Middle East with Mom 2025 ✈ Dubai

After wrapping up the Europe part of our trip, Mom and I bid goodbye to hubby and MIL, and continued our travels to the Middle East. Our travel 'bootcamp' continued as we hopped across 5 countries in 6 days - Turkey, Jordan, Oman, U.A.E, Qatar. Thankful that Mom was willing to accompany me to this part of the world as I continued my quest of exploring more new contries. =)

29 May 2025 (Thurs): Muscat - Dubai

After our speed sightseeing in Muscat, it was time to continue our journey to the next country... United Arab Emirates (UAE) with a 1-hour flight on Oman Air from Muscat to Dubai at 2.30pm.

Arrived Dubai at 3.15pm. This was my first time visiting UAE (not transit). Immigration was super quick and easy. No visa needed for Malaysians and they didn't even ask us any questions. No more rental car for us so it's time to explore Dubai's public transportation. Bought the 2-zones metro tickets for AED 8 ($2.10) per pax. We were able to pay with credit card at the machine so it was very easy and convenient.

All visitors also received a free SIM card which was valid for 24 hours.

Took the red Metro line directly from Dubai Airport Terminal 1 to Business Bay station. We had to walk about 10 minutes from Business Bay station to our hotel. As I was trying to figure out how to get on the overpass, a nice Indian lady said we could follow her as she was walking the same direction. The 10 minutes walk wasn't fun with the 36°C / 96.8°F weather.

Finally made it to our hotel - Holiday Inn Express Dubai - Safa Park at 5.10pm. This was our final Holiday Inn Express stay on this trip. Booked this 2-night stay for 11,000 IHG points/night. Our room had partial view of Burj Khalifa. We thought about heading out for dinner originally but decided to stay in for the evening after experiencing the heat earlier.

30 May 2025 (Fri): Dubai Sightseeing

Early start for the day at 5am as I bought the 6am sunrise ticket to visit Burj Khalifa. Walked to Business Bay metro station to take the metro to Burj Khalifa, which was only 1 stop away. We thought it'd be cooler in the morning but nope it was still hot but at least the sun wasn't up yet. Bought the NOL Day Pass for AED22 ($6)/pax, which includes travel on all metro and buses for the day.

Arrived Burj Khalifa station at 5.30am. I didn't know it was still a 20 minutes walk from the metro station through covered walkways and Dubai Mall to get to Burj Khalifa. Even though the walkways had travelator, it wasn't operating yet as it was too early so we got our steps in early in the morning. It was pretty cool to see an empty Dubai Mall, but the escalators were not operating yet as well so we had to put in more steps...lol!

After a 20 minutes 'workout', we finally made it to the entrance of Burj Khalifa at 5.50am, just in time for our 6am ticket. Thought we were early leaving the hotel at 5am but I certainly underestimated the amount of time required to get here. Luckily we didn't buy an earlier ticket. I wasn't crazy enough to come at 5am to catch the sunrise at 5.30am coz the metro didn't start running until 5am. 

We bought our tickets in advance on Klook for AED159 ($39) per pax and was able to redeem our tickets easily at the ticket counter without any wait. The 'sunrise' tickets are cheaper and were limited for entry at 5am/5.30am/6am/6.30am. It provides access to levels 124 & 125, and includes a beverage and bakery item. There was no time limit as to how long we could stay up there.

We headed to the outdoor deck at level 124 first. Everyone seems to crowd and hangout at this outdoor deck on level 124 to take photos but the sun made it hard to take photos from this direction with the reflections on the glass. I still ended up taking way too many same same but different photos though. 

Level 125 was actually better as it was indoor and we were able to get a 360 view of Dubai. Best part, we had the entire place to ourselves!

We spent about 1.5 hours taking way too many photos and videos before wrapping up our visit.

Redeemed our complimentary beverage and donut on our way out. 

Didn't know that the Dubai Fountain was closed since April 19 for modernization work till Sept 30. Glad we didn't come all the way here the night before to see the fountains.

Walked about 10 minutes from Dubai Mall to The Palace for this perfect photo spot.

After a productive early morning, we wrapped up our visit of Burj Khalifa at 9am and went back to the hotel to enjoy the free breakfast (brunch) and took a break from sightseeing coz it was too hot to walk around. We also received a welcome fruit plate from the hotel. :)

Headed out again at 3.15pm for another round of sightseeing. Since we had the NOL Day Pass and I didn't have much planned, mom wanted to take the metro all the way to the last station so we went on a lil' metro tour to Expo 2020 station.

Then we rode on the entire tram line from Jumeirah Lakes Towers to Al Sufouh, and took bus 88 to Burj Al Arab. Fully utilizing our day pass...lol!!

Realized that we couldn't go beyond the guardhouse of Burj Al Arab just to visit, so we just took photos from far.

