Our last night in Bangkok, at the Skyline Resort near the airport, refused to settle down. The looming goodbye sat heavy on both of us, and at some point, instead of lying awake, I checked my emails. That's when the shock hit: one of my flights had been cancelled.
The Midnight Message
By 0:30am we were in a taxi to the airport, desperate for more information. At the information desk we were told the flight to Muscat would go ahead as planned, but the connecting flight from there to Frankfurt had been cancelled. The reason: a strike at Frankfurt Airport. Visibly deflated and with no idea what awaited us in Oman, we took a taxi back to our accommodation. Each of these rides cost around 150 baht, roughly €4.
At six the alarm went off again, and it was a third taxi ride back to the airport. At baggage check-in, I got one extra piece of information: the return flight from Muscat to Frankfurt would now be a full day later. Many of the other passengers booked through to Frankfurt were hearing this for the first time, and you could see the shock on their faces.
Goodbyes and the World's Worst Escalator
Then it was time to say goodbye to my girlfriend. We knew we'd see each other again by the end of October – just not yet where. And up we went, on what has to be the world's worst escalator. Anyone who's ever been through Thailand knows exactly which one I mean.
The roughly six-hour flight from Bangkok to Muscat was tense and restless. Many of us had no idea what would happen once we landed. Shortly before touchdown, the senior flight attendant made an announcement: passengers connecting to Frankfurt now had two options. Either spend the next 24 hours in the transit area, or find your own accommodation at your own expense. Either way, the luggage would be offloaded – anyone arranging their own stay could collect it from the belt, while everyone else's bags would go back on the correct flight the next day.
Chaos at Muscat Airport
The chaos at the airport was immense. Most passengers felt let down and abandoned, voices got loud, and nobody quite knew how to process the situation. I wasn't thrilled either. Could Oman Air have handled it better? Probably. Had the airline itself been caught off guard, just like the rest of us? Yes. Either way, I had zero interest in spending the next 24 hours in a transit zone – no privacy, overpriced food, and for what.
So I headed to immigration and got a visa on arrival on my Czech passport. As soon as I had my bag off the belt, I used the airport wifi to look for a hotel near the airport and settled on the Novotel Muscat Airport Hotel, about 12 minutes away. A room with breakfast for the night cost me €73 (32.5 OMR). Outside the terminal I grabbed a taxi to the hotel – the roughly ten-minute ride cost around €15.
Check availability at Novotel Muscat Airport →
An Unexpected Night in Oman
The Novotel was thoroughly modern. Walking into my room, I could hardly believe it – huge and luxurious, all to myself. After a quick call with my girlfriend to confirm she was fine, I did a few laps in the hotel pool.
I'd never been to Oman before, and I didn't want to spend my remaining hours just sitting in the room. At the front desk I asked about restaurants serving local food, and they pointed me to Rozna – a fairly new restaurant built in the style of an old fort. It was about a 30-minute walk from the hotel, which didn't put me off at all. It gave me a chance to see a little of a country I'd never set foot in before.
Muscat is a desert city, wedged between the Gulf of Oman and the rugged Hajar Mountains. The first thing that struck me was how clean everything was – roads in a condition plenty of Western countries could only dream of.
Rozna – An Evening in an Omani Fort
Rozna was built like a small fortress. Inside, in the cool interior, men, women and children sat together at the same tables, enjoying their food. I wanted to try something properly local, so I ordered Kabisa, Lamb Qabuli, a strawberry juice, and two cinnamon teas. The whole meal came to just under 10 OMR, roughly €22.50.
By the time I headed back, the sun had already set. At no point did I feel even remotely unsafe.
What I didn't know at the time: exactly one year later, I'd experience a strange déjà vu – stranded in Muscat again, for the very same reason. But that's a story for another time.
The Way Home
The next morning I enjoyed a proper breakfast before heading back to the airport around midday, another €15 taxi ride. Bags checked in, and finally it was time to go home. After another six-hour flight, I landed in Frankfurt and was shuttled over to the car park.
And with that, I can finally close the loop from Part 1: when I booked the parking, I'd been offered the option to add an extra day for €2.99, just in case my plans changed. I skipped it. Now I had to pay €15 for that extra day after the fact. Not an amount that would ruin me, but definitely one I could have avoided.
What This Detour Cost
| Item | for | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Taxi accommodation–Bangkok airport, overnight, 150 THB | 1 ride | around €4 |
| Taxi airport–accommodation, Bangkok, 150 THB | 1 ride | around €4 |
| Taxi accommodation–Bangkok airport, morning, 150 THB | 1 ride | around €4 |
| Taxi Muscat airport–Novotel | 1 ride | around €15 |
| Novotel Muscat Airport Hotel, 1 night incl. breakfast (32.5 OMR) | 1 person | €73.00 |
| Dinner at Rozna Restaurant (9.975 OMR) | 1 person | around €22.50 |
| Taxi Novotel–Muscat airport | 1 ride | around €15 |
| Extra parking day, Frankfurt (vs. €2.99 if pre-booked) | 1 vehicle | €15.00 |
All told, this unplanned stopover added around €152 – not counting the original flight itself, which was already booked regardless. All amounts are given in euros; on the ground I paid in rial, so the total shifts a little with the exchange rate. Do I regret the detour? Not for a second. I got to see somewhere completely new, and I promised myself I'd come back to Oman properly one day.
All Booking Links at a Glance
- Accommodation in Muscat: Novotel Muscat Airport Hotel
Looking Back on the Whole Trip
Three parts, one journey, and in the end more than I'd bargained for when I booked it. The Death Railway to Kanchanaburi, three nights on the River Kwai, the night train to Chiang Mai, the elephants at the sanctuary – and then, completely unplanned, an evening in an Omani fort I never knew I'd experience. That's exactly the difference between a trip you put together yourself and one you buy off the shelf: a package might have given me a helpline for a situation like that. It wouldn't have given me the freedom to decide for myself what to make of a night gone sideways.
And if reading this left you thinking "I want a trip like that, just without doing the legwork myself": that's exactly what I do. The first conversation costs nothing.
