10 - Billy’s BroMoon - Oman & Dubai
Billy & Joe take on the Arabian Gulf
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Joe takes Billy on his “BroMoon”! What’s a BroMoon, you might ask? Might be first first to coin the term:
BroMoon: noun, A post-honeymoon trip with your old pal. A guys get-away, filled with bromance, exploration, and no showering for a week. If the point of a honeymoon is to spend intimate time to relax and cherish the new married life, the BroMoon is designed to ponder questions like “Damn I can’t believe I just got married” and embark on a man-y-man adventure. Looks like BuddyMoon is a an actual comedy movie, with fortunately, not the same plot line as our trip.
In a to-the-nines celebration, Billy & Jackie wed this fall. Just weeks after their Italy honeymoon, Billy took FOUR flights (yes four, full story below) from Buffalo to the Middle East for an absolute adventure with his long time high school “buddy”, as Billy calls everyone. In a trip to Oman & Dubai that was a world of difference from sipping wine on the Italian coast with his lovely new wife Jackie, we spent a week car camping in the beautiful country of Oman, finished with a couple days capping things off in Dubai (Oman is a dry country so we were limited to the few beers we could pick up at Duty Free, where Dubai was a different story.)
Excited to write a few stories from us touring the stunning, friendly, peaceful and neutral country of Oman that exists in such a chaotic part of the world.
So where is Oman?
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| Situated on the SE corner of the Arabian Peninsula (The Gulf) |
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| Hey Mom, look where I am! |
Along with sharing photos of our trip, a couple main themes come to mind when writing this post. ① Raving about Oman’s culture, landscape & people which made for an unforgettable escapade, (2) the planning process - because our original plan was Jordan & Israel. So if you think it was still bold to head to the Middle East during this time, keep reading, ⓷ sharing our flawless one week Oman itinerary. If you ever find yourself wanting to adventure in an welcoming, off the beaten path Arab country Oman is your place.
But first, a few photos of funniest moments and highlights:
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| Anyone not su rprised Billy bought this as a souvenir our first day? Fortunately, not cultural appropriation (so we were told). Ask Billy how many times he got called “one of us” or “do I know you from somewhere?” from fellow Omanis, meanwhile he’d walk behind me and laugh at all the stares and head-turns my blonde hair and barbaric beard from locals, one day called “Thor” and the next “castaway”🤣 |
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| Typical camp setup. Oman has a law where legally you are allowed to camp nearly anywhere. |
Outside the Grand Mosque in the capital of Muscat. “Billy pose” | | |
| Stunning shot Billy took during our desert crossing (which we did in a knock off Chinese BMW car made by Haval, while the rest of the crew had proper trekking vehicles) |
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| Chess, anytime, everywhere. Billy talks a lot so it was our quiet time (although he would counter saying next time I need to play with a timer). If you scroll to the very bottom, we took a TON of chess photos in hilarious locations. |
I mentioned hospitality: the Omanis are incredibly welcoming to outsiders. Their peaceful nation is home to the friendliest locals I’ve ever met traveling. We quickly found everyone we encountered was as equally curious as us as we were of them. They were not only hospitable, but incredible generous. Billy and I had multiple meals with locals we met, who were purely interested to show us their culture, even temporarily crippling Billy by making him sit cross-cross apple sauce on the ground while enjoying local cuisine (again, anyone that knows Billy, knows that the guy can’t even cross his legs while sitting). We also learned that it’s against their culture to be angry, which for me was a great reminder on the road as we were incessantly tailgated and would regularly cruise over unmarked speed bumps at 30+ mph.