Found this good photo spot for Burj Al Arab at D-Marin Marsa Al Arab Marina.

We were surprised that the bus stop was air-conditioned...definitely needed here. =) We hopped back on the bus at 6.30pm and made a stop at Carrefour at Mall of Emirates to see if there was anything interesting to buy. No we didn't buy camel milk powder nor Dubai chocolate, but bought a bunch of Ritter Sport chocolates.

31 May 2025 (Sat): Dubai - Doha

Free breakfast at 7.30am to start the day. I enjoyed the breakfast food options here as compared to HIX in Europe. 

Checked out of the hotel at 8am. Felt bougie today and didn't want to sweat before our long travel, so I decided to use the Careem app to get a cab to the airport instead of using the metro. The 15 minutes cab ride costs AED63 ($17).

Next stop...Malaysia!

Middle East with Mom 2025 ✈ Muscat

After wrapping up the Europe part of our trip, Mom and I bid goodbye to hubby and MIL, and continued our travels to the Middle East. Our travel 'bootcamp' continued as we hopped across 5 countries in 6 days - Turkey, Jordan, Oman, U.A.E, Qatar. Thankful that Mom was willing to accompany me to this part of the world as I continued my quest of exploring more new contries. =)

29 May 2025 (Thurs): Amman - Muscat

After spending 2 days in Jordan, it was time to continue hopping to the next country. We arrived at Amman airport around 9.30pm, but had to wait to check in because Oman Air's counter didn't open until 11.25pm (3 hours before flight). This was my first time flying Oman Air. Booked our flight from Amman - Muscat - Dubai for 7,500 Alaska miles + $118 per person.


Since Oman Air wasn't officially part of Oneworld until June 30, I wasn't able to access the lounge with my Oneworld Emerald status. However, we were able to access the Plaza Premium Lounge with my Priority Pass. There were 2 other lounges that I could access with Priority Pass but I was too lazy to lounge hop.


3.5 hour red-eye flight from Amman to Muscat at 2.25am. This flight was completely full. We definitely noticed the change in demographic of passengers in this flight, which were mostly Omanis.


Arrived Muscat at 6.45am. I intentionally booked this fligth with a 7.5 hours transit because I wanted to do a quick sightseeing of Muscat. 

Malaysians didn't need visa to visit Oman and we cleared immigration very quickly. Our bags were checked all the way to Dubai so we didn't need to claim our baggage here. We went through customs with just our backpack and thought it'd be easy but nope, I was pulled aside at customs because of the basic meds I had been carrying all around the world in a little Mentos container. Few custom officers gathered around looking through the meds (labeled in ziplock bags) and I tried explaining what each of them were (e.g. headache, mucus relief, etc.). They finally let me go since I was only gonna be transiting in Oman for a few hours and will be leaving that same afternoon.

Call me crazy but I booked a rental car (Kia Cerato) with Europcar for $35/day for this transit. Paid for it with my CapitalOne travel credit. Oman drives on the same side as the US. I thought I'd need my international driver's license but they were fine with just my US driver's license.


Left the airport at 8am to begin our sightseeing. It was so HOTTTT in Muscat (36° C / 96.8° F), we felt like we were in sauna. So glad we had a rental car and I was blasting the air-con to the max. The roads in Muscat are nice and well maintained, and was easy to drive around.

1st stop...Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. Head covers were required to enter and since they wouldn't let us use the hood of our rain jackets, we just took some photos of the exterior and left shortly because it was very hot. We have mosques in Malaysia so we weren't too interested to go in either.


2nd stop...Yiti viewpoint. Since it was so hot, I told mom to juts wait in the car while I hop out to take photos. You can feel the 'heat' from my expression...lol!


3rd stop....Al Jalali and Al Mirani Forts. Another quick photo stop while mom enjoys her air-conditioned nap in the car...lol!

Few more quick stops....Mutrah Promenade, Qurum beach overlooking Gulf of Oman, and Royal Opera House while mom continues napping in the car. I was too lazy to even step out of the car when we got to Royal Opera House and just opened the windows to take photos from the car...lol! 

I noticed that there are a lot of archways in Oman.


After 3 hours of speed sightseeing around Muscat, we made it back to the airport at 11am and returned the rental car. The staff was probably wondering why we returned the car so quickly...lol! Muscat airport was nice but definitely felt less international than other bigger airports in the Middle East as majority of the passengers seemed to be Omanis. Would I visit Oman again? Probably not so I'm glad to check off this country as part of a transit.


Visited the Primeclass lounge in Muscat Airport with my Priority Pass. This lounge was pretty nice. The lounge even had a flutist performing the whole time we were there. Food options were also very good. We had lunch and chilled while we waited for our next flight at 2.30pm.

Next stop...Dubai!!

