It is so so hard when you are living in the desert over the summer to think of enough things to do with the family to keep everyone entertained. We haven’t even been here all summer and I’m already slowly losing the will to live going to multiple soft plays every week! I mean thank goodness we have access to so many of them but still… it’s pretty mind numbing, not to mention expensive. To be honest, I don’t know why a staycation hadn’t occurred to me before!

So what else can you do?

Its a good question, to be honest. We’re thinking about hitting the beach or inland sea next weekend (super cool with sand dunes that go straight into the sea) but I’m already sweating just thinking about how hot it will be. We have seen ALOT of the few friends who are still here and spend time at the pool at least 3 times a week. We go out for lunch and the Things have probably watched more TV / movies / iPad than they have watched in their entire lives to date. Well…at least since we were doing this last summer, haha.

Why do a staycation?

Its a funny thing living here where you have to pretty much get on a plane just to get out of the city. Luckily there is an absolute abundance of lovely hotels to visit. We will quite often go for breakfast or discounted pool days there. We have even spent a couple of nights away from the kids ourselves but we have never made use of a hotel for the whole family. The St Regis has had the inspired idea to do a discount offer for August so when I saw it advertised (thank you Facebook) it was a bit of a no brainer to take this staycation. The offer included early check in (from 10am) and late check out (until 6pm). A single pool day pass alone for all of us would have been more expensive!

So how was it?

I was a bit worried it was going to be too hot and it was pretty scorccio at around 45C (and humid). That’s the genius of having a gorgeous room you can flee back to for some relief from the sun! And gorgeous it was – check this out:

 

 

The pool was stunning – and ENORMOUS.

 

There was also a kids pool which was completely shaded so we spent lots of time in that. You couldn’t spend much time out of the pool (I did try to sunbathe and lasted about 45 seconds) but the pools are both chilled so it was actually really pleasant to just be in the water. On the second day we scored a cabana. This provided more shade than the sun loungers had offered and that made a huge difference too.

 

In the evening we took the kids home (after a bath in the bath with a TV – the highlight of the weekend for the kids!). We left them there while we enjoyed a rare night to ourselves. Drinks and dinner with friends followed by a very decadent lie in before collecting them again, having breakfast all together and heading back to the pool.

Was it worth it?

Now don’t get me wrong. The deal we got wasn’t just because the St Regis was feeling generous and wanted to offer us a cheap staycation! We spent a decent amount on food / drink while we were there and I assume that’s what they were banking on. We went because we didn’t want to leave and we didn’t (save to drop the kids at home in the evening). But my answer is still….

TOTALLY!

The St Regis, while not my favourite hotel, is still an absolutely beautiful place to stay. Its amazing how refreshed you can feel after just one night and two full days away. I felt completely rejuvenated and more connected to the family than I had done for a couple of weeks (did you miss my ranty, my kids are so ungrateful post? You can read it here). The kids had a blast – they were doing something new and so were we. We had all escaped the boredom that has plagued our weekends recently. Mummy and daddy were more focussed without the distractions of being at home.

It turns out, a staycation was exactly what we all needed.

 

 

If you are genuinely in Doha on a stopover or holiday you might want to venture out of the hotel in which case you will want some ideas on what to do.

Note: I did not receive any compensation or discounts in return for writing this post. All opinions are my own.