You’ll see the word wadi all over the place in Oman, and that’s because it’s the Arabic word for valley and there are a ton of them here. It’s an extremely vertical country, which is a big change from Qatar. Wadi Shab translates, more poetically, to “gorge between the cliffs” and it’s one of the […]

Read More Oman – Day One: Wadi Shab

On Sunday we packed up and flew to Oman, on our own. This was our first test. Uber to airport and nobody but surly visa and rental car counter employees to greet us when we arrived in Muscat, Oman. Uber and the Doha airport were uneventful, but Liz got absolutely schooled in a hangman match against […]

Read More Oman – Day Zero

For youtube video, click here! Jennie hired a driver/guide named Wazir to take the four of us dune bashing, an activity that sounds destructive but doesn’t actually leave any real mark on the very fluid sand dunes south of Doha.  It’s about 1 1/2 hrs drive, and then we get to a sort of rally […]

Read More Dune Bashing (sorry Frank)

Liz and I had spent half the day out and were ready to head over the Souq Waqif, literally “the standing market.” But before we got too deep in to the market, we did make a pitstop at the camel pen on the outskirts. We don’t know whose camels these are, but they aren’t far […]

Read More Souq There It Is

We timed our trip’s arrival to coincide with Corey and Jen’s weekend, but when Sunday arrived our luck ran out and we were on our own for the first time in Doha. We took the opportunity to 1) sleep in a bit and 2) take a test ride with Uber, because we would need it […]

Read More Uber Museum

One of the first things Corey and Jennie asked us if we wanted to do was this “dhow” boat ride thing for Corey’s birthdhay. For us, it was an automatic “yes, make it happen!” So they dhid, and we dhid, and the rest is history. These dhow boats are a traditional boat dhesign claimed as […]

Read More Dhow-Dazed Doha Haze Gaze

Jen had a scheduled Arabic Drumming lesson at the Katara Cultural Village (Fred Armisen would be proud, even if she isn’t a fan), so Corey, Liz and I tagged along and explored the area. It’s north of downtown Doha, along the coast just before a ritzy area known as The Pearl. Like seemingly everything in Doha, […]

Read More Katara Cultural Village

Our first real excursion into Doha was for a bite of lunch, still on our day zero in Qatar. We had originally written this day off, as we thought we’d be jetlagged to hell but it turns out we were in pretty good shape. Whatever the crazy timing of the flights had been, we had […]

Read More Koshary on a Dollary

Since our last update in Istanbul, we’ve now had a night’s sleep after the uneventful final leg to Doha, Qatar. Passport control and customs in Qatar was a breeze, so two weary thumbs up!  In fact, we made it through so quickly that Corey wasn’t there yet, but we were just happy to be on […]

Read More Qatar – Day Zero

We just popped out of the first, second, third, fourth or fifth leg of our voyage to Doha, Qatar. Depends if you count the bus to O’Hare, car shuttle to Park and Ride, car drive to car shuttle, or walk out to car. Sixth if you count falling out of bed. Anyway, starting with our […]

Read More No Time for Turkey