Qatar Airways - what can we say - it is undoubtedly our favourite way to fly. We had a wonderful experience in the Qatar Premium Lounge in Paris (even before departure) then trundled onboard and settled ourselves in. It is beyond a first world problem (obviously) but because we had been squeezed onto the Friday night Paris departure, it was a full cabin and our two Qsuites were in the second business class cabin - see - definitely a first world problem. It's only a nuisance because anything remotely unusual or interesting on the menu will be snuffled up by the time our dinner orders are taken. We had such an awesome rest in the afternoon, we were as bright as buttons for several movies, dinner, drinkies etc. It was over all too soon as we pulled into Doha at around 6 am and got to experience the Arrivals Lounge for the first time - wow. Just wow. Not a super luxe lounge like the in-terminal business lounges - but, a completely separate arrivals area, just had to walk past the long immigration lines, have a juice, have some fresh fruit, have a sit down and after 10 minutes or so, an immigration official came and stamped us into the country. Still wow when I think about it.

Our layover in Doha was 15 hours this time around and the expense of the airside hotel couldn't be justified so we decided to do take a car to a stopover hotel in the city and have a proper rest and recharge. We headed out to the Arrivals Hall, found the stopover holiday staff and they called our driver. It was only 7 am and the sun was already blazing with intent to incinerate as we jumped in the car with our carry on bags and were driven into the city. We had booked through the Qatar Stopover programme and whilst inexpensive, the 'premium' hotel was at the exceedingly dicey end of premium. Reeked of air freshener, the airconditioning roared and the view was of a concrete wall - but tired and hungover we pulled the curtains, ran the bath, put in our ear plugs and had a surprisingly refreshing sleep. We had considered going for a stroll to the near by souk. Nup. Too hot, bit tired, don't need anything and couldn't really be bothered. In the end after a snooze we whistled up a car in the late afternoon and headed back to the airport (our comfort zone, if you will). Made-to-order sushi and champagne in the Business lounge, then we went exploring to the new terminal and the rainforest indoor garden - and then visited the new lounge. We missed the turnoff at least twice and ended up getting in a few thousand steps which was good for us. Eventually had a sit and a couple of drinks - including lots of water and at 8.30 pm eventually made our way to the departure gate for the evening A380 run to Sydney - now that's a plane!

It's our first time on the A380 out of Doha and it was a completely separate area for premium boarding. We had another run through a security lane (never know when a something dangerous might be added to luggage within a terminal) and then we were on board and pj'd for the stint to Sydney. This was always going to be the long leg scheduled at around 14 hours. Little did we know! The flight went well until we were 7 hours into it and well on our way to Sydney, over the ocean, in the middle of nowhere and in the vague vicinity of Asia. Suddenly there was the announcement (I won't say dreaded announcement… though it would have been for Economy Class). There was an unwell child on board and if you were a doctor or nurse - please make yourself known to crew. As it turned out we had four doctors including a couple of cardiologists returning to Sydney, nurses - all sorts. The benefits of a large flight is a larger chance of medical staff travelling onboard. They made the call in consultation with the doctors and experts on the ground and we felt the plane change direction as we stopped heading for Sydney and started diverting north to Singapore.

Something was obviously in the air, as on the ground in Singapore, whilst they were removing the sick child, the child's family, their luggage etc, another 3 people decided they were too unwell to stay onboard - suspect it was the equivalent of Delhi Belly or similar - but seriously - why board the plane in Doha if you weren't well… not as though 14 hours at altitude was going to improve matters. So they they were taken off and their luggage was found and we had another coffee in the bar and looked at the snacks menu and chose another movie. They also had to top off the tanks - refuelling so we didn't run out on the 8 hours to Sydney. In the end we were sitting on the tarmac in Singapore for more than 2 hours. Our major concern was if it dragged on much longer then we'd miss the curfew coming into Sydney airport or the crew would time out and we'd have an unexpected stopover - not a bad thing. With the diversion, the time on the ground and the fact we were now 8 hours away from Sydney, not 7, we ended up tacking 5 hours onto the trip.

We eventually were off once more and made it into Sydney with 45 minutes to spare pre-curfew (handy as they had a massive plane load ready to board in Sydney for the return trip to Doha!) We were out and ordering an Uber in no time and home very late in the evening. Our body clocks had no idea of the date or time and we weren't tired, so we stayed up for a couple of hours, had a run about with the broom and duster and eventually hit the sack. 19 odd hours on the plane is a record for us. Jet lag… here we come.

(Photo: Rosé Champagne and Sushi, Doha Airport.)