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| Camel kebab dinner with Mahmood |
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| Ahmed treating us to lunch. No joke Billy stood up, moaned and started limping to the toilet |
Speaking of itinerary diversity, during our quick week tour of Oman - driving 800 miles in the northern corner of the country - we got a taste of it all. We explored countless mosques, markets & forts. We hiked in Oman’s Grand Canyon while camping cliffside in the mountains. After our first night of a “prison meal” of camp stove rice and beans, we dove into the local cuisine - which is mostly derivatives of Indian food. Our favorite day, we drove 150 miles across the endless dunes of the desert, stoping to camp in the vast emptiness under the stars. We played soccer with locals on the beach, went canyoning in the Wadi rivers, and enjoyed evening chess with our remote beachside campsite. And for a $30 flight to Dubai, why not spend 48 hours partying at the beach, hit the Atlantis water slides and enjoy our final beers under the Burg Khalifa!
A brief background on the country of Oman (skip this part if you just want to read more and laugh about Billy & Joe’s trip)
The small nation on the eastern end of the Gulf is approximately the size of Nevada or New Mexico. It’s governed by a hereditary monarchy, with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq having absolute rule over the nation of 4.5 million.
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| Look up! Photos of the Sultan are EVERYWHERE |
Oman grew as a prosperous trading port, mainly of frankincense and spices from India. It was occupied (but not fully colonized) by the Portuguese from 1500-1650 and then the British. It’s known as one of the earliest areas to adopt Islam. 90% of its population are Ibadi Muslims, which is a branch of Islam unique to Oman. The remaining population, which we noticed was generally less affluent and the only ones who worked in the service industry, are Hindi Indians. Although it certainly has oil, and 20% of the world’s oil flows through its Persian Gulf, it’s not as oil rich as the rest of the gulf; its economy is struggling to diversify away from oil. The stat we learned that best embodies its modest economy is that half of the population works in the public sector for average wages of 25-35k per year! Mahmood told us this fact, being incredibly open about the status-quo and his salary. Fuel is subsided for the locals and the government seriously looks after its people — there are no homeless and children are guaranteed free education & healthcare
An noticeable distinction of Oman versus it’s Saudi & Emiratis neighbors is that it doesn’t portray the same ostentatious display of wealth. To add, it’s people are highly educated, globally informed and relatively progressive… comparatively. We were told Omani women in particular feel incredibly respected (although unsurprisingly, only a few spoke to us) are encouraged to study and pursue degrees in higher education —which ofcourse is not a right in other Arab nations.
Muscat and much of Oman is filled with white-wash marble architecture, from the mosques, to the forts, palaces and castles. After just a few hours in Muscat, Billy and I were in awe of how clean and modern everything looked. Things made sense when we learned that much of Oman’s growth has taken place in the last 50 years, after the previous Sultan cooed his father in the 1970s and set Oman on a path of prosperity and made it his mission to modernize the country. In a short time, Oman has become well-developed, with a stable economy and great future. We were thrilled to be in such a special place.
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| Nizwa Fort |
It’s tourism infrastructure is certainly still developing, as there not a ton of amenities, info, or museums. This made our trip even more of an adventure, scrolling websites for things to do and finding camping spots on obscure apps and by talking to locals.
Theme 2: Planning & Selecting Oman
This story stands out because two weeks prior to our trip, Oman was on neither of our radars. Our original plan was Jordan & Israel; by now I’m sure you can piece together some of the story.
This summer Billy committed to joining me on the tour. My only direction was “my honeymoon ends mid October, so tell me where you’ll be around then and I’ll come join”. Per my loose itinerary, I had planned to be in the Israel / Jordan / Egypt range around this time. Maybe Billy would to put Jackie on the plane back from his honeymoon and immediately join me to avoid crisis crossing the pond. Turns out Billy is too good of a guy to even imagine doing that. Or just still smart being less than a month into his marriage.
Commence the endless planning in a Google Doc where I started dumping “places of interest” - which also helped me with my own routing and planning, as my only itinerary from September was to land into Romania, make it to the Caucasus area overland and leave at least a couple weeks for Israel & Jordan. I wanted to present Billy with a few options so he’s at least research what was out there. Personally, I really wanted him to have the fascinating experience of an Islamic country. It’s truly eye opening and a culture shock. And for a guys second time out of the country (sans Canada/Mexico) I wanted it to be a jaw dropping and unique destination.
