Maria’s view
Sadly, the departure time had come and we had to leave the most beautiful hotel I had ever been to, so I spent the last hours soaking in the room’s pool just staring at the view and thinking two things, one, thinking how lucky I was for having the opportunity of being there and two, promising not to ever forget that view.
The check out was fantastic, we were almost crying at this point but once more, the staff were great, so professional, attentive, they go the extra mile and further. Thank you all for making our stay unique and unforgettable.
So, we were on the road again, leaving behind a bunch of great memories. We were driving through Oman and although the flight was on the same day, our aim was to reach Dubai before sunset, so Alex, who visited Dubai few times before, would drive through the city to show me the main spots.
Once again, the heat, Arab music playing on the radio, peaceful scenery and I fell asleep until I woke up asking for a toilet. I looked around, we were on a road without many options as there weren’t any buildings, everything was desert and surprisingly, ta-da!! we found a petrol station, just hoping it had a toilet, yes!! is the door open? yes!! we felt so lucky when our hopes of finding a toilet in the middle of nowhere were gone.
So, I took a tissue and went in there.
Oooh Geeeezzz!! Look, I have been in a few not great situations in terms of toilets, i.e. I have used latrines, holes in the ground and portable toilets, and at the time I entered in that “toilet” I would have paid for having one of the other ones which I already used in the past.
The “toilet”, let’s call it like this because it is true there was a toilet, although it was the most disgusting little room I have ever been, it reminded me these jails in movies with very dirty and nasty shared toilets. So, trying to not touch anything as if Covid-19 was there, my visit was super quick. When I left, I warned Alex that it wasn’t the cleanest place on earth but you could still use it to save the situation.
Then, we continued our trip, Alex and I were just chatting, at some point we mentioned that we were feeling peckish and no more than 10 minutes later, Alex suddenly shouted “SWEET SHOP!!!” she sharply turned on the right (Alex’s reflexes are undoubtedly great) and while my brain was still processing the information “Sweet shop”, we were already parked in front of a beautiful shop, this was the icing on the cake to say good bye to Oman with a big smile on our faces. The shop was full of beautiful sweets treats, thank God they only accepted cash and we had only few Rials left, because otherwise we would have carried half of the shop with us. What a joy those sweets were, truly delicious, full of sugar, nuts, honey…
The sweet shop is called “Al Haneen” and the shop assistants were very kind, they even gave us a discount as we didn’t have enough coins to complete our purchase. Shukran!!
After we went through a couple of borders, another unique experience, I reaffirm that Omanies are much nicer than Emiratis.
We arrived in Dubai just before the sunset, mission accomplished thanks to my amazing driver Alex. Wait! did I mention that Alex has a GPS put in her brain in some secret mission? because she was able to drive through Dubai exactly from one spot to another, then she parked exactly when she knew she would be able to and drove us straight to the airport U-N-B-E-L-I-V-E-A-B-L-E!! I am still thinking how she managed to do that only because she has been there before a couple of times…really??.
Dubai is Dubai, I mean, I am not a big fan of prefabricated cities where the contrast of rich-poor people is huge. We were arriving when people just finished work, mainly immigrants waiting for a bus to get home in the outskirts of the city, leaving behind all the luxury, that wasn’t for them.
We managed to take a quick picture of the Burj Al Arab, although the humidity was tremendous. Then, we saw the incredible fountain show with lights and music in front of the majestic Burj Khalifa, incredible building. I think I have still pain in my neck from trying to find the top of it.
And then, in front of one of the tallest buildings in the world, I was feeling very grateful. What a great holiday we have just had. Time to go home and share the memories with our beloved ones.
Where the next adventure will be??
