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Well this is it, D Day has arrived, I've been so worried about this. I wasn't actually leaving for Muscat until 4pm so I had a bit of time to kill, as I only had the room until 12pm. So I used this time to sleep in and pack up and watch a bit of TV.
I then checked out and went to have lunch at a nearby restaurant. The food was really good, but there were these arrogant French guys in there giving the lady waiting tables hell. She ended up going nuts at them. When I left I thanked her for my food and told her it was really good. That seemed to put a smile on her face.
I then went off to get a pedicure and sat around for about half an hour having my toe nails painted. After, the lady in there insisted I take her shoes and leave my boots behind as it would spoil my pretty new feet. Her shoes were pink thongs, with a bit of a heel on them, quite different to what I usually wear. I went off for a walk and ended up at the big shopping centre again. I did a lap of that and walked back to the massage place, about half way back I decided that I needed a foot massage due to my borrowed shoes.
An hour later I went back to the original massage place and picked up my boots and thanked the lady for the use of her shoes. I then walked back to Club Bamboo for the last time to catch my transport to the airport. I wondered on this long and complicated journey, how many ACME anvils would fall from the blue and hit me on the head. I was to be pleasantly surprised.
My transfer arrived and I bundled myself into the cab, about halfway down the driveway I realized I had forgotten my sunglasses and had to run back to get them. Great start, I thought. It took about an hour to get to the airport and I checked in for my first flight, back to Bangkok with Air Asia. I went down to the gate to wait for the flight and the first Anvil, the Air Asia flight being horrendously late. No, no anvil….the Air Asia flight is on time. Thank God for small miracles. Even if it had been a little late I would have been ok as I had given myself five hours to connect in Bangkok. Paranoia of a travel agent.
I reached Bangkok and collected my luggage and proceeded to get in a very long queue to check in with Emirate for my flight to Dubai. While I was waiting one of the ground staff came around handing out flyers asking for volunteers to go at a later date as the flight had been over booked and that it was likely people would be bumped from the flight. Wonderful I thought, I'll bet it'll be me. Second Anvil that never dropped, I was not bumped from the flight.
I reached the counter and decided to play dumb and ask the lady if my bags could be checked all the way to Muscat. Being a travel agent, I knew that because these flights were on separate tickets, this probably couldn't be done. Next Anvil. No lo and behold, the lady said she could check both my bag and myself all the way though to Muscat! Meaning the horror connection I thought I was going to have to make, would now only be a simple transfer. I could have kissed her! I thanked her profusely and went and got in the longest line I have ever stood in. The line for passport control was longer than the line for the Vatican Museum, in peak season on a religious holiday. A new record.
I finally managed to get through passport control and then through security and then the line for the bathroom and finally sit down and grab some food. I had been wanting pizza for days, so I managed to get pizza. Now, how much time do I have to kill? After that fiasco I only had to kill thirty minutes, most of which would be taken up by eating. Fourth anvil that didn't drop. I thought I would have to kill at least four hours hanging around here.
I finished my pizza and went down to the gate, as soon as I sat down, my boarding category was invited to board early! I got on the plane, my first Airbus A380 and went right to the back of the plane 79C, wow I can't believe it went up that high. Unfortunately, my seat was right next to the galley, ensuring the flight to Dubai was exceptionally noisy, but considering my luck thus far I could hardly be angry.
I reached Dubai and asked a few people where I should go. I was eventually pointed in the direction of transfer desk K. Which I sat and waited at for about twenty minutes until a bus came to take us to the other terminal. This took about twenty minutes and we were not told what was going on at all. The bus made quite a few stops and we were not told when to get off, we just kind of had to guess. Damn Arab madness, how I've missed you!
I got inside terminal two and even had time to have something to eat. I changed my remaining Baht for AED and went and had a sandwich and a coffee. I went and sat by the gate, the flight before mine was cancelled, I was waiting for the next anvil to arrive in the form of my flight being either cancelled or delayed. The irony of that would have been almost too much to bear. The flight I thought I was never going to make gets cancelled and I made it on time! This didn't happen and we left dead on time. We even flew directly over Dubai. I saw the Burj al Arab, the Burj Kalifa and even the Palm Jumeriah! Which was amazing, I also saw the sunrise over the amazing Arabian mountains and 25,000 feet. All of a sudden I felt excited. I was going to Oman, a new country and back to the middle east. Up until that point I had been so worried about the journey, I hadn't been able to excited at all.
We landed in Muscat and I went to buy my visa, I had visions of it costing more than the twenty rials I had been told, or worse, more money than I had on me. Next Anvil, but no it was only five rials and even if it was more, there was an ATM anyway! I purchased my visa from the Travelex counter and went smoothly though passport control. I went out to baggage claim and waited for the last anvil in the form of my luggage not showing up, to drop. Again, I was pleasantly surprised to find my backpack waiting for me on the floor next to the conveyer belt.
I grabbed my bag and put it on the trolley and went through the exit to meet my transfer who was waiting for me. For some reason he had a Mr. Wilson on his sign as well as my name, thinking I couldn't possibly be traveling alone. He actually insisted on waiting and seeing if Mr. Wilson came though. If there's another Wilson on the flight I'll eat jazz hat, I thought. He finally relented, and I followed him out into the bright sunshine of a new country.
- comments
Christine Jenkins More surprises for me.....you can just get a visa...just like that !! You are one brave girl....
Mum Dad and I had the same problem changing terminals at Cairo to get to Sharm El Sheik, the bus kept stopping and nobody told you where to get off. Thank goodness for a tourist who had done this before. Amazing how things tend to work out ok in the end. By the way, Wylie Coyote would have been proud of you! xx