Yesterday marks five years since Emma and I began our adventure in Muscat. Danny arrived a few months earlier than us. When we first arrived, I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that we wanted to give it a solid 2-3 years and then see where life would take us. Fast forward, and here we are, still calling this beautiful place home—though more on that later.
As the new school year kicks off, I can't help but feel that September is a month of fresh starts. We just wrapped up a summer that, honestly, was far better than I could’ve imagined. I was anxious about keeping the kids entertained for 10 and a half weeks—it's a long stretch when extreme heat limits you to indoor activities, and there’s only so much soft play you can endure. But to my surprise, the kids grew even closer, becoming each other’s best friends. I sprinkled in some planned activities, but didn’t fill every day with something structured as kids need to be bored to find their imagination, and more often than not it worked.
Here's what we got up to:
Oman Aquarium @ Mall of Muscat
Perfect for their ages, and we timed it just right for the 2 PM penguin feeding. While it’s a bit pricey and the variety of marine life has dipped over the years, the kids enjoyed the sensory experience. The cherry on top was grabbing a snack at Costa and watching the fish in the huge tank (pro tip: you can do this without paying the entrance fee).
Kid’s Island @ Panorama Mall
One of the newest Soft Plays to open in Muscat and probably one of the largest. The kids love this soft play due to its size and I am also a big fan as it’s one of the only ones that has a seating area for adults so you can grab a coffee before you go in and sit down whilst the kids play – everyone’s a winner!
Snow Oman @ Mall of Oman
I had promised Emma all summer that we’d go, and while I’d wanted to take both kids, Ted isn’t quite old enough yet. We got the ‘Back to School’ ticket, which included ice skating or penguin feeding, all the rides, and hot chocolate. Emma was determined to skate after seeing Peppa Pig do it, confidently telling me it was all “glide, glide, slide”—if only it were that easy! After about 10 minutes of gearing up, we hit the ice. Emma fell immediately, and I was about as graceful as a drunk penguin on rollerblades. After 60 seconds, she decided she’d had enough. We lasted a total of three minutes. Despite the brief skating debacle, we had a lot of fun with the other activities.
Magic Planet @ Mall of Oman
This is always one of the most popular requests from both Emma and Teddy and it’s also one of my favourites. It’s basically a massive arcade which also has a blow-up obstacle course, soft play and dodge cars. Emma loves all the games as you can win tickets and tickets means prizes (cheap plastic prizes, but prizes all the same).
When we didn’t have plans, we made the most of our compound pool. Even with all their toys, the kids often preferred to make up games—playing pirates, superheroes, or even running their own imaginary restaurant. Watching their creativity was one of the highlights of the summer.
During the holidays, we booked a holiday to go to Paphos in Cyprus for two weeks. We decided to opt for an Airbnb over a hotel as we wanted to have our own space in the evenings whilst the kids went to sleep at night. We chose a little two-bedroom villa in a compound about a 15 minute walk away from town and had access to a shared pool. Not having to meal-plan for two weeks felt like a dream (seriously, why did no one warn us how dull that part of adulthood is?).
If you ever think about venturing to Paphos from Muscat, it’s a relatively easy journey with one transfer in Doha and then once you land in Larnaca it’s about a 1.5-hour taxi journey to Paphos. They have a great waterpark, which the kids loved, although Emma was slightly limited with her height to go on the big slides, but she still had a great time. We also did a Pirate Boat Trip which was a full-on immersive experience, and the kids absolutely loved it.
Some of my favourite days though, were just spent at the villa being in and out of the pool all day and spending some much-needed quality time together. It was a holiday we all very much needed without realising it.
On Sunday 25 August, Emma started year 2 and the following day Teddy started Nursery 2 and I am so proud of how the kids have thrown themselves back into school. I have also been really excited about getting back into a routine, as, as much as I have loved being with the kids, it’s nice to be able to go back to exercising in the morning and having a bit more structure in the day and and hearing the word “bored” only five times a day instead of 50.
This week has also been full of personal firsts for me. I tried Wall Rope Yoga for the first time. I’m not a huge yoga fan as I find it pretty boring, but you get such a deep stretch with this particular style, and you’re also supported more when you do some of the more challenging moves, so I really enjoyed it. The next thing was Golf. We went with some friends on the driving range at La Vie in Muscat Hills, followed by dinner. My only expectation was I was going to make a tit of myself as my hand/eye coordination is not the best, but to my surprise I could hit the ball and not only that I could hit the ball in the right direction.
So will I take it up as a new hobby, possibly, if I can fit it in somewhere, but I don’t think Tiger Woods has anything to worry about.
And last but certainly not least, I’ve officially launched my own business—Just Thrive Marketing. It’s a digital marketing company aimed at helping small businesses build their online presence. I’ve taken on a few projects over the past couple of years and, with both kids in school (mostly), I’m excited to throw myself into this new venture. So, if you or anyone you know needs some guidance on marketing their small business, drop me a message!
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, we have now been on our Muscat adventure for 5 years and no one could have predicted how those 5 years would have panned out. We are so fortunate that we were able to stay during the pandemic as I know many had to move back home.
On reflection of the past 5 years from a personal perspective, I have become more resilient, saying yes to new opportunities, taken myself out of my comfort zone, I’ve become more patient, learned that it’s ok to say no sometimes and I’ve become surer of myself.
What are the challenges that come with living abroad, without a doubt being so far away from family and friends. It’s inevitable that some friendships drift apart if you live thousands of miles away from each other, but if a friendship is worth keeping you both make the effort.
I also miss some home comforts, being able to buy certain produce that is unavailable here (#IYKYK), popping to the pub (although the Irishman has helped with this one), being able to walk everywhere (you pretty much have to jump in the car to get to most places). But on the flip side we love our life here, we have been so lucky to make some important friendships, the sun is shining all the time (even if it is too friggin hot sometimes), we get to have pool days in some incredible hotels, I get to go on some breathtaking hikes, and we get to travel to some fantastic destinations.
So how long will our time be here for? Who knows, how long is a piece of sting. What I do know is that as long as it works for us as a family, then that’s all that really matters and when it doesn’t, we will just cross that bridge when it comes to it.
Commenti