May 11, 2023

Qatar Airways business class experience with Qsuite review

 It has always been my dream to fly business class on a long haul flight. It's not only more worth it due to the duration but our bodies will thank us for it after touching down hahaha

And after finalising that we're set to go Italy as our next vacay destination, I was adamant to fly business class and not just any business class but Qatar Airways, the airline that won Airline of the Year in 2022. I mean if you want the best, you gotta go all out right =')

And let me just start by saying, they definitely did not disappoint and was deserving of the award. We were well taken care of the entire flight journey as well as lounge experience.

The first flight was from Hong Kong to Doha International Airport.

Their signature drink, lemon mint with nuts.

All business class seat will come with their amenities and we got Diptyque. And since we took a total of 4 flights, the both of us had 8 boxes of Diptyque amenities haha...Well, of course I didn't mind. I absolutely love Diptyque products! It came with perfume, lip balm, face moisturiser and body lotion together with compression socks, ear buds and eye patch for the flight.

Then we stopped over at Doha and got into the Al-Mourjan Business Lounge. It was majestic inside.

The lounge consist of 100,000 square feet spread across 2 levels with their signature water pool design.


We needed to shower because we had a long day ahead and the shower room was so clean, big and perfect to freshen up.

It cannot be any more luxurious than showering with Diptyque products hehe

The upstairs lounge is where the buffet spread is. There is even a sushi bar mind you!
Mind blown of how I could have made to order sushi in an airport lounge.

There was also a large dessert spread! I mean, as if they don't feed us enough on the flight, the layover was already making us full *laughs*

But, what I really wanted to review was their QSuite. I don't know how we got this lucky but lady luck was with us when we were on our flight back from Rome to Doha. At the check in counter, the lady told us that our flight has changed to the QSuite flight. I almost couldn't believe my ears. When I booked the flights, there were no QSuite option and I was quite disappointed, truth be told because I really wanted to experience The World's Best Business Class Seat! But out of luck, they changed the plane and we got to actually experience sitting in QSuite! Woo-hoo!


The best thing about QSuite is that after take off, you can push down the divider between your partner and you and you can close the door for privacy.

It was relatively more spacious than the other Qatar business class seats we've been on and...

...the seats can be transformed into a double bed!! I mean, WHATT? Because of the close proximity of the seats after sliding down the divider, when both seats are reclined fully, it can actually be a double bed. It was so cool and we were really thankful to be able to experience this.

If you have a family of four, you can even drop down the dividers in front of you and you would all be facing each other as a quadrant. Also perfect for business people who wants to have a business meeting on air.

Please go and experience QSuite once in your lifetime!

The food in business in Qatar were some hits and misses. But some memorable ones were:
Their paratha with dips. The spicy Muhammara dip was da bomb diggity. I think I ordered another one of this on the other flight because it was that good.

Laksa soup was another favourite. This was my second bowl. The first was at the lounge hehe

I still can't picture how they even have scoop ice cream on air plated nicely for each passengers.

It's like a 5 star restaurant standard but on air!

Their warm bread with butter are the best starters! We had this on every flight.

Their tasting platter was really good too so we got to try a little bit of everything.

And the best best thing I have ever eaten on flight! A freaking lobster brioche!! The brioche was warm and soft and the lobster was really yummy. It was better than some of the restaurants' lobster brioche I have eaten. I freaking love this. If I was not already so full, I would have ordered another one of this. 

Pandan pudding with almond crumble dessert. I really cannot get over their dessert plating and it was really yummyy!

I really had the best fantastic experience with Qatar. I would definitely want to fly with them again. This is what I really love about travelling. You don't know what you don't know until you experience it. We're really grateful for this entire experience and will be a memory etched in our mind for a really long time. Til' the next vacay!

Italy trip part 2- Pisa, Venice & Milan

 If you missed Part 1, it is HERE

After Amalfi, we took the train to Pisa. Pisa was a really small town and everywhere is walkable. The airbnb we stayed in was also the nicest and the cheapest among all. If we did not come all the way from the south, we would have taken a day trip to Pisa from elsewhere but because we came from Amalfi, it was a long journey to Venice which was our next destination so we had a pitstop at Pisa for 3 days 2 nights.

What else to see in Pisa other than than the Pisa tower? *laughs*

Since we stayed there, we got to see the day view and the night view and both were amazing. We didn't go in though and just took pictures and walked around outside.

It was in Rome that my husband saw people scooting around in scooters and he has been wanting to try. Since Pisa was rather small and lesser vehicles at night, it was time for us to try the scooter out. We downloaded the app, and used the scooter for an hour. It was really amazing! We scooted almost the entire Pisa town haha and it was so fun! 

The nightlife in Pisa was not very happening. But their alcohol drinks were rather cheap so we took the opportunity to gulp our happy hour cocktails on both nights haha

Funny thing was I was surprised to find Sephora in such a small town. Got my haul covered!

There was also poke bowl and after many pastas and all the carbs, I finally couldn't take it and succumbed to my first poke bowl in Italy hehe. It was fresh and was something I was really craving for!

The next day, we took the train to Cinque Terre from Pisa. Cinque Terre consists of 5 towns in the Italian Riviera coastline. There is a designated train which connects all 5 towns so you can visit all 5 towns easily. We only managed to visit 3 in our day trip.
 

The buildings were all very colourful and UNESCO recognized Cinque Terre as a World Heritage site.

If you love to hike, you can hike from one town to the other and the scenery would have been amazing.

The town is famous for fried anchovies. I cannot believe how huge their anchovies are as compared to the anchovies in Malaysia.

It was a rainy day when we were there and we just ate, drank and had desserts and left. There was nothing much to do so for a day trip to experience the scenery, it was just nice.

The next day, we took the train to Venice. Venice was rather unique because there were so many alleys and you can literally get lost walking in circles haha.

We did not take the gondola ride for Euro 80 which was such a rip off in my opinion because we were already taking the water taxis everywhere.


Saint Mark's Basilica was ginormous.

Venice is rather famous for their pastas on the go. There were a few shops selling these and you can see people queuing up and eating along the streets.
Black squid pasta.

You can choose your favourite pasta and favourite toppings to go with it and it was quite reasonably priced so it it a must try in Venice. You have no idea how much pasta we ate in Italy hahaha

We also managed to try the I Tre Mercanti's famous tiramisu and it was da bomb. Even better than Two Sizes in Rome!

We found an outlet shopping mall near Venice and booked a shuttle to Noventa Di Piave Outlet and boy did we shop a lot haha. We especially bought many Nike shoes because they were soo cheap and some clothes and designer wallet.
It was not very near Venice as it was quite a distance but it was worth a visit there.

We did not spend many days in Venice and lucky for us as well because again, there's not much for us to do in Venice. It was a very chill city.

The next day, we took the train to Milan, our final destination.

The majestic looking Duomo which is a famous tourist attraction.

The only reason we came to Milan was for the famous QC Terme Milano. Oh, this is a MUST-do if you're ever visiting Milan. We booked the spa from 5pm onwards for 56Euro per person and it was the best time we had in Milan.

There were around 20 experiential rooms to enjoy such as saunas, jacuzzi, pool etc

We also had some evening bites included in our package.

This water jet experience was so therapeutic with a good water massage on the body.

Infrared room for your cellulites.

My first ice bath experience which I was so happy I didn't chicken out.

We absolutely loved this spa and it was the highlight of our trip!

We thoroughly enjoyed our 10 days trip to Italy. The only thing was the weather was a bit too cold for me and some days were raining. Other than that, the scenery was gorgeous, Italians were friendly, everything went according to plan and it was truly a dream come true to visit Italy <3