Middle East with Mom 2025 ✈ Istanbul

After wrapping up the Europe part of our trip, Mom and I bid goodbye to hubby and MIL, and continued our travels to the Middle East. Our travel 'bootcamp' continued as we hopped across 5 countries in 6 days - Turkey, Jordan, Oman, U.A.E, Qatar. Thankful that Mom was willing to accompany me to this part of the world as I continued my quest of exploring more new contries. =)

26 May 2025 (Mon): Geneva - Istanbul

After traveling together for 19 days, our group bid goodbye in Holiday Inn Express Geneva Airport as we split up to different destinations. Mom and I are continuing our travels to the Middle East, MIL is heading to Nice (France), while hubby is taking the train to Zurich to catch his flight back to the US.

Mom and I took the 7.30am hotel shuttle to Geneva airport. This hotel was perfect for us because it was super easy to get to the airport. Hubby's train to Zurich was also departing from Zurich Airport.


Arrived Geneva Airport at 7.35am. Check-in for Turkish Airlines was quick and easy. Mom and I offloaded some of our stuffs for hubby to bring home so that we could travel lighter for this part of the trip, knowing that we'll be hopping around a good bit. We booked our business class flights from Geneva - Istanbul - Amman with 20,000 Aeroplan miles + CAD 106 ($74) per person. 


We were able to access the Swiss Senator Lounge in Geneva Airport with our business class tickets. The lounge was pretty basic but was good enough for a quick stop and champagne to start the day.


Geneva to Istanbul at 10.25am. This was my first time flying Turkish Airlines. I intentionally chose this flight with a long transit in Istanbul for a quick visit.


Mom actually didn't know that we had business class seats on this flight until we got to our seats (I used my Star Alliance Gold status as an excuse for priority check in an boarding...lol!). Even though this was not a lie-flat seat, Turkish Airlines is still considered to have the best short haul business class in Europe. Welcome drinks were served before we departed.


Goodbye Geneva, goodbye beautiful Switzerland!


The flight attendant gave us the menu for food and beverage for this 3-hour flight. We had fresh fruit salad, croissant, smoked beef, cheese, tomatoes, and dried fig jam for appetizer. For the main meal, we opted for omelette with cottage cheese, marinated olives, and tomatoes. I also tried Turkish coffee.


Landed in rainy Istanbul at 2.40pm. We had about 11 hours transit in Istanbul so the plan was to head out to do some sightseeing in the city before we hop on our next flight. There were quite a lot of people at the immigration but it moved fast and we cleared immigration in 10 minutes. Malaysians don't need visa to visit Turkey and we weren't asked any questions either so it was quick and easy. 

I was hopping to take the Turkish Airlines free transit tour but unfortunately, our award tickets were issued by Air Canada so we were not eligible for the free tour.  Participants must have a Turkish Airlines ticket with a ticket number starting with 235 (our tickets started with 014).


Couldn't be lazy with the free transit tour so had to navigate the public transport in Istanbul. Glad I did some homework beforehand. We went to level -2 of the arrival terminal to find the Havaist airport bus. There were many buses with different destinations. Found the 3.50pm bus to Aksaray at Platform 12, and was able to pay for the ride with credit card before boarding the bus. 


The bus ride to the city took an hour and cost TRY 275 ($7)/pax each way. The bus was completely full.


Arrived Aksaray bus stop at 4.50pm. Fortunately, the rain stopped and the weather was actually very nice (cool) to walk around. We could have taken the tram but we opted to walk 20 minutes to the Grand Bazaar coz the weather was nice and I was too lazy to figure out how to pay for the tram tickets and didn't bother withdrawing any cash from the ATM either.


First stop...Grand Bazaar, one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world. There were so many people there. I'm not a fan of crowded places so we just quickly walked through the bazaar from one end to another in 5 minutes and left.

It started raining so it was time to speed up our sightseeing with a quick photo stop of Nuruosmaniya Mosque which was located just outside the bazaar. 

2nd stop...Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque), known for its beautiful blue tiles. We made it here just in time for some shelter as it started raining harder.

Entrance to the Blue Mosque is free. We had to take off our shoes but was able to hold them in our hands. Women are also required to cover our heads in the mosque so we conveniently used our rain jacket hoods as head covers...lol!


3rd and final stop...Hagia Sophia Mosque. This was just a quick photo stop. Fortunately, the rain stopped so we were able to continue our 'walking tour'.

Walked 20 minutes back to Aksaray bus stop to take the 7.05pm shuttle bus back to the airport.


Made it back to Istanbul airport at 8pm with a few hours to spare before our 2am flight.


Headed to the Turkish Business Lounge, which we were able to access with our business class tickets. This lounge is huge with plenty of seating areas and food options.



Had dinner, showered, chilled and rested before our late-night flight. I should have napped more coz it is going to be a long day tomorrow.

That's all for our quick transit in Istanbul.

Next stop...Jordan!