Travel – Page 2

STAYCATION EXPERIENCE AT HILTON GARDEN INN DURING RAMADAN & LOCKDOWN

June 15, 2021 by Little Miss Honey

Since staycations has been our official way of celebrating birthdays in our family, we booked ahead for our sons’ birthdays. Last May, we booked a stay at Hilton Garden Inn for our 3rd son’s 3rd birthday. We, however, didn’t anticipate that there will be a lockdown plus it coincided with Ramadan time. We planned to drop by Philippines Embassy for some transactions but we learned they are closed! Lesson learned that we should have checked the schedule first before dropping by. We also dropped by Oman Avenues Mall to learn that all commercial establishments were all closed. Oppss! We just bought take out from Jollibee before heading to the hotel. We couldn’t eat in the restaurant or even in our car because it was Ramadan. Out of respect for our Muslim brothers and sisters, we should not eat in public until sundown. This practice is not new to me because I experienced that too when I was studying in Saudi Arabia that we should be mindful not to eat in public before sundown even chewing gum is prohibited.

We, then, headed to Hilton Garden Inn which is strategically located in Al Khuwair. It just nearby Jollibee and Oman Avenues Mall.

We were greeted by a nice friendly Filipina hotel receptionist, Ms. Janet. She helped us with the checked in. Check in was swift and easy. We were informed that the pool in the top floor is closed because of the pandemic restrictions. We got the King Connecting Family Room. We was basically two rooms with one King bed in one room and two single beds in the other when our two older sons will sleep in, with a connecting door to both rooms. We got the room at 34 Omani rials without breakfast included.

The design of the rooms are pretty much basic hotel decor with lots of beige colour. The view from our room is the street with a nice little garden park and a playground below. I like best is the lighting streaming inside our rooms.

The bathroom has a bathtub which the kids are happy about. No pool? No problem, as long as there is a bathtub, they are happy. Also their toiletries are from Crabtree and Evelyn which smells divine and feels luxurious on the skin.

Once we settled down, we prepared Zeke’s birthday cake and our Jollibee lunch. We bought again at Isfahan Sweets for birthday cake. We got the Honey cake again which is the same cake we bought for my birthday.

We rested a bit and watched a bit of TV. Since there is no malls open or the pool is not open for swimming, we headed down to the playground for the kids to play. The kids enjoyed playing at the free public playground which my husband and I relaxed at the nice garden park. There were a few people jogging around and some using the public exercise installations at the park.

Since the lockdown was imposed at 7:00 PM, we ordered delivery via Talabat using their easy-to-use app. We choose Yellow Cab for dinner time and the delivery was fuss-free and punctual. We got our food from the Talabat delivery guy and headed up to our room.

We had a very filling dinner. We enjoyed the rest of the night in our hotel room.

In the morning, we woke up a little late. We, again, ordered our brunch via Talabat. We choose Chowking for brunch.

We made sure we had a heavy brunch before check out because we will be heading to do grocery before going back home.

REVIEW OF HILTON GARDEN INN

Service: The reception staff were all very nice and we were able to do a quick check in without any hassle. We commend Ms. Janet from receptionist for the wonderful welcome and accommodating us with our needs. There was just a bit of delay when we were asking for some utensils for our room and we need to call housekeeping several times. However, they compensated by providing us with more water for our room and extra toiletries as well.

Cleanliness: The room was clean and the sheets were comfortable. We saw some rooms that placed their bag of trash outside their room, out in the hallway but it was removed immediately afterward when we went outside the room.

Location: The location was perfected located at the heart of the city with lots of restaurant and malls nearby.

Amenities: Too bad we weren’t to access the pool. Even if we weren’t able to access their pool, it was nice to have the park and playground below near the hotel. The lobby was darkly lit but well-designed. There is the usual digital key and wifi is fast.

In conclusion, we plan to book next time a stay in Hilton Garden Inn . We hope that time we can already use their pool. If we ask the kids how they find our staycation, they just happy with the simple birthday of Zeke. Kids just love hotel staycations. We are looking forward to staying at Hilton Garden Inn Muscat again.

