As of last week’s blog we advised that, with the tempo changing quickly in the region, and out of an abundance of caution, very regrettably, we made our way out of Oman. In short, we drove 1200kms in two days, straight back to Muscat from Salalah ( missing many of the very sights we had come to Oman to see ), dropped the car off and flew out to Cairo, Egypt ( more on “Why Cairo ?” later ).  There was much more complexity ( in what may have seemed like a pretty simple decision ) than one might realize so I’ll elaborate further on that in the passages below – see the last section, headed “Behind the Scenes”.  Skip it if you are just pleased to know that we are safe, that we are “out”, and the machinations don’t matter – it’s at the very bottom of the blog. But first, here’s what our last days in wonderful Oman looked  like – we were very sad to leave so soon and to have missed many of its greatest attractions.

The weather has been literally perfect for the last seven weeks ( Oman being no exception ) so we spent a lot of time poolside and beachside, knowing that, back in Europe it will be some time before we’ll be able to enjoy either. Soak it up while you can, we figured. Had a most enjoyable few days with our Swiss friends before the decision was made to pull the pin – ironically, they left Salalah the very same day.

Heading north back towards Muscat there were some of Oman’s best sights still ahead of us and with our original schedule allowing for a few days sightseeing at these locations we chose a route ( substantially coastal ) that would have taken them all in. Then came some further news that rocked us somewhat – Salalah, where we had spent a peaceful and fun week, was just attacked by a drone ( they hit the port, quite a way out of town, and no casualties or material damage was suffered, but it was unsettling, no question ). We decided then and there to move our exit date forward as far as we could. There would only be time to get to Muscat, visit ( briefly ) with friends Al and Barb, and see a bit of Muscat before we needed to be on a plane. Tired, but happy to be there, we reached Muscat, had an afternoon and evening with them, taking in a  few sights, and then flew out the next day. It just all seemed to happen so fast.

So that was how the week ( or almost a week ) played out. I’m writing this from chaotic Cairo and by the time it goes out we should be back in Athens with our van- back doing our usual thing !

Till next week…..

Behind The Scenes – The Decision To Leave ( And What Was Involved )

Neither of us are ones to easily panic, and make plans in haste- we usually carefully weigh things up logically and calmly and try to filter out the “noise” then make rational decisions about when and where we travel, considering any risks that may be involved. Nor was this our first time dealing with “drama” – we’d navigated our way safely out of China during the Tiananmen protests of June, 1989 ( the long way out – over the Karakoram Highway to Pakistan ! ), and safely exited Chile as the Covid pandemic exploded around the world in March 2020. These things happen ( sadly ) and our usual approach is to keep calm and carry on, whenever we possibly can. We could have done so here, but a few things played on our mind this time cementing the decision to leave:

1) Getting stuck here with no way out ( and it can happen ) would be no fun, even though Al and Barb had graciously offered us their place “for as long as we needed” ( thanks again, guys ! ). So we were better off than most, some with no place to stay if things got bad.

2) We of course have family (and friends) concerned about our well-being and we don’t want to be stressed, nor have people stressing over us, especially our very pregnant daughter carrying our second grandchild – we definitely plan to be home for the birth and any protracted issue here could jeopardize that. We knew people that got stuck in South America for many months during Covid. It does happen ! We do read, and follow, government advisories from the Canadian government ( as well as others, including Australia – we find they generally align their advice ). See the video above which references the sources we had access to. We also had access to the US government advisories, and since it is the US that really knows what is going on here we ultimately put serious stock in their commentaries regarding the Gulf crisis. It was one of theirs that actually cemented our decision to pull out

3) Finally, we felt we’d had a lot of “luck” so far and did not want to push it. It was absolutely the right call NOT to bring our van over here from Greece- glad we did not have that to worry about. Just getting ourselves out was a major headache and considerable expense, the mind boggles at how we would have shipped our van out ( not via the Israeli port we would have shipped in through, certainly ! ). The major shipping lines were cancelling services all over the Middle East. We definitely made a lucky call there. We also left Saudi just before it got hit and then left Bahrain shortly after that – literally days before missiles landed there. We left Salalah here in Oman and just hours later a drone landed there. We seemed to be luckier whenever we moved, so figured it was just best to get out while we were ahead.

Below is a series of images that show what we were seeing here on TV, and when we were seeing it, as well as the various government travel advisories that were coming in ( and when ). It was initially calm, then just a generally escalating tone, (not dramatic initially). When the Canadians shifted Oman to “Avoid Non Essential Travel” ( or, leave if you are there and don’t need to be) and around the same time the US State Department  advised all Americans to “Get out of the Middle East, by commercial means while you can”, we just pushed everything forward, literally flying as soon as we could get on a flight. If it was not safe for Americans, it probably was not for us.

We did get questions and suggestions from family, friends and readers, of course. Some asked why we did not just “get out right away”. Nice thought, but when everyone races for the exits at once there just are not enough seats/planes to accommodate. We were also safe, comfortable and there was no advisory from the government to get out of Oman right away. Oman was not even involved for the first 4 or 5 days. We were where everyone wanted to be ( certainly those in the Gulf states ). Others asked “Why did you go to Cairo ?” Simple – there are no direct Muscat to Athens flights, and most indirect flights go via one or other of the Gulf states, all of which were grappling with restricted air space or closed airports. We did not want to be stuck there ! We chose two cities close to Athens that had direct flights and ideally had a flight route away from the area of hostilities – Istanbul and Cairo both qualified, so we bought tickets to both and paid extra to be able to cancel the one we did not use. Cairo just gave us the easiest, fastest route and had an easy connection on the Athens. When we needed to move it forward, it was the easiest ticket to move.

So that’s a little background for those interested. It’s always more complicated than just “jumping on a plane and leaving”. One never knows if the right call was made until the dust settles, hopefully, for everyone’s sake, it settles soon. We were very sorry to leave Oman – loved it there and do plan to revisit at some point in the future. But it certainly feels better to now be on the outside looking in, rather than the other way around.