On my first day in Portsmouth in June 2018, I took a stroll along the High Street, or Commercial Road, as it is called and entered instinctively the W.H.SMITH shop. I was going to the aisle with the motorcycle magazines, when I caught sight of the Runner's World. I took it from the shelf without opening it, got my motorcycle mags and continued my stroll. Later at home I opened the Runner's World and saw a two page advertisement on pages 2 and 3 about the Muscat marathon. The ad was quite basic, but I found it fascinating and wanted to take part. I visited the website and found info regarding registration, routes, races, and much more. Then I contacted a friend who lives in Nizwa, a village about an hour westwards of Muscat and we had a chat.
I didn't register until November, because I was torn between the full and the half marathon and wanted to race the Athenian, the Authentic, one in November and then decide. I registered for the half and here I am. Flight and hotel were quickly booked, I also bought the Lonely Planet Oman guidebook, applied for a visa online and hired a car to get to all the places I want to visit.
I was full of anticipation and couldn't wait for the day of departure. I have been wanting to come to Oman for many years, but never made it. Oman is considered as an insider tip, because most of the tourists choose to go to Dubai or even Qatar. I have been reading articles in magazines about Oman for many years and watched various documentaries about the Sultanate.
Emails from the organisers came in during the last few weeks and one of them stated the start: 6:30am!!! Not the usual 9 o'clock start. Will it be light at this early hour? The organisers justify the early start with the following sentence: to beat the heat.
One day before departure I went to a mobile phone shop near my house in Athens to ask for a data SIM card that works in Oman, or the region, or possibly the entire world. The vendor was positive and named three cards by Greek carriers, which made me ask suspiciously if the will work in Oman. The vendor said: Europe no problem, Arabia OK. 20 GB data for 10 Euro. Very good price, but I had my doubts and asked a few more times. The vendor insisted: Europe no problem, Arabia OK. Then he asked for my phone, installed the SIM, set it up and it worked. But I still had my doubts. Because of that, I downloaded some offline maps and guides of Oman and Muscat and wanted to try them out, but they wouldn't work outside Muscat. Since I didn't trust those offline maps, I memorised the route to the hotel. I grew up in a time before Sat Navs and smartphones with flashy apps, so I am used to reading maps and memorising the way. Besides that, I worked as a taxi driver for quite a while and used paper maps before we installed one of the first Sat Navs on the market, which wasn't 100% reliable.
The following day, I arrived at the airport two hours before departure, as it is suggested, only to find out the boarding would start an hour before departure. That's quite early! I checked in rapidly as there was nobody waiting at the business class, first class, gold members, etc. counter. I made my way to the security checks and thanks to fast track, I was quickly through and done. I then walked to the lounge to eat something and not even half an hour later I had to go to the gate. There I saw why boarding started that early. We were driven to the plane by busses. The ride took several minutes and they wanted to make sure that take off would take place on time.
I looked at my boarding pass which said seat 10H and imagined one of those fat super duper airbuses with three seats on the sides and five in the centre and two long corridors and six exits, front, middle and rear. But would such a big plane fly the short distance from Athens to Cairo? Usually those big jets fly long haul. I had to smile when the bus stopped in front of a rather small plane. When we got on board, I had to smile again, because the first row had the number 8. Where are rows 1 - 7? Even the lettering was amusing. A and C on the right hand side, H and K on the left. The business class had only five rows and was a proper business class (photos below), not a wishy - washy one like the ones you get within Europe.
The service on this Egypt Air flight was excellent and the food delicious. Salmon, salad, pasta, an Egyptian dessert, humus, Arab bread, it all tasted great.
Not even one and a half hours later we landed in Cairo and I took out my mobile phone with the supposedly international data SIM in it. It worked perfectly fine in Greece when the vendor tested it and I tested it again later. Super fast mobile internet without any issues. Mobile was on, it took a few seconds to get a signal, then another few seconds for the LTE sign to appear, I clicked on the Mail symbol, it loaded for a second and it stopped working. I didn't have the time to wonder what the hell was going on, because two SMS arrived.
The first one read: You have just used all the free credit you had from the Bonus & Offers.
The second read: blah, blah, blah ... data roaming 10,67 Euro/MB. No wonder the connection stopped. The card had only 10 Euro credit, a single MB costs more. So I was right, the card was useless.
The plane rolled for ten or so minutes around the airport until we arrived in front of a building where it docked. Since I had no idea where the lounge was, I followed some business people who seemed to know their way. Once in the lounge, I was given access to the wifi, sat down on an armchair and took out my Chinese language books to do my homework and revise.