Hilton Garden Inn Muscat

Address: OM, Dohat Al Adab St, 118

Phone: 22 515555

5 NETFLIX SHOWS / MOVIES TO PACIFY YOUR WANDERLUST – FOR NOW

October 21, 2020 by Little Miss Honey

This pandemic has thwarted all our travel plans for 2020. Ticket and hotel bookings has been cancelled. Our excited itching travelling feet are staying put in the comforts of our home. The most exciting travel adventure happening in our day would probably an occasional trip outside of our house to check if the plants we occasionally water is growing. Most days are spent at home watching a lot of Netflix. So to appease that wanderlust looming inside of us and inspire us hopefully for our next year’s travel adventure, we have Netflix to turn to. Here are 5 Netflix shows / movies to pacify our travelling pangs:

EMILY IN PARIS – Paris, France

This Netflix show will make you wish to be assigned to work in Paris for a year even if the Parisians are stereotypically portrayed there to be very cold and snobbish. The backdrop of the show, highlighting the beautiful Paris in all its glory from its iconic Eiffel Tower, the River Seine and Pont Alexandre III Bridge (where the sexist perfume ad was filmed) are as breathtaking as a secondary characters to Lily Collin’s Emily. The cafe scenes make you want to have your own cup of coffee and eating your chocolate croissant. The shooting location of the street-side restaurants are found in the picturesque square in Latin Quarter, just a few steps from the Pantheon. It is just nice to fantasize that you are having a nice lunch of baguette at Jardin du Palais Royal and finding a new expat friend like Mindy to be your meilleur ami in your Paris adventure. The show also featured Musee des Arts Forains, a private museum for special events where you can take a ride in a 120-year old wooden merry-go-round; Cafe de Flore, nabbed as ‘the coolest cafe in all Paris’ according to a French man Emily met one night and also known one of the oldest coffee house in the city; and seeing a glimpse of the glamorous steps of Palais Garnier, a venue for ballets & concerts.

Ahhh, Paree, can’t wait to visit you someday, drink coffee at the street-side cafes and eat all the chocolate croissants to my hearts desire….

2. CRASH LANDING ON YOU – Switzerland

*https://discoverist.changirecommends.com/*

Crash Landing On You was the first kdrama that got me into the kdrama fever – a story of love against all odds. It was just beautifully made – the story, the characters, the cinematography, everything. Though most of the story was situated either in South Korea or North Korea, there were parts of the show that was filmed in Switzerland. Despite Switzerland’s brief cameo in this series, you can’t help but wanted to be transported into the tranquil and romantic landscape of the Swiss. Who cannot forget the landing stage where Captain Ri play his own composition with his piano in front of Lake Brienz? There was the Sigriswil Panoramic Bridge where Captain Ri asked scared Seri to take the photo of him and his fiancé, a great place to take photos of the Bernese Alps. If you are into adrenaline rush, you would want to try paragliding in First Flieger in Grindelwald where the couple reunited in Switzerland. But if you are more into shopping, you can check out the Schwiezer Heimatwerk, a chain of souvenir shops in Zurich where Seri and Seo Dan went to buy chocolates. Of course, the scene of the picnic in Lake Lungern surrounded by lush greenery & clear blue lake like Captain Ri and Seri had seems to nudge me to go to refrigerator and make myself my own tuna sandwich with a glass of iced tea.

3. FALLING INN LOVE – New Zealand

If we have series of bad things happening in our life, we couldn’t help but want to escape, right? That it is what Christina Millan’s character in this romcom movie, Falling Inn To You. After a break-up and losing her job in San Francisco, she claimed an inn in New Zealand (?!!) she won from a spontaneous entered Internet contest. With nothing to lose, she flew to the Land of the Long White Cloud to check out her inn, which was nothing but a rundown old thing. (It, later, became her passion project to fix it with a help of a handsome New Zealander and turn it into a lovely Bed and Breakfast.) But apart from the broken-down inn, everything was idyllic and charming. Most of the film as shot in the North island of New Zealand. The lovely village and one of the Bed & Breakfast featured in the film was filmed in Thames. There is, of course, the lovely scene having picnic and a swim at Bethells Beach (Te Henga) with new Kiwi friend. Sometimes, we just want to rediscover ourselves as we get lost in a new country, reinventing ourselves, discovering a pet project and letting things unfold as we journey on.

4. EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF THE FIRE SAGA – Husevik, Iceland

Best thing to bring during your travels is our humour. We need to have good laugh when we travel because usually things don’t go the way we plan it. This movie gives me lots of hearty belly laughs, good music and an yearning to go to Iceland to visit elves & create my own homemade music video. I am not a big fan of Will Ferrell’s weird type of comedy but Rachel McAdams has an amazing ability of creating magnetic chemistry with almost everyone (if not all) she is paired with. The movie was just a perfect tourism campaign for Husavik, Iceland. Check out the song they made for Husavik. I love it! It is spine-tingling. Husavik is known to be the country’s whale watching capital. There you will find the Skogafoss , one of the magnificent Icelandic waterfalls where the singing duo made of their home-made music videos. The Husavik harbour looks colourful and interesting panorama to photograph. Though if I were to travel in Iceland, Husavik may not be the main place where I want to go to but the movie gave me a peek of Iceland, tickling an interest in me to see more of it. The film gave me more of a curiosity towards Iceland than the raved Filipino movie (also available in Netflix), Through Night & Day, a bittersweet story of engaged couple travelling around Iceland which made them reexamine their whole relationship. The Eurovision movie didn’t only feature Iceland but also some film locations were in Scotland, Israel and England.

5. THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS – Barcelona, Spain

Nothing feels more like you are really travelling when you hear the people around you speaking a foreign language. So brush up on your Espanol and check out the Spanish film, The Laws of Thermodynamics featuring the lovely Berta Vasquez. The story is about a physicist played by Vito Sanz show how his relationship with Elena played by Berta Vazquez will end up in a disaster because it was determined by the laws of physics. The film was shot in different parts of Barcelona, showing off the various streets of Cuitat Vella like Paseo Picasso & Merce Square. Some of the scenes were located at University of Barcelona, Mossèn Verdaguer Gardens, Carles I Park, Ciutadella Park, Horta Labyrinth Park and Somorrostro Beach.

Hmmm, Barcelona, you are so muy hermosa. Hasta la vista!

I hope these films made you travel safely in some way in the comforts of your own home and give you some tips where to go to when travel bans will be lifted. Hopefully we can go back to days when we can leisurely plan our escapades without any fear of health risks. If you have other movies / shows to recommend for our home-travel, pls do share…

THINGS TO DO IN MUSCAT, OMAN FOR 3 DAYS

February 16, 2020 by Little Miss Honey

Muscat is the capital of Oman. It is a metropolitan area where you get the feel of city life in Oman. If you are a tourist visiting Oman for first time, you would want to explore Muscat for a few days as you head to the picturesque mountains, wadis and sand dunes around Oman. There is also a good number of expats working at the wilayats or provinces found in the interior areas of Oman which has a simpler way of living with few to none shopping malls and not much of a city life. So some expats, especially those who wanted to do a bit of shopping, misses the urban life from time to time and wanted a change of scenery, often would visit Muscat for a day or sometimes would have a 2-3 day staycation in affordable hotels in the city.

If you are an expat living far from Muscat planning a 3-day staycation or a tourist visiting Oman, here are a few suggestions to do in Muscat:

Disclaimer: I am have been living in Oman for only 10 months so these list would be a work in progress as I discover more things to do in Muscat.

1. Stroll around the malls

The malls in Oman may not be superior to other malls I have visited in other countries but it is the best place to start when you are in Oman. If you are one of the expats I mentioned earlier living in the interior areas of Oman and who is craving for some taste of the city life, the malls will quench your thirst for a bit of metropolitan living that you are missing. Check out the sales in malls because the prices can drop really low and give you a very good bargain. The malls have lots of food place options that would satisfy all palates. Try out new dishes, local Omani cuisine or the dishes you really miss from your own home country.

Usual malls to visit are:

City Center Seeb

Oman Avenues Mall

Muscat Grand Mall

Mall of Muscat

Do your groceries at Lulu and Carrefour. They carry great products and most of what you need for your next cooking experiment or your current food snack cravings.

