Oman!

First impressions – Woohoo!!!!
We arrived and walked down some stairs to a bus, that drove us to the terminal building. There we stood in line at the currency changer, because that's where you paid for your visas. Then we got stamped and headed out. The airport is pretty small. I mean, Muscat is the capital city, so I was expecting something bigger. Maybe like Dubai in the old days. Nope – I think they had 3 luggage carousels, and then you put your luggage through an x-ray machine and walked out the door to where everyone was waiting. In some ways it reminded me of the Monroe airport (Monroe, La.) except prettier. It was also very calm and relaxed. The Omanis were very matter of fact, and competent. And there were women working at the currency changer – in covered clothing.

After that, we got out, met our director-type person (former Peace Corp couple), and headed off to the hotel. It was a great ride! We saw a lot of the city. Including a number of Shell-McDonald's and LuLu the Indian Hypermarket. The roads were large and the people seemed to know how to drive – which is somewhat unusual in the Arab world.