After six years, Doha News editor-at-large Victoria Scott is leaving Qatar for good in a few months.
In her latest post for the Expat Telegraph, Scott said that she plans to spend her last several weeks packing up, hugging good friends goodbye and getting ready to settle back into life in the UK.
But before heading out, Scott added that she and her family are finally turning to that bucket list of things that they never got around to doing, because they always figured they had “more time.”
Items on that list include:
- Finding the Richard Serra sculptures and watching the sun set in Dukhan;
- Taking a nighttime dhow cruise across Doha Bay;
- Visiting Al Zubarah fort and the nearby abandoned fishing villages;
- Shopping at Souq Waqif for souvenirs; and
- Visiting the racetrack to watch camel races.
Since the vast majority of Qatar’s population comprises of expats, Scott theorizes that many residents will have to say goodbye to the country at some point:
“The phrase ‘adopted home’ implies permanence, but under the country’s (soon to be revised) employment laws, you have no choice but to leave if you lose your job and you’re not given permission to apply for another one. Any feeling of security and stability in Qatar is more a badge of your own innate optimism rather than something rooted in reality.”
Do you agree? And before you leave, what’s on your list?