i booked a bit of a ridiculous itinerary checking out of my airbnb 9/8 1pm istanbul time and arriving to my airbnb in hong kong 9/10 7pm.
this involved a lie flat oman air a330 IST-MCT 5h in biz, 14.5h layover, MCT-BKK oman air first 6h, 7.5 hour layover, BKK-HKG emirates first 3h trip. i didn't give too much thought to the logistics of sleeping, just now kind of caught up in HKG.
oman air IST-MCT-BKK was 80k aeroplan miles, although as noted in the istanbul thread no longer available as the are ending their special relationship with air canada and joining oneworld alliance next year.
the IGA lounge at IST is accessible by priority pass via credit cards (amex plat, chase sapphire reserve) and via non-turkish or non-star alliance business class. i've been to IST 3 times and i think flown through at least 3 more, but i've done it purposefully on turkish, which also has an awesome lounge there. this lounge was meh ok, pales in comparison though. esp the food. cool view though.
i purposefully chose both oman air and this particular flight to get a lie flat seat, as everything else is pretty much not a lie flat. it should have been on an a330, i was suprised that the one out actually had a first class in it (i don't think it rarely flies that or they even sell it) - unfortunately my plane got swapped with a 737. 2-2 business and the seat was basically the same as US domestic.
chicken machboos
i tried to get some sleep on the plane but it was reall quite uncomfortable for it so did not get much at all, unfortunately. this sucked because the a330 has apex suites which just have an amazing amount of room, like i'm easily super comfortable at 6'2" in that space. as far as i know the are the biggest beds on a plane without going into the hey bruh we actually got you a bed territory.
flying in to muscat, they have regulations to not have tall buildings so they keep the character of the city.
i had access to the first class lounge this time, vs. the business class lounge that i went through in the istanbul thread. i also used priority pass to explore the other lounge here, which actually seemed like it might have a legit bedroom, but i didn't see it and just browsed around. no pics, seemed fairly nice, but little reason (maybe bed) to hang out there vs. the first class lounge.
apparently i could have just walked out of the airport when i landed, but once i went through transfer desk security it meant that some paperwork had to be filled out, background check or something with the police, etc. really i don't understand why this is. i also tried online/their visa help email beforehand and got mixed info, like couldn't really apply for the visa i wanted to (free airport transit visa) - which i didn't actually need to get. it's hot in muscat, i planned on going to the mosque first (because you have to wear pants), so i was leaning towards just skipping breakfast but the called the chef out and he convinced me to have a quick breakfast. i mentioned i was trying to beat the heat, just looking for something quick, i said an omelette and i'd just go off for a quick change... i don't think the know how to fuss over you there though and i ended up having this all to myself.
i felt bad because i didn't touch the bread, and i ate like 5 nuts. omelette was good. i interacted with 7 different people overall in this lounge - usually there was only 1 with me though. the had to open it for me and there were only 3 people that used it all day. i was told they have 2-3 people each day, usually locals. part of this is oman air barely even flies anywhere with a first class cabin. apparently a lot of the people in here are even just from a local flight to salalah in oman just an hour away. the other 2 this day were 2 women heading to london, who came in and just did a tea service basically. meanwhile i used a whole lot more of this lounge...
while i ate, one of the staff was doing the paperwork so i could leave. not having them available to do it i'm sure it would have taken me at least an hour to do the logistics, the guy was able to go straight to the police, into offices and get stuff handled, etc. the cops were also worried how much money i had with my (fairly short) planned itinerary, given that the taxis only took cash and i started out with 27 omani real (which definitely wasn't enough) and given that taxis were known to hose customers. i ended up leaving with 57, making out of the airport at 8:05 into a sunny 89f morning. although i was also yawning and fairly tired at this point.
grabbed a taxi and headed to the sultan qaboos grand mosque. this is a fairly modern one, it rivals the one from abu dhabi i posted a video of in the istanbul thread too. i believe this one had the largest chandelier in the world until the one in abu dhabi was built.
it was sunny and hot outside so i was quite pleased to find it was air conditioned. here's the main domed area.
i was worried about needing a cab leaving, but my taxi said he'd wait for me. when i was leaving another guy approached me so it looked like it wouldn't have been a problem. i got in my taxi and the meter had not moved much so this seemed fine to me. we went to the mutrah souq, i took video but no pics. it was in the morning so some places still setting up shop although it was like 9am when we got there. i was surprised how cool it was, the sun was blocked over much of it and i think it was a mixture of a/c spilling out shops and them doing some kind of outdoor cooling for the halls as well. i wasn't really in the shopping for tchotchkes mood so just perused. i saw some cats including some babies, unfortunately they didn't seem as well taken care of as istanbul, all were reasonably slim but the kittens in particular look quite skinny.