The next few weeks Billy was deep in wedding planning and I was fairly off the grid traveling. After he returned from honey moon, I was ready for him to message me “buddy, sorry, I just can’t do it” (which for anyone that knows Billy that is exactly what he would say)
But instead, he was still very much “IN” so I presented three options (I’ll leave the Northern Iraq wildcard idea off of here) to “narrow” things for a 10 day itinerary, between (1) Jordan/Israel, (2) Turkey, (3) Georgia & Armenia
The three options
Billy got back to me selecting Jordan & Israel….It October 5th, just days before the news that shook the world.
Now that our destination was decided, it was time for both of us to lock in flights. The day I sent Billy the best flights we both woke up to news of Hamas’ invasion of Southern Israel and rockets flying into Tel Aviv. It wasn’t long before we were calling each other in disbelief of what just happened and sharing endless news links.
I got texts making sure I wasn’t in Israel, and Billy received a colorful phone call from his wonderful mother “YOU ARE NOT GOING THERE, PLEASE DON’T DO THIS TO ME”.
So…..although we waited it out a week or two to optimistically “see what would happen”, we had to regroup. I could understand the concerned perspective, but from my research and perch, I thought we could still pull off going to Jordan, but then again, I had to realize I was pontificating from the seasoned backpacker perspective.
During this time, I met travelers in Turkey that were in Tel Aviv the day of the attack, hiding in basements with rockets flying overhead. I also had lunch with a few guys who live in Jordan, moms are Palestinian, and they convinced me Jordan would absolutely remain neutral and a safe destination. This still didn’t fly with Billy’s planning committee, and at the end of the day, above all else I wanted to make this happen. Plus it was probably for the best we didn’t go to Jordan.
It was now just a couple weeks before our last joint window of availability to pull off the trip. I was struggling to come up with an intriguing alternative that still hit our criteria: adventure, off the beaten path, Muslim-majority population, reasonable flights from Buffalo.
I remember the night I called Billy and said: “I have the solution - Let’s go to Oman.”
As he pulled up a map, I started rattling off how its one of the safest Arab countries, a thousand miles away from Gaza (Jordan is a mere 20 miles), and flights were somehow affordable. (Well, that somehow is likely due to all the cancellations of tourists to the Middle East). I had heard of Oman through Kial’s company and how its one of those “safe modern Arab countries” with a budding tourism destination. I had done a bit of prior research on it for my own itinerary but decided against it as it would’ve been quite expensive to be there solo. (Side note that Billy and I were able to stick within our budget of $1k each for Oman & Dubai, not including flights of course and sleeping in a tent 5/8 nights, but renting a nice car to tour around). Yes, Oman shares its southern border with Yemen, but we wouldn’t be going anywhere close to there.
The next day flights were booked and Billy had one week to sling as many vitamins as he could and tell his coworkers he was going to Greece. At least his mom and Jackie got the truth,
Although three flights from Buffalo to Oman was the original plan, it took four planes for Billy to get there. Four flights! His flight from DC to Jordan (serendipitous he had a layover there) was delayed, thus missing his connection. But he did get a Birds Eye view of Gaza out of his left window in his United Polaris business class seat (shoutout Kial’s Dad George who was kind enough to get Billy upgraded to business both ways…the guy was riding in comfort).
After an insane 28 hours of travel, Buffalo -> DC -> Jordan -> Dubai -> Oman, he had arrived! And in typical Billy fashion (DITS, Do It For The Story), we immediately headed out and enjoyed the day in Muscat picking up the rental car, camping supplies, touring the grand mosque, eating camel with our guy Mahmood, and decided to call it once he started hallucinating.
