Chapter 1: A split-second decision

My life and journey as a cabin crew member of Qatar Airways has come to an end. I submitted my resignation letter in the office and my roster was cleared. Therefore I didn’t have any flights and was waiting for approval on my resignation and deportation date. The moment I left the office, I had this empty feeling, because I went from being super busy to doing completely nothing. Also the thought of not knowing when I would leave, made me a bit nervous.  

However, I wanted to make the best out of my last days in Doha. My birthday was coming up, so that was something to look forward to. As I got home, I went straight to bed and slept for a couple of hours. Later that evening, I had dinner plans with my trainer B.N. Remember her from my previous blog? As I was really tired, I overslept and suddenly received lots of phone calls and angry text messages from her. She (a 50+ year old) even messaged my mom to complain about my behavior. 

Eventually, I made it to dinner. We spoke about a trip to the desert. I’d always wanted to do something like that and was excited about this plan. I immediately called my friend D.S and told him about it. I really wanted him to join me during this trip and luckily, he was free as well. Some days went by, I went partying with friends and spent some time laying next to the pool. It was fun and relaxing but I couldn’t wait to go home.

Finally the day arrived. At this point I was doubting the trip, because D.S. and myself went partying the previous day. I was still in bed and got a message from B.N, wondering if the plans were still on. At first I ignored her text and called D.S to see what he wanted to do. Eventually, we decided to go to the desert and confirmed with B.N. Later that day B.N. arrived to pick me up. The plan was to go and rent an SUV before picking up D.S. 

At the car rental shop, we received a great service from this lady, who was an ex-colleague of B.N, We even got a discount and free upgrade to this Dodge-Durango Limited edition car. B.N signed as the driver and I gave my credit card. The reason for this is that B.N. mentioned she did not have a Credit Card with her. Which I found strange, but didn’t pay attention to, due to the low costs. Finally everything was set and we were ready to go and pick up D.S. at his place. After some while of driving, B.N wanted to do a little prayer, just to make sure that we return safely from this trip. We then picked up D.S and again she wanted to do a prayer. Two times in such a short period of time, got me thinking, but talking to God is never too much.. right?

As we were driving to the desert, we were talking about training days, our flights and all the funny things that had happened in Doha. At some point we arrived at the entrance of the desert, we ran into two guys who had just got back from a drive in the desert. It was windy they mentioned as we deflated and they inflated their car tires. Deflating the tires is necessary to have a good drive through the desert. As we saved the phone number of the tire repair shop just incase, the two guys mentioned to keep a speed limit of 60 and be aware that any insurance stops once you entered the desert..

Not really paying attention to the last part, we were ready to enter the desert. Driving to these dunes got me a bit nervous, but it was so nice to see the ocean next to you. We even spotted camels along the way. After some time we joked about remembering the way back to the entrance. Even though, we were still close, everything looks the same and therefore you lose track of directions easily. We then got into an even more bumpy area, which made me really nervous… where should we drive asked B.N.? I have no clue, just go left.. and we did, luckily we went smoothly over the dune and again another dilemma, left or right? Left of right? At this point you can feel the nerves and tension in the car… I don’t know.. just go straight was the answer.. go straight over that dune.. 

We did go straight, with some speed to reach the top, assuming we would go down smoothly as the one before. However this split-second decision to go straight, which we made in doubt, changed my life and journey into a nightmare...