my taxi did some shopping himself, when we got back in the car the meter was the same. he suggested we go see the palace too as it was not much further. you could only take pics from outside of it though. i got out and snapped some shots of it and some kind of defensive walls as well.
got back in the car and the meter was no longer showing. i didn't ask the guy what was up and figured based on the trip thus far it would cost 35-40 real. we got back to the airport and he asked for... 40 real. maybe it was 35 but in the end he was decent to talk to and made things convenient for me, so 40 was all good. i would have fought him for anything over 45 arbitrarily in my head. the staff told me they have heard for people ask for up to 100! ($260 USD)
back in the lounge i tried sampling a bunch of booze. they either didn't have the glenmorangie 25 or it simply was not out on display? i didn't ask about it, although maybe i should have. the reality is i prefer beer when i drink, and i have also rarely drank, and have all but stopped at this point. i had a beer in turkey. i am not sure how man other beers i have even had in 2023. it's 0-2. anyway this is what i did have.
i was surprised that the 2 didn't eat anything here, i mean ya get to eat on the plane too but i'm coming to this lounge early if i'm them to eat too. anyway i got a smoked salmon and kingfish starter, the chef also recommended the cream of tomato soup (which was really good), and for a main i had king prawns machboos. for desert i had cheesecake... then some ice cream too.
after this i got a massage, you get a free 15 minute one. i forgot the price but it wasn't too bad to do another 15 minutes so i did that too and added a tip. really i could have kept going (and i probably should but never get these in thailand, which is maybe kinda dumb as they are quite affordable...) but i resisted and decided to sleep instead. took a shower in fancy gilded looking bathroom then went to the same sleeping rooms as in the istanbul thread. first class has some but they are not as nice to actually sleep in. there was a time limit in biz that they let me exceed on the way out to istanbul since it was super late and the lounge wasn't that busy, this was in the middle of the day though and they didn't seem to mind however long i stayed in. so i got as much sleep as i could then got up to try the salmon before the plane.
789 with closable suites in first, although i guess i'll save those for another thread MCT-BKK-HKG. i kinda screwed up the BKK-HKG emirates flight as it was my first time on one, they left late so flew faster to try and make it up, and i didn't realize how quickly it would go. didn't realize i needed to ask for the caviar (which was fine i had it on this flight and was kinda firsted out) but i wanted to try the shower and the bar and tried neither. mistakes i shall rectify on the return trip, in part by avoiding watching a movie. anyway here's the cabin MCT-BKK i'll make another thread on getting to hong kong from here though.
this involved a lie flat oman air a330 IST-MCT 5h in biz, 14.5h layover, MCT-BKK oman air first 6h, 7.5 hour layover, BKK-HKG emirates first 3h trip. i didn't give too much thought to the logistics of sleeping, just now kind of caught up in HKG.
oman air IST-MCT-BKK was 80k aeroplan miles, although as noted in the istanbul thread no longer available as the are ending their special relationship with air canada and joining oneworld alliance next year.
the IGA lounge at IST is accessible by priority pass via credit cards (amex plat, chase sapphire reserve) and via non-turkish or non-star alliance business class. i've been to IST 3 times and i think flown through at least 3 more, but i've done it purposefully on turkish, which also has an awesome lounge there. this lounge was meh ok, pales in comparison though. esp the food. cool view though.
i purposefully chose both oman air and this particular flight to get a lie flat seat, as everything else is pretty much not a lie flat. it should have been on an a330, i was suprised that the one out actually had a first class in it (i don't think it rarely flies that or they even sell it) - unfortunately my plane got swapped with a 737. 2-2 business and the seat was basically the same as US domestic.
chicken machboos
i tried to get some sleep on the plane but it was reall quite uncomfortable for it so did not get much at all, unfortunately. this sucked because the a330 has apex suites which just have an amazing amount of room, like i'm easily super comfortable at 6'2" in that space. as far as i know the are the biggest beds on a plane without going into the hey bruh we actually got you a bed territory.
flying in to muscat, they have regulations to not have tall buildings so they keep the character of the city.
i had access to the first class lounge this time, vs. the business class lounge that i went through in the istanbul thread. i also used priority pass to explore the other lounge here, which actually seemed like it might have a legit bedroom, but i didn't see it and just browsed around. no pics, seemed fairly nice, but little reason (maybe bed) to hang out there vs. the first class lounge.
apparently i could have just walked out of the airport when i landed, but once i went through transfer desk security it meant that some paperwork had to be filled out, background check or something with the police, etc. really i don't understand why this is. i also tried online/their visa help email beforehand and got mixed info, like couldn't really apply for the visa i wanted to (free airport transit visa) - which i didn't actually need to get. it's hot in muscat, i planned on going to the mosque first (because you have to wear pants), so i was leaning towards just skipping breakfast but the called the chef out and he convinced me to have a quick breakfast. i mentioned i was trying to beat the heat, just looking for something quick, i said an omelette and i'd just go off for a quick change... i don't think the know how to fuss over you there though and i ended up having this all to myself.