Some hours later, I had to walk to the gate, which was about 7 minutes away. There, the boarding pass was checked and all of us had to join a very long queue in front of the only security check. No fast lane this time. It was the usual procedure with the difference that we had to take off our shoes. Then we proceeded into the waiting hall and waited, and waited, and waited. Departure time was 9:55pm, but nothing happened. At 10pm, one member of security staff shouted something in Arabic and everyone stood up. I asked that man to kindly repeat that in English and he said that the gate had changed. This meant that we had to walk more than ten minutes to another terminal and wait in front of a locked door. Some members of staff appeared out of nowhere, unlocked the door and let us in. But we had to go through security check once again. This meant, empty your pockets, take off jackets, coats and shoes, take off computers and mobile devices from your bags and open them when asked to show that they work. This procedure took three quarters of an hour. About 11 pm some buses arrived and took us on a ten minute journey around the airport. Before we boarded the plane, I took a few moments to breath in the cool African air and look at the moon above the plane. Some young Arabs were making jokes, were teasing each other and took various selfies and they asked me to join them. They took photos with the bus in the background, then with the plane behind us and then some more on the staircase and at the door.
I got to my seat, this time 10K, window and not aisle, sat down and watched the people passing by. I closed my eyes after a while and opened them when we were rolling. A glance on my watch told me that it was 11:45pm, almost two hours delayed. The captain spoke over the system and announced a flight duration of 3:40 hours. When we arrived a certain height and the seatbelt sign was switched off, members of the crew came in and spoke to the couple sitting opposite me and asked for selfies. I saw the captain speaking to them before we took off and wondered who they might be, but I didn't ask.
I slept again and was awakened by the stewardess when she brought the meal. She placed a tray in front of me with a cold meal. Salad, bread, cheese, butter, some vegetables. A few minutes later she appeared with the main course: there was a choice between chicken, beef and shrimps.
I slept again after having dinner and opened my eyes some hours later and looked down to a fascinating landscape. There were seas of lights in the desert. It looked mysterious. Once I had the impression that we were flying over the Gulf and the lights below us belonged to ships. Not sure if we really flew over water. Everything looked magical, mesmerising.
It was 6am when we landed and it started to get light. Since there were no other planes landing, and since I was one of the first to leave the plane, I proceeded quickly towards the exit, but not without marvelling at the beauty of the airport. You can watch a YouTube video here. It is truly one of the most beautiful airports I have ever seen. There were no people at the passport and visa check and I was the first one to arrive. I was a bit worried that my visa would be declined, because I ordered it through an Indian agency and wasn't sure whether they were fraudsters or not. Their website makes you believe that you found the official site of Oman, but the small print at the bottom tells you that this is not the official website. I discovered this days after I had ordered and paid. Luckily, my visa was accepted and I was waved through after a minute. I saw my suitcase making rounds on the belt and was satisfied and happy that it was there and already there and didn't get lost on the way and that I didn't have to wait.
Directly opposite the belts is a duty free shop. I went in to ask for SIM cards and was amazed by the selection of alcoholic drinks. I had the impression that you could get alcohol in specific hotels and places for westerners. At least this is what I heard and read. The shop had no SIMs, but I was told that I would find one at the exit. Indeed, there are huge signs in the corridor leading to the exit that guide you to the desired SIM. There were two young men sitting on some chairs and told me that they were not open yet, but would open in 5 minutes. I read through the options and not even a minute later one of the young men asked me which one I want. I bought one, they installed it and set it up, I waited two minutes to see if it worked and indeed it did. I received an SMS with instructions and another one saying that it's all set up.
I tried various apps to see if it works well and if it is fast and when I fired up Facebook it reminded me that exactly five years ago, on 15 January 2013, I flew into an adventurous period of my life from Athens via Cairo to Riyadh. It was the same flight to Cairo and a night flight to Riyadh, because I arrived around 3am.
Then I walked over to the car hire counter, got my keys, signed the contract, was accompanied to the car park where another man was waiting with the car and I was finally on my way to the hotel. I had the route in my head, but fired up an online maps app to guide me.
I left the airport at 6:45am in broad daylight and made my way through the morning traffic. I switched on the radio and heard a British voice. Is there really a British station down here? Music was superb, house and dance and people called in or texted and some said that they would take part in the marathon on Friday. Paula Radcliffe will be here as well. There's a meet and greet scheduled and people can take photos with her.
It took about half an hour to get to the hotel. I parked the car at the car park in front of the building and looked a bit around me. I entered the lobby and realised that they must have photoshopped the photos (here is the official website, but you can find more photos on booking.com). The place looks not as flashy as in the photos. I chose it primarily because it's near the centre and because it has a pool and gym. The man at reception was very friendly and he explained the way to my room and to the restaurant. My room is spacious, it has a large wardrobe and a big bathroom. The room faces a rocky hill and doesn't face the busy main road. I went to have breakfast, even though I wasn't really hungry and then went to bed for a few hours.
Good night or day or whatever.
If you would like to read more by me, find me on Amazon by putting Theodore Goumas into the Amazon search bar. The following two should appear in English and German.
I didn't register until November, because I was torn between the full and the half marathon and wanted to race the Athenian, the Authentic, one in November and then decide. I registered for the half and here I am. Flight and hotel were quickly booked, I also bought the Lonely Planet Oman guidebook, applied for a visa online and hired a car to get to all the places I want to visit.
I was full of anticipation and couldn't wait for the day of departure. I have been wanting to come to Oman for many years, but never made it. Oman is considered as an insider tip, because most of the tourists choose to go to Dubai or even Qatar. I have been reading articles in magazines about Oman for many years and watched various documentaries about the Sultanate.
Emails from the organisers came in during the last few weeks and one of them stated the start: 6:30am!!! Not the usual 9 o'clock start. Will it be light at this early hour? The organisers justify the early start with the following sentence: to beat the heat.
One day before departure I went to a mobile phone shop near my house in Athens to ask for a data SIM card that works in Oman, or the region, or possibly the entire world. The vendor was positive and named three cards by Greek carriers, which made me ask suspiciously if the will work in Oman. The vendor said: Europe no problem, Arabia OK. 20 GB data for 10 Euro. Very good price, but I had my doubts and asked a few more times. The vendor insisted: Europe no problem, Arabia OK. Then he asked for my phone, installed the SIM, set it up and it worked. But I still had my doubts. Because of that, I downloaded some offline maps and guides of Oman and Muscat and wanted to try them out, but they wouldn't work outside Muscat. Since I didn't trust those offline maps, I memorised the route to the hotel. I grew up in a time before Sat Navs and smartphones with flashy apps, so I am used to reading maps and memorising the way. Besides that, I worked as a taxi driver for quite a while and used paper maps before we installed one of the first Sat Navs on the market, which wasn't 100% reliable.
The following day, I arrived at the airport two hours before departure, as it is suggested, only to find out the boarding would start an hour before departure. That's quite early! I checked in rapidly as there was nobody waiting at the business class, first class, gold members, etc. counter. I made my way to the security checks and thanks to fast track, I was quickly through and done. I then walked to the lounge to eat something and not even half an hour later I had to go to the gate. There I saw why boarding started that early. We were driven to the plane by busses. The ride took several minutes and they wanted to make sure that take off would take place on time.
I looked at my boarding pass which said seat 10H and imagined one of those fat super duper airbuses with three seats on the sides and five in the centre and two long corridors and six exits, front, middle and rear. But would such a big plane fly the short distance from Athens to Cairo? Usually those big jets fly long haul. I had to smile when the bus stopped in front of a rather small plane. When we got on board, I had to smile again, because the first row had the number 8. Where are rows 1 - 7? Even the lettering was amusing. A and C on the right hand side, H and K on the left. The business class had only five rows and was a proper business class (photos below), not a wishy - washy one like the ones you get within Europe.
The service on this Egypt Air flight was excellent and the food delicious. Salmon, salad, pasta, an Egyptian dessert, humus, Arab bread, it all tasted great.
Not even one and a half hours later we landed in Cairo and I took out my mobile phone with the supposedly international data SIM in it. It worked perfectly fine in Greece when the vendor tested it and I tested it again later. Super fast mobile internet without any issues. Mobile was on, it took a few seconds to get a signal, then another few seconds for the LTE sign to appear, I clicked on the Mail symbol, it loaded for a second and it stopped working. I didn't have the time to wonder what the hell was going on, because two SMS arrived.
The first one read: You have just used all the free credit you had from the Bonus & Offers.
The second read: blah, blah, blah ... data roaming 10,67 Euro/MB. No wonder the connection stopped. The card had only 10 Euro credit, a single MB costs more. So I was right, the card was useless.
The plane rolled for ten or so minutes around the airport until we arrived in front of a building where it docked. Since I had no idea where the lounge was, I followed some business people who seemed to know their way. Once in the lounge, I was given access to the wifi, sat down on an armchair and took out my Chinese language books to do my homework and revise.
