Me and my travel companion had a restful sleep, waking up for our last morning in Oman.



After a great buffet breakfast at the Hilton, I thought I might walk around a bit as it was still early. Nope. I walked 3 blocks and it was WAY too hot out. So I called for an OTaxi. When I got in the dash temp read 46 degrees C and it wasn't even 930 yet.

My destination for the morning was public visiting hours at the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. There were a few gentlemen hanging around the entrance offering pseudo-guided services for 5 OMR so I took one of them up on the offer.... it wasn't worth it. I probably would have got more information from the self guided audio tour. Anyway, I first visited the women's prayer hall.





Then walked around outside a bit.





And the huge men's prayer hall with its ornate decorations, enormous handmade carpet, and massive chandeliers.









There's some people in this pic for scale.



More walking outside the beautiful grounds.

















It's hot. How are these bushes not wilting like me? LOL



I still had a couple hours but it was just too hot to do anything else so I picked up my stuff at the Hilton and headed back to the airport. With an interesting and off color rant from the taxi driver about monkeypox. LOL

I entered Oman Air First and Business Class checkin which is a separate entrance that brings you over top of the arrivals hall where I'd got my Ooredoo visitor SIM on Friday, then to a dedicated set of counters for premium pax.







There wasn't anyone else there as I was over 3 hours early for the flight. Looked like a pleasant place to lounge though if you had to wait for any reason.







After being deposited directly into a deserted passport control queue and security checkpoint, I was dumped into the shopping gauntlet like at many other airports.



MCT really is a beautiful, tasteful airport.



I headed over to the Oman Air lounge, sure to be a highlight. Now the opportunity for WY to redeem itself for the lack of catering will begin.





I was escorted to the First Class side of the entrance by the lounge supervisor who would also be the one taking care of me for my stay. I was the only person there for a brief while before another passenger on my flight showed up. We were the only two people in the lounge until about 10 minutes before boarding where a few others showed up for a different flight.



The lounge is intimate but spacious, and gorgeous.

The only disappointing thing is that a great apron view is blocked by a part of the terminal building. The business class lounge on the other side seemed to have a much better view on my short walk through.





There's a well stocked bar with a proper espresso machine next to a sit down dining area.









I had a glass of Laurent-Perrier Brut champagne on arrival with some snacks and a cold towel.





























Aha - here we go - the first class menu!





Some great views of Muscat and the coast as we head west.











Here's the contents of the mini bar.



And amenity kit.



Oman Air also offer a very comfortable pair of PJs to first class passengers. I took both sets home from each leg, but forgot to take pics.

More great views of the desert, and UAE coast just west of Dubai with Palm Jebel Ali in view.





It took a while after being in the air to get a refill on the champagne, but this probably helped me from getting blitzed on board.



Another look at the gorgeous cabin. It's full on this flight, such a contrast to my empty flight 3 days prior!



The food service was a bit slow to start. We were served an amuse bouche while offshore Kuwait already. Refills of the champagne were frequent and generous.





The suite has ample room for buddy dining.





I selected the beef as a main, but my request of a glass of red to accompany seems to have been forgotten as I had to wash it down with champagne and by the time the FA appeared again I was almost finished eating, which was a little disappointing.



I enjoyed some port with the cheese plate for dessert.





Some great views over Turkey.





I really like the subtle beauty of the cabin and suite.





Over Germany, I have the panini for the light meal before landing. It was really good!



Here are those views of central London that I was looking for.







As we land, we're informed that the police will be boarding presumably to arrest a passenger, so everyone should stay seated until further notice. It didn't take long, and within 25 minutes of landing I was groundside at LHR T2.

This flight was quite enjoyable although the soft service could use a little polishing in terms of the speed of service and forgotten items - I'd also ordered a soup that never came, and when I asked for it with the panini I was informed they were out - I think the guy across from me enjoyed the last of it. The guy who informed me that he was able to get an upgrade from business by politely begging at check in. Also, I knew there were lockers at the front to store larger items that wouldn't fit in the ottoman, but one of the C FAs told me just to shove my backpack down the side of the suite by the air vents which is definitely not as intended.

I've submitted an EC261 compo request to LH for the departure delay on the outbound and a complaint to WY for the lack of catering on the outbound. Let's see what they will get back with and how long.

That's the end of the fun part of this particular journey - I headed into London for the evening to meet a friend for drinks, then back to Canada the next morning on AC which is decidedly downscale from this experience. They ran out of champagne while serving the starter course ex-LHR!!

Stay tuned for another interesting adventure - might take me a bit longer to get the TR up this time but I've got the most niche trip since pre-COVID departing tomorrow!!