2. Walk at the Muttrah Corniche and shop at the Souq

Mutrah Corniche is one of Muscat’s panoramic tourist area to visit, an attractive scenic promenade stretching 3km along the waterfront. It is lovely to walk around the corniche area just before sunset, enjoying the breeze, the sunset and the scenery. Several tourist spot are found in area too. You can find the Mutrah Souq nearby, one of the world’s oldest Arabian markets.

Mutrah Souq is known to be one of the oldest Arabian markets in the world. Entering the souq is like transporting yourself into the world of Aladdin. You get to have wonderful finds from intricate vintage artifacts perfect for house decors & collection, bestselling aromatic frankincense, gold and precious jewels, colorful hand-made purses & glass lanterns, pashiminas and unique shiny sandals. I found some lovely lamps there too that I get to rub hoping there is Genie inside to grant my 3 wishes. It is the perfect place to go for tourists to buy souvenirs during their visit in Oman. Highly recommended place to stop-by when you are in Oman.

3. Visit Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

One of the places you need to visit if you are in Muscat is the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque dedicated to their beloved peace-loving Sultan that recently passed away the start of the year. It is a magnificent structure that is beautiful beyond words. The mosque was completed in 2001 and took six years to build. It covers a massive area of 416,000 square meters, and can hold up to 20,000 worshipers. The mosque is embellished in beautiful mosaic pattern that is purely an impressive art form. The mosque is open from 8:00 am to 11:00 am for non-Muslims every day except Friday.

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is one of the only mosques that allows non-Muslims visitors. Men and women must dress conservatively in long trousers and covered shoulders. Women must also cover their hair. One thing I learned from living abroad and travelling is that we must respectful of the culture of the country we are going to. Observe the rules of the country you are visiting. Let us be gracious visitors to the countries that has welcomed us in.

4. Check out Al Mouj Marina

Al Mouj Marina is located at Al Mouj, Muscat, which features the exclusive luxury yachting lifestyle in Oman. It is a great area to visit. It is found in close proximity to The Wave where you find great variety of restaurant, specialty boutiques, posh residential units and hotels.

An old highschool schoolmate in Saudi Arabia who is currently working as a doctor here in Oman for years now took me to this lovely place in Muscat when I just arrived in the country. You will find lots of Caucasian expats strolling around with their spouses and children. Most of them have residential units in the area. There are a good number of classy, more upperclass restaurants available in the area, perfect for date nights or girls’ night out for chats & a cold glass of beverage of your choice.

5. See the sunset at Qurum Beach

If you detest malls and want more of nature in Muscat, visit Qurum Beach. It stretches to 4 kilometres along the Muscat coastline. It is a great place for relaxing. You can just bring a thermos of your favorite coffee and sit the area near the beach, sipping your hot drink. You can go for a jog there too. They have a nice walkway for people who enjoys strolling, jogging or walking their dogs while taking in the wonderful scenery. There a lot of restaurants, cafes, bars that offer alcoholic drinks in the area. You can book watersports activities like jetskiing, parasailing and kayaking at Crowne Plaza found at the far end of the beach.

We visited Qurum Beach last night near sunset and the sky was a sight to behold with its pink tint painted in the horizon. We enjoyed yummy pancakes & crepes at The Crepe Cafe, which we enjoyed eating alfresco overlooking the beach. If you prefer more savory dishes, try out Slider Station.

6. Bring your kids to the Snow Park and Oman Aquarium at Mall of Muscat

If you have kids or are kids-at–heart, you can check out the Snow Park and Oman Aquarium in Mall of Muscat.

Here are prices and details for Snow Park Oman Aquarium:

We have been to the Snow Park during Christmas. It is a small area with a big slide for adults and kids that would reach a height requirement. There is an area to play “fake” snow and a little playground for little kids. Make sure to bring your own jackets because the park will not provide you with jackets and it is super cold inside.

We haven’t visited the Oman Aquarium to see what is inside. But you can also grab a table at Starbucks in the mall and there is a big glass window in the cafe where you see the fishes swimming in the Oman Aquarium.

There you go, 6 possible activities you can do in Muscat. Do share with me if you know more Muscat fun activities.

See you!