Off to Oman

Wednesday Oct. 1

For dinner last night Peter and the kids made trofie for trofie al pesto. Delicious!!!  Pete was later than usual but was home before we all left the dinner table. What a long day he has:  gone by 7:30 AM, home by 7:30 PM (even later when we're not here!). During and after dinner I did 2 loads of laundry in preparation for our trip today to Oman. By the time I went to bed the second load was finishing in the dryer.....takes a while!

This morning Suz and I went to the base for our workouts and errands. At home we spent the rest of the day getting ready for our trip to Oman. Pete got out of work early; the kids got early dismissals from school, the rental car was returned to the car rental dealer and we were off to the airport in two cabs at 1:30. At the Bahrain airport we got boarding passes and cleared security easily and waited at our gate for a bus to take us out to the plane. We did notice that the plane for Riyadh. had ONLY men waiting!!  The plane ride was 1 hour and 15 minutes; and now we're 8 hours ahead of Harwich. All announcements on the plane were in Arabic and English.

In Oman we deboarded onto a bus and at the terminal went through passport control where we purchased visas, $14 each or 5 rial (1 rial = $2.62).   Stopped at duty free shop for wine, got our bags and hopped into 2 taxis ($40 each) for the 45 minute drive through Muscat to our resort on the water, Shangri-la!!  The drive was exciting, to say the least!!  FAST DRIVER!!!  Once out of the city, the drive was on 2 lane roads through the rocky mountains!  Once there, we were in heaven!!  What an awesome place.....3 hotels in one resort built around a lagoon and magnificent swimming pools.

After getting our rooms (Serena's bunking in with us) and setting ourselves up, we went to a cafe, had a light supper, walked around and retired to our rooms around 10 PM, Oman time. Lucas likes being reminded this is a 5 star resort:  he speaks more softly, walks instead of runs and acts "classy!"

Tomorrow's our "day off!"  Relaxation is our theme!