i felt bad because i didn't touch the bread, and i ate like 5 nuts. omelette was good. i interacted with 7 different people overall in this lounge - usually there was only 1 with me though. the had to open it for me and there were only 3 people that used it all day. i was told they have 2-3 people each day, usually locals. part of this is oman air barely even flies anywhere with a first class cabin. apparently a lot of the people in here are even just from a local flight to salalah in oman just an hour away. the other 2 this day were 2 women heading to london, who came in and just did a tea service basically. meanwhile i used a whole lot more of this lounge...
while i ate, one of the staff was doing the paperwork so i could leave. not having them available to do it i'm sure it would have taken me at least an hour to do the logistics, the guy was able to go straight to the police, into offices and get stuff handled, etc. the cops were also worried how much money i had with my (fairly short) planned itinerary, given that the taxis only took cash and i started out with 27 omani real (which definitely wasn't enough) and given that taxis were known to hose customers. i ended up leaving with 57, making out of the airport at 8:05 into a sunny 89f morning. although i was also yawning and fairly tired at this point.
grabbed a taxi and headed to the sultan qaboos grand mosque. this is a fairly modern one, it rivals the one from abu dhabi i posted a video of in the istanbul thread too. i believe this one had the largest chandelier in the world until the one in abu dhabi was built.
it was sunny and hot outside so i was quite pleased to find it was air conditioned. here's the main domed area.
i was worried about needing a cab leaving, but my taxi said he'd wait for me. when i was leaving another guy approached me so it looked like it wouldn't have been a problem. i got in my taxi and the meter had not moved much so this seemed fine to me. we went to the mutrah souq, i took video but no pics. it was in the morning so some places still setting up shop although it was like 9am when we got there. i was surprised how cool it was, the sun was blocked over much of it and i think it was a mixture of a/c spilling out shops and them doing some kind of outdoor cooling for the halls as well. i wasn't really in the shopping for tchotchkes mood so just perused. i saw some cats including some babies, unfortunately they didn't seem as well taken care of as istanbul, all were reasonably slim but the kittens in particular look quite skinny.
my taxi did some shopping himself, when we got back in the car the meter was the same. he suggested we go see the palace too as it was not much further. you could only take pics from outside of it though. i got out and snapped some shots of it and some kind of defensive walls as well.
got back in the car and the meter was no longer showing. i didn't ask the guy what was up and figured based on the trip thus far it would cost 35-40 real. we got back to the airport and he asked for... 40 real. maybe it was 35 but in the end he was decent to talk to and made things convenient for me, so 40 was all good. i would have fought him for anything over 45 arbitrarily in my head. the staff told me they have heard for people ask for up to 100! ($260 USD)
back in the lounge i tried sampling a bunch of booze. they either didn't have the glenmorangie 25 or it simply was not out on display? i didn't ask about it, although maybe i should have. the reality is i prefer beer when i drink, and i have also rarely drank, and have all but stopped at this point. i had a beer in turkey. i am not sure how man other beers i have even had in 2023. it's 0-2. anyway this is what i did have.
i was surprised that the 2 didn't eat anything here, i mean ya get to eat on the plane too but i'm coming to this lounge early if i'm them to eat too. anyway i got a smoked salmon and kingfish starter, the chef also recommended the cream of tomato soup (which was really good), and for a main i had king prawns machboos. for desert i had cheesecake... then some ice cream too.
after this i got a massage, you get a free 15 minute one. i forgot the price but it wasn't too bad to do another 15 minutes so i did that too and added a tip. really i could have kept going (and i probably should but never get these in thailand, which is maybe kinda dumb as they are quite affordable...) but i resisted and decided to sleep instead. took a shower in fancy gilded looking bathroom then went to the same sleeping rooms as in the istanbul thread. first class has some but they are not as nice to actually sleep in. there was a time limit in biz that they let me exceed on the way out to istanbul since it was super late and the lounge wasn't that busy, this was in the middle of the day though and they didn't seem to mind however long i stayed in. so i got as much sleep as i could then got up to try the salmon before the plane.
789 with closable suites in first, although i guess i'll save those for another thread MCT-BKK-HKG. i kinda screwed up the BKK-HKG emirates flight as it was my first time on one, they left late so flew faster to try and make it up, and i didn't realize how quickly it would go. didn't realize i needed to ask for the caviar (which was fine i had it on this flight and was kinda firsted out) but i wanted to try the shower and the bar and tried neither. mistakes i shall rectify on the return trip, in part by avoiding watching a movie. anyway here's the cabin MCT-BKK i'll make another thread on getting to hong kong from here though.
