Rials and Visa Musings

Here's a somewhat blurry picture of some Omani Rials, which is my pick for prettiest currency (or at least the one that, at the moment, I think is prettiest). It is unusual in that it is one of the few currencies, other than the Euro or the British Pound obviously, that is actually more valuable than the US Dollar. The Dollar, even considering the pounding that it has taken over the last few years, is almost always more valuable than other country's currency, so you're always factoring in so many Rupees or Forints or Lira to one Dollar. In the UAE the Dirham is tied to the value of the Dollar so it never changes - I normally do the quick calculation of three Dirhams to one Dollar (which is not actually exactly correct, but close enough for figuring purposes) when I'm considering a purchase. Other currencies move up and down versus the Dollar (it's usually best to just get cash out of a local ATM, which will have better exchange rates than currency exchange booths, especially in an airport). I've recounted the time I almost spent $200 on a wooden Santa Claus decoration in Budapest because I lost track of the value of the Forint (I thought I had found a great value for $20). It's a lot easier in Europe when almost everyone is on the Euro. In regards to the Rial, the Omani currency, at the moment it's around 2.6 dollars to one Rial - and on my first visit to Muscat it was around 3 to 1. I tend to still do the quick calcuation using the 3 to 1, although in the opposite order than the Dirham/Dollar exchange. While waiting to board the plane in Abu Dhabi I decided to go ahead and trade in some Dirhams for some Rials. Using my brutish math skills I reversed engineered the two exchange rates and figured that it would be around 10 Dirhams to one Rial, and was pleased when it turned out to be fairly close to that rough estimation.

I also had a pleasant experience when I arrived at the airport in Muscat and queued up to pick up my Omani visa. Well, it ended up being a pleasant surprise. Initially I was a little annoyed because the woman at the Oman Air counter in Abu Dhabi didn't give me my ticket to Salalah, which meant that I could not easily transfer through at the Muscat Airport, which required that I pick up the visa and then pass out of the airport and back into it to get my boarding pass on to Salalah - but that's another story. With most countries that require a visa - with obvious exceptions in regards to places like Russia and India - you can just get your visa at the airport, although that can be peculiar as well. I remember on my first visit to Kenya I had gone to the trