We needn't have bothered. The Abu Dhabi airport was practically empty when we arrived. Of course, I hadn't thought that our carry on bags might be weighed, so it probably was good that we had the extra time. Our carry on bags were limited to 7kg. I had packed in our typical carry on bags - Craig's Tumi and my TravelPro. My bag was nearly full, because I had tucked several last minute items into it, but Craig's bag still had plenty of space left. I hadn't even packed particularly tightly in either bag, wanting to leave some space in case we did pick up some souvenirs.
Our two bags totaled 23 kg. Because it was just a weekend trip, I had not brought my backpack. Craig had his backpack, but they did not weigh it when we tried to go through security. I had to take a few things out of my bag - my journal, kindle, and medicine - and tuck it into his backpack for the flight. When we checked our two bags at the counter, they did weigh his backpack. With my additions, it now weighed 11kg. The lady kindly tagged his backpack as acceptable to carry on despite the weight.
Given those amounts, I'm not sure that even with my backpack I would have been able to distribute the weight to let us carry everything on. If international flights remain so diligent about carry on weight, I'm going to need to invest in a scale. Craig is a good judge of when a bag weighs more than 50 pounds, but 7 kg? Alternatively, I need to invest in much, much smaller bags.
We got our bags checked and headed to the lounge. That was a blessing because I had eaten a very light lunch earlier and was getting hungry. The snack there was just what I needed.
The flight was very quick. I used the two nose-sprays from my doctor, for both take off and landing, and my ears did not give me any real trouble. Flying into Muscat, we could see the stark difference in building height between Muscat and Abu Dhabi. (Muscat has strict limitations on new construction.)
Once again, the airport felt empty. We decided it must be the time of day we were flying. But in reality, it probably had more to do with the fact that the airport in Muscat is brand new...by which I mean not really finished. We got our bags and set out.
Stepping outside the airport was a bit of a surprise. The transition was an odd one - the architecture lulls you into thinking that you are still inside, but the temperature says otherwise! We easily found a taxi and set out for our hotel. The wide, nearly empty, roads from the airport told the story of its new construction.
Checking into our hotel, we learned that it had been open just a month. It was beautiful, but we did encounter some "new opening" issues - getting the wrong room and such. Craig took this picture of me in the lobby:
We got settled in our room and set out for dinner. We'd decided to eat in the hotel that first night. What we did not anticipate, however, was the challenge of finding the restaurant - a combination of "new opening" and really strange design. We followed the signs toward "restaurants" but we were only able to find the buffet. We finally asked the hostess there for the other restaurants.
She walked us through the buffet - the entire buffet - past all the tables and multiple food stations and open "show" kitchens. Near the end, she pointed past the dessert station and told us to continue on and then make a right. We were joined on this strange venture by another man who was looking for the same restaurant.
But as we followed her directions, we only found the Indian restaurant, not the one we were looking for. The unknown fellow asked the host at the Indian restaurant where the other place was and we tagged along. The host took us further down the hall, outside, past their outside seating, to the restaurant we were looking for. The hostess there was very confused that we were not one single party, but we quickly got that sorted out.
Dinner was good. But who designed a hotel so that you have to walk THROUGH the buffet to reach the other restaurants? Never mind that getting to the buffet requires that you either cross the pool area, which was sweltering even in the evening, or make your way to lobby floor, cross the lobby, and go back down to the buffet level. The architecture is striking, but I'm confused about the design of this place.
The next day, we got a picture of the pool area we crossed to reach the buffet. I love infinity edge pools, especially pretty ones like this that look out into the ocean. But it was so, so hot. Even used to Abu Dhabi temperatures, we were melting. It was too warm to do anything more than take a picture.
Later that afternoon, we did spend some time in a pool on the other side of the hotel. That pool was not nearly as pretty, but it did get shade in the late afternoon. Finally, as the sun went down, we decided to make our way to the Muttrah Souk.
First, a picture of the buildings we saw along the road:
You can see how much smaller and more traditional they are compared to the buildings in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. These buildings were opposite the corniche, which here would be prime real estate (for all I know, it is in Muscat as well, but they can't build enormous sky scrapers there). Craig also got a picture of the royal yachts. Yes, they almost look like cruise ships. But no, they are not.
Here we are at the Souk:
We spent a fair bit of time there, wandering the side alleys of shops because I'd read that most tourists never made it down those. Craig frequently stopped to take pictures of signs in case we got lost, but every side trip circled back to the main strip. We didn't get lost, but we did walk the same path a few times. I think I held up remarkably well in the heat - we only had to stop once to find a bottle of water. And I tolerated the sales people - that just isn't my thing at all.
We returned to the hotel for the evening. We had another adventure getting to the Indian restaurant for dinner. This time, we struck out from the lobby. We stepped outside, into the still fantastic heat, and made our way down a long set of steps (following the directions I'd overheard given to another patron in the lobby). From this side, we walked down the street, past where we had eaten the night before, past the outdoor seating for the Indian restaurant, and inside to the hostess station. Initially, we couldn't get a table inside so the hostess took us to the buffet. But before we had settled in there, she returned to offer us a table. We had a very enjoyable dinner.
The next day, we requested a late check out and lounged about the hotel. Craig had some work to keep him busy, of course. Our options were limited at the hotel, so after a not-at-all satisfying lunch-snack, we decided to go to the airport. But the airport was worse! I mentioned before that it was brand new? There was hardly anything open there. We sat in a coffee shop until we could check our bags. We visited the lounge, but found it disappointing. The only food on offer in the terminal was fast food. We had a second snack and made our way to the gate. It is a pretty airport. Perhaps when more things are open it will be a nice airport.
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