Fantastic Voyage
Being a goalie and air travel don’t always mix well but my flight over to Oman was quite painless thanks to my friend Marko W. who hooked me up with Elite status for Air Canada . This means dealing with the priority desk to check in which is like a walk in the park. When dealing with the “normal” customer service desk you would have to probably pay for extra weight, or pack an extra bag to pull out to carry on so you can make weight . If you register your equipment in advance you get your stick bag and your goalie bag = 1 bag so you travel with a backpack full of clothes . Last night I did not have to deal with any of those issues . My bag is always overweight and the priority desk didn’t even bat an eyelash when they saw the weight . Not even a peep ….. this is a perfect day for me .
First flight was to Frankfurt, Germany which seemed quite long . Didn’t get any sleep on that flight and watched a couple flicks Top Gun 2 and Bullet Train were both entertaining and it’s good I didn’t sleep as it’s time to start adjusting to the 9 hour time difference between Toronto and Muscat . The sky train at Frankfurt is not working so we had to shuttle between terminals which seemed alright but took a bit longer . When we arrived it was around 6 AM German time and it was not very busy, but we still didn’t find or make the time to grab a schnitzel and a Bier :) that’s alright though ….
The next flight was with Oman Air and both were booked through Lufthansa which is a Star Alliance member which means I still have priority membership , YAY ! Both our flights we had booked the aisle and window seats in the hopes that nobody would pick a seat between us which sometimes doesn’t work and you could imagine the anxiety I had praying that the next giant dude didn’t come sit between me and Kathleen. She wanted to pay for the seats but I’m ghetto and opted for this plan, so you could imagine that I’d never hear the end of it if giant dude sat between us. Lucky for me on both flights the plan worked like a charm. Once the plane departed so did my tiredness as I dozed off and woke up with Kathleen lying across our row . We both had a good nap which is good because once we arrive we have to stay up and start the adjustment.
When we arrived in Oman the airport was quiet and not busy , it was around 7:30 pm and it was dark out and the one thing we noticed was …. No more snow :) yeah it snowed in Toronto the last few days and I love the snow, but I love bragging to my friends back home about being in the heat while they are all freezing hahaha ! Hit up the first ATM machine and grabbed some loot for the taxi . The Omani Riyal is almost $3.50 CDN for 1 Riyal so it’s not going to be a cheap trip. Taxi was roughly 15 riyals ($45) which is standard and we are staying at a high end hotel (IHG Intercontinental). Check in was easy and there is an Irish pub in the hotel so what better way then to battle jet lag then having a few bevs …. I don’t even want to look at my credit card because I’m sure I spent loads of cash enjoying beers . Once the beer settled we hit up one of the restaurants here called Trader Vic’s and that place was hopping ! Live Latin band playing salsa music with people dancing everywhere drinking beautiful cocktails and smoking, it seems that everyone smokes here but that’s just an exaggerated observation on my part . My steak was amazing and the two cocktails I had were delicious but it was still early (ish) so we hit up the local shisha place to have a smoke also . Now I don’t smoke shisha at home but when in Rome :) you know the saying …. So we ended our night hanging out with one of the local felines purring away in our laps as we sat beside the sea smoking shisha which was like a dream then we popped in for one last pint before calling it a night …. That was at 3 am local time . I think jet lag won’t be a problem after that .
Now I don’t want you all to be jealous or anything, but I do hope this makes you and any other hockey player go out to travel and play hockey or whatever sport you love . Travelling for sport is the ultimate experience and this trip is just beginning . It’s time for me to hit the gym then jump in the pool here . I’m sure my credit card company will be happier then I am :)
Make it stand out
@thetravellinggoalie enjoying a shisha in Muscat, Oman
“COURTESY BEGINS IN THE HOME”