Some hours later, I had to walk to the gate, which was about 7 minutes away. There, the boarding pass was checked and all of us had to join a very long queue in front of the only security check. No fast lane this time. It was the usual procedure with the difference that we had to take off our shoes. Then we proceeded into the waiting hall and waited, and waited, and waited. Departure time was 9:55pm, but nothing happened. At 10pm, one member of security staff shouted something in Arabic and everyone stood up. I asked that man to kindly repeat that in English and he said that the gate had changed. This meant that we had to walk more than ten minutes to another terminal and wait in front of a locked door. Some members of staff appeared out of nowhere, unlocked the door and let us in. But we had to go through security check once again. This meant, empty your pockets, take off jackets, coats and shoes, take off computers and mobile devices from your bags and open them when asked to show that they work. This procedure took three quarters of an hour. About 11 pm some buses arrived and took us on a ten minute journey around the airport. Before we boarded the plane, I took a few moments to breath in the cool African air and look at the moon above the plane. Some young Arabs were making jokes, were teasing each other and took various selfies and they asked me to join them. They took photos with the bus in the background, then with the plane behind us and then some more on the staircase and at the door.
I got to my seat, this time 10K, window and not aisle, sat down and watched the people passing by. I closed my eyes after a while and opened them when we were rolling. A glance on my watch told me that it was 11:45pm, almost two hours delayed. The captain spoke over the system and announced a flight duration of 3:40 hours. When we arrived a certain height and the seatbelt sign was switched off, members of the crew came in and spoke to the couple sitting opposite me and asked for selfies. I saw the captain speaking to them before we took off and wondered who they might be, but I didn't ask.
I slept again and was awakened by the stewardess when she brought the meal. She placed a tray in front of me with a cold meal. Salad, bread, cheese, butter, some vegetables. A few minutes later she appeared with the main course: there was a choice between chicken, beef and shrimps.
I slept again after having dinner and opened my eyes some hours later and looked down to a fascinating landscape. There were seas of lights in the desert. It looked mysterious. Once I had the impression that we were flying over the Gulf and the lights below us belonged to ships. Not sure if we really flew over water. Everything looked magical, mesmerising.
It was 6am when we landed and it started to get light. Since there were no other planes landing, and since I was one of the first to leave the plane, I proceeded quickly towards the exit, but not without marvelling at the beauty of the airport. You can watch a YouTube video here. It is truly one of the most beautiful airports I have ever seen. There were no people at the passport and visa check and I was the first one to arrive. I was a bit worried that my visa would be declined, because I ordered it through an Indian agency and wasn't sure whether they were fraudsters or not. Their website makes you believe that you found the official site of Oman, but the small print at the bottom tells you that this is not the official website. I discovered this days after I had ordered and paid. Luckily, my visa was accepted and I was waved through after a minute. I saw my suitcase making rounds on the belt and was satisfied and happy that it was there and already there and didn't get lost on the way and that I didn't have to wait.
Directly opposite the belts is a duty free shop. I went in to ask for SIM cards and was amazed by the selection of alcoholic drinks. I had the impression that you could get alcohol in specific hotels and places for westerners. At least this is what I heard and read. The shop had no SIMs, but I was told that I would find one at the exit. Indeed, there are huge signs in the corridor leading to the exit that guide you to the desired SIM. There were two young men sitting on some chairs and told me that they were not open yet, but would open in 5 minutes. I read through the options and not even a minute later one of the young men asked me which one I want. I bought one, they installed it and set it up, I waited two minutes to see if it worked and indeed it did. I received an SMS with instructions and another one saying that it's all set up.
I tried various apps to see if it works well and if it is fast and when I fired up Facebook it reminded me that exactly five years ago, on 15 January 2013, I flew into an adventurous period of my life from Athens via Cairo to Riyadh. It was the same flight to Cairo and a night flight to Riyadh, because I arrived around 3am.
Then I walked over to the car hire counter, got my keys, signed the contract, was accompanied to the car park where another man was waiting with the car and I was finally on my way to the hotel. I had the route in my head, but fired up an online maps app to guide me.
I left the airport at 6:45am in broad daylight and made my way through the morning traffic. I switched on the radio and heard a British voice. Is there really a British station down here? Music was superb, house and dance and people called in or texted and some said that they would take part in the marathon on Friday. Paula Radcliffe will be here as well. There's a meet and greet scheduled and people can take photos with her.
It took about half an hour to get to the hotel. I parked the car at the car park in front of the building and looked a bit around me. I entered the lobby and realised that they must have photoshopped the photos (here is the official website, but you can find more photos on booking.com). The place looks not as flashy as in the photos. I chose it primarily because it's near the centre and because it has a pool and gym. The man at reception was very friendly and he explained the way to my room and to the restaurant. My room is spacious, it has a large wardrobe and a big bathroom. The room faces a rocky hill and doesn't face the busy main road. I went to have breakfast, even though I wasn't really hungry and then went to bed for a few hours.
Good night or day or whatever.
Egypt Air business class
Me, a wannabe businessman
My spacious room
This is a connecting door to the next room. Quite common in this part of the world.
Wardrobe with mirror
Bathroom
If you would like to read more by me, find me on Amazon by putting Theodore Goumas into the Amazon search bar. The following two should appear in English and German.
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