I got texts making sure I wasn’t in Israel, and Billy received a colorful phone call from his wonderful mother “YOU ARE NOT GOING THERE, PLEASE DON’T DO THIS TO ME”.
So…..although we waited it out a week or two to optimistically “see what would happen”, we had to regroup. I could understand the concerned perspective, but from my research and perch, I thought we could still pull off going to Jordan, but then again, I had to realize I was pontificating from the seasoned backpacker perspective.
During this time, I met travelers in Turkey that were in Tel Aviv the day of the attack, hiding in basements with rockets flying overhead. I also had lunch with a few guys who live in Jordan, moms are Palestinian, and they convinced me Jordan would absolutely remain neutral and a safe destination. This still didn’t fly with Billy’s planning committee, and at the end of the day, above all else I wanted to make this happen. Plus it was probably for the best we didn’t go to Jordan.
It was now just a couple weeks before our last joint window of availability to pull off the trip. I was struggling to come up with an intriguing alternative that still hit our criteria: adventure, off the beaten path, Muslim-majority population, reasonable flights from Buffalo.
I remember the night I called Billy and said: “I have the solution - Let’s go to Oman.”
As he pulled up a map, I started rattling off how its one of the safest Arab countries, a thousand miles away from Gaza (Jordan is a mere 20 miles), and flights were somehow affordable. (Well, that somehow is likely due to all the cancellations of tourists to the Middle East). I had heard of Oman through Kial’s company and how its one of those “safe modern Arab countries” with a budding tourism destination. I had done a bit of prior research on it for my own itinerary but decided against it as it would’ve been quite expensive to be there solo. (Side note that Billy and I were able to stick within our budget of $1k each for Oman & Dubai, not including flights of course and sleeping in a tent 5/8 nights, but renting a nice car to tour around). Yes, Oman shares its southern border with Yemen, but we wouldn’t be going anywhere close to there.
I did quite a bit of research on the trip, so keep scrolling after the photos to see our flawless itinerary perchance a similar adventure could be in your future.
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| Inside the sparkly clean Grand Mosque |
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| Duty calls when camping, and Billy answered (zoom in if you dare) |
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| Oman’s Grand Canyon |
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| Hanging with our desert crew and guide Ahmed |
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| Clearance on our Chinese Beamer wasn’t great in the sand dunes. So just “checking” everything was OK |
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| Beautiful Wadi (water canyon) - home to our first shower in six days |
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| Looks safe right? |
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| Final night campsite takes the cake |
Dubai
Straight to the pool party. Billy got his first Hostel experience in Dubai…people talking loudly on the phone at 3AM, a morning fart sack..exactly the type of people that would stay at a $12 hostel in Dubai.
What are camels doing on the busy Dubai beach?
Theme 3: Trip Overview & Itinerary
Driving 800 miles over 6 days, we weren’t short on incredible exploration of Oman. We explored the capital, Muscat, the sterile and magnificent Grand Mosque, walked the souks (markets), palaces, and the one museum in Oman. We hiked in the Grand Canyon of Oman, pitching our first tent at a picturesque cliff-side camp spot. We explored Nizwa, the cultural capital, buying beef cut fresh from the leg for dinner. Then we crossed Washiba sands, the eastern end of the Arabian desert, in a guided group of fellow campers, eating BBQ while our Omani host Ahmed joked at all the obscure Oman customs and was quick to make fun of his Sultan. Exiting the desert we drove up the undeveloped and working class east coast of the country, stopping on the beach to play soccer with locals. Our final day continued the fun as we canyoned in the wadi (our first “shower” in five days) and slept seaside to the gulf. Continuing onto Dubai, because why not? (Flights were actually better for Billy from Dubai), we let loose at the pool party, acted like teenagers at the Atlantis water park and had our final beers under the Berg Khalif.
Route map
Chess, every opportunity:
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| Night time tent Chess |
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| Cliffside 6am Chess |
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| With the Bills game |
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Chess & oatmeal in 80 degree morning heat   |
