tbilisi

My Qatar Airways Experience, Part 2 (Doha to Tbilisi)

September 16, 2012 by Bino 6 Comments

I have received quite a number of queries from my Tbilisi post on how I managed to get there so this update is definitely way overdue. This trip was taken some months back on Qatar Airways. I transited in Doha for about 8 hours before boarding my 3 hour or so flight to Tbilisi, Georgia.

The terminal was basically the same one I transited in when I flew to Iran (also with QR) just a few months prior to this trip. The terminal was in the midst of upgrading and those of us with connecting flights were given color-coded boarding passes for easy identification.

Here is the rundown:

Pre-flight:

after 8 hours of waiting, I was relieved to see this

I did not have to check-in as this was a connecting flight. As previously stated, I had an 8-hour transit time which was mostly spent dozing off in Doha’s Airport. Given the relatively small-sized terminal, it was a consolation they had a sleeping area for passengers to use free-of-charge. Spaces were limited however. Silver and gold tiered Privilege Club members have lounges which can be used free-of-charge.

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The Unpronounceable UNESCO World Heritage Town of Mtskheta

February 15, 2012 by Bino 10 Comments

“M-TSKHE-TA,” I shouted, pointing furiously to my guidebook. It was our second day in Georgia and the plan was to visit this UNESCO World Heritage town only a few minutes away from Tbilisi. We were at the bus station and no one around us could seem to understand a word we were saying.

a cathedral whose name i can’t pronounce, in a town whose name i also can’t pronounce

It didn’t help that everything was in Georgian writing, which is totally alien to me. They don’t even use Cyrillic like the Russians and they have their own alphabet. We would have been toast and left to board some random car that could have been headed to war-torn South Ossetia had it not been for this helpful chap. “Oh, you are going to Skheta?,” he asked. Apparently, the first two letters of this town’s name are supposed to be silent. He directed us to a row of parked minivans. The most popular mode of long-distance transportation in Georgia are actually not public buses but these speedy contraptions called marshrutka – a legacy of Georgia’s Soviet past. For 1 Lari (approximately US$0.60), we boarded one of these to Mtskheta which was just 30 minutes away from Tbilisi.

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Warm Hospitality and Subzero Temperatures in Tbilisi

February 12, 2012 by Bino 80 Comments

It was towards the tail-end of a great flight (one of the best I’ve been on after constant delays in my previous flights in Southeast Asia) when I first had a glimpse of Georgia from the window of the plane. Everything was covered with snow and for the nth time, I pondered on my seemingly spontaneous decision of coming here during the depths of the Soviet winter. Average temperatures in Georgia were supposed to hover at around 2 to 10 celsius, but in reality, it turned out to be a numbing -10 to 0 celsius.

touchdown tbilisi!

I have heard about the legendary Georgian hospitality before, where visitors are believed to come from God. Even from the immigration part alone, it certainly did seem like it. The arrival formalities at the airport was a breeze. Ex-Soviet countries are notorious for gifting tourists with a lot of red tape but Georgia was refreshingly efficient and welcoming. Over 70 nationalities can enter visa-free and Filipinos can enter with a visa on arrival for roughly USD 30. It is the only European country that Filipinos can visit without needing a pre-arranged visa. (Note: Georgia changed its visa regime in September 2014. Visas are no longer issued on arrival and need to be secured beforehand)

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