanksgiving in 2012.

The Conrad Maldives resort is spread across two private islands joined by a footbridge across a turquoise blue lagoon with guest accommodations in either beach villas or over-water villas.

We stayed in a spacious beach villa on Rangalifinolhu Island, the larger island with many of the amenities.

Each villa has its own beachfront access.

While the toilet and the sinks are inside the compound, the shower is in an outdoor section of the enclosed compound, along with a huge outdoor whirlpool.

Typical of Conrad resorts, there was a box of artful and delicious chocolates in our villa.

The Conrad Maldives has an underground wine cellar that’s located 6 feet below sea level with 20,000 bottles of wines.

We attended the special wine dinner in the underground cellar with ten other guests.  Sitting around a dining table with the chef and sommelier, we enjoyed a five-course meal along with eight different wines.

The sommelier was superb in his knowledge and his presentation skills. He tested the group’s ability to identify wines served in black glasses.

We all failed the test, but enjoyed the wine, the food, and meeting other wine-loving guests from around the world.

After traveling so far, we woke early each morning, which was lucky because the sunrises were spectacular.

Every morning during our stay, we walked the beach during sunrise.

Baby whale sharks swam near the shore. The water is clear and the sea life is unique.  Diving excursions are popular at the resort.

We often enjoyed breakfast at Vilu, an open-air restaurant located on the edge of the lagoon. This was on the other island, so we incorporated a walk across the footbridge in our breakfast routine. Flip-flops or sandals are the footwear of choice.

Later, the infinity pool was our destination of choice.

Yes, this resort in the middle of paradise has Wi-Fi – but we were not tempted to use it very often during our stay.

Another highlight of the resort was visiting the Ithaa Undersea Restaurant. At 16 feet below sea level, it is the world’s first all-glass undersea restaurant, where the guests are surrounded by fish and sea life.

We opted for the champagne visit rather than a full meal, which was the perfect amount of time for us to enjoy this marvel.

On the way to the Ithaa Undersea Restaurant, you pass by the Mandhoo Restaurant that is built on stilts for peering down into the clear water while dining.

One of our favorite places to hang out was at the outside tables that are part of the Rangali Bar.  We enjoyed cocktail hour with live music while watching the sunset.

The Conrad Maldives Rangali Island resort met our definition of paradise.

Check back for Part III of our trip as we leave the Conrad Maldives and fly to Doha, Qatar for a two-night stay.

Have you visited the Maldives? How did you like it? Please share in comments below.

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Two years ago during Thanksgiving week, Mr. Jones and I traveled to the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. We used frequent flier miles to get two business class tickets to transport us there, and Hilton Honors Award Points to stay at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island.

This was no easy feat but Mr. Jones is a pro at figuring out how to use miles and points. Getting from Kansas City to Rangali Island took about three days of travel. We flew Kansas City to Washington-Dulles on United, and then continued on United from Washington to Rome, Italy.

In Rome we transferred to Star Alliance Partner Thai Airways, flying Business Class from Rome to Bangkok, and then first class from Bangkok to Singapore. Knowing we would be exhausted and having an 8 hour layover, we booked a room in the Ambassador Transit Hotel located inside security in the Singapore Changi Airport. It was terrific to have a shower and a few hours of sleep.

Next we flew on an amazing Singapore flight in Business Class from Singapore to Ibrahim Nasir International Airport in Male, the capital of the Maldives. The Male airport is an island. After you collect your bags, a speedboat takes you to the nearby island of Male, the capital city. Here we checked into the Traders Hotel.

The next morning we were up early but our float plane to the resort did not depart until the early afternoon.  We walked around Male and were awed by the colorful sunrise, and watching this island city come to life.

When it was time to leave, we took the speedboat back to the airport, this time going to the world’s largest seaplane airport, where all of the tourists are flown out to the various resorts.

The Conrad has its own “hangar” and treats you to snacks, drinks and massages while you are waiting for your plane.

Finally, we are up in the air and we’ve off to Paradise. The views are like nothing we’ve ever seen.

Our plane makes one stop before our resort – we all get out to stretch our legs

Back in the air, soon we are landing in the water near our resort.

Our plane taxis up to a pier, and the staff is out waiting to greet us.

I can’t help but this of the 1970’s television show, Fantasy Island.

The plane is reloaded with departing tourists, and flies away.

For the next four nights and five days, we are trapped in paradise.

Check back for Part II about our experiences at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island.

Have you visited the Maldives? How did you like it? Please share in comments below.

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