Alex’s view
So the last day in the Middle East had arrived. We have a breakfast, a pool side lunch and a trip to Dubai with time for a quick tour, as Maria had never been. I woke up Maria early again. Not only did she have the usual issues with separation anxiety from her bed and a lack of willingness to acknowledge mornings exist… but in addition to her usual “challenges”, there was the incremental vociferous lamentations triggered by the bruising and aches. These were a gift from her request of a “very hard massage” the day before. The masseuse was absolutely wrecked, so I can only imagine the associated pain which was inflicted to Maria. Notwithstanding, with the use of a crane and sound effects of “ouch,” “aia” (the Spanish equivalent of ouch), “hmmm aaaaaa,” we eventually reached breakfast and Maria spent the rest of the morning floating in the room’s pool.
You might, at this point, wonder why I have yet to speak of Maria getting a sunburn, you might think she didn’t. Perhaps you are thinking that Spanish national stereotypically, have an olive skin tone which makes them better able to withstand the sun. No. You would be wrong. You should also know better by now, surely! Maria slathers herself in factor 50 as she burns to a crisp the moment she is exposed to sunshine. So where did Maria get burnt on her last day… take a wild guess as I am confident you will never guess correctly. She burnt underneath her big toe. Under the toe. Under it. Not on top… no. Under the big toe. So walking through airports, between gates, etc, must have been a delight for her, the sound effects were not.
Prior to departure we decided to reward the strenuous morning exercise of packing and pool lounging, by ordering a healthy salad. I am not exaggerating when I tell you this was the most astoundingly delicious salad I have ever had. I honestly cannot ascertain what made it so, but it was amazing. Prawns, avocado and other deliciousness.
Departing was really a struggle, but the staff gave us amazing gifts (rose oil, frankincense burners, a little scroll) and a framed photo each of Maria and I at the hotel. We almost wept on departure. I won’t lie. After prying my deeply embedded nails, from the hotel lobby, we departed. We left, gone, au revoir, goodbye. Anyway…. we left the green mountains behind and decided upon a different route back to Dubai. We chose to go inland, nestled between the mountains and the desert. Maria slept most of the way, save for two events: the first a somewhat eventful toilet pit stop, and the other when I elected to essentially perform a hand break turn as I had detected with the corner of my eye a sweet shop! Perfect present purchasing location.
The trip continued with 5 hours of relentless teasing of the senses – the smell of sweets in the back, the eye gladdening mountain scenery, and a soundtrack of Maria snoozing, until…. we hit the excitement of border control. Border control did not precisely go as planned. We somehow became trapped between the two borders and found ourselves walking from one border to the other trying to find the office where we could acquire a “stamp”. This was not a tourist border, so there was less friendliness on behalf of the Emiratis, who simply told us… “Get a stamp. Leave the car.” To our question of “where?” we received a raised hand pointing ominously to the entirety of Oman and a myriad of buildings between. It took a while and most shockingly, absolutely no one stopped us, as we were randomly and repetitively walked between checkpoints and entered deserted office buildings. We clocked 10000 steps trying to cross the blasted border.
I knew Maria had not been to Dubai and I wanted her to have a flavour, so we drove to the Burj al Arab in time for Sunset (albeit a little later than planned due to the aforementioned border control issues), followed by Dinner at the foot of the Burj Kalia… navigating was entirely done by memory due to the battery, data and every other utensil we had at our disposal dying on us . You won’t be surprised to note that Maria thought it was some sort of magic trick. I confess, I am a witch.
As we absorbed the last of the sunset and the warmth (ok, it was steaming), we watched the Burj Kalifa tower over us and were cooled by the dancing fountains. We could not help contrast the peace of Nizwa with the hectic consumerism of Dubai. We yearned to be back on the clifftop, surrounded by peace, nature and room service.
What an amazing adventure this had been, “home” awaited us and many more adventures would follow……
The world’s best salad 
Salad with a view 
Burj al Arab – Dubai 
Escape Lane – to escape Maria? 
Uniquely the best sweets in the world 
Escape Ramp for the mountain road in Oman 
Dubai Mall
The Lockdown Travel Guide 
Brilliant blog, loved reading it❤
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I’m really impressed with the toilet’s problem. I have some experience in Middle East Countries as well as thrughout Europe and I fully understand your drama and sympathize with you. .
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