Our flight wasn’t too early but we woke up tired. I didn’t sleep great and I think we are still on Cape Town time, even though it’s only 2 hours behind, so a 7am alarm felt like 5am. We had hotel breakfast and then made it to the airport two hours before our flight.

Then began a series of annoying expenses. The airline wouldn’t give us boarding passes without paying extra for our carry-ons, even though it said they were included when I booked. When we landed the border agent told us we didn’t actually need to get the visas we had already paid for. Then I accidentally bought third party insurance that the rental company didn’t take.

I told Nick I have two sides to me in these moments: the angry cheap side who hates bureaucracy and wants to go full Karen when I feel like I’m being charged unfairly, and then the mindful and grateful side who remembers that an extra $100 here or there won’t ruin us financially. It is hard not to let Karen win the battle.

Anyway, the flight was a quick 40 minutes and we landed in Muscat. Millie has been carrying around her little purse and got some gum to keep in it. I kept catching her taking pieces and she looked so grown up.

She had a big ol’ meltdown as we were leaving the airport in which she screamed at me, threw her things on the ground, got a few warnings, and then ultimately had Ice Cream Friday cancelled for today. Which of course made things worse. She gets so loud. I could feel the judgement from everyone around us. Once again, I never know what to do in these situations. Ignore the bad behavior until it passes, with the risk of her feeling like it’s acceptable? Or hold the boundary and follow through with the consequence even though it’s the hardest option for all three of us (and anyone around us)? She passed out within 2 minutes of driving in our rental car. I felt guilty that she was tired and couldn’t control herself, and Nick reminded me that we can’t allow her to act like a monster.

We are staying at a huge hotel using points, and it seems like we are the only ones here. The concierge walked us for what felt like 10 minutes to the wing where our room is. Nick said “this feels like the Overlook Hotel from the shining”. It’s is very grand in a 90s sort of way.

This is the sign for one of the restaurants. Yikes, right? Feels especially loaded after recently learning about Omani colonization and their role in the slave trade of Zanzibar.

I was tired and emotionally spent from the airport incident, so Nick took Millie to the beach while I did a little workout and then lay in silence. Just like yesterday I was able to occasionally spy on them from the room.

They came back a couple of hours later in great moods. Apparently Millie did a great job snorkeling. They took quick showers and we headed out to dinner.

Since we booked the rooms with points we got access to the special “club lounge”. This had a free sbuffet of canapés and unlimited drinks for happy hour (6-8). After one pass, Nick and I looked at each other and said “should we just try to fill up here and save the money on dinner?” The answer was an easy yes. It almost made up for the annoying money wastage from early in the day.

Millie loved revisiting the buffet by herself, like an adult.

We played a couple of rounds of Go Fish. It’s exciting to be playing “real” card games with her, even if it is the simplest one. She knows her numbers now and is getting the hang of the minimal amount of strategy required. I can’t wait to play harder card games with her.

We had a later night, 9:30, which I hope results in an actual sleep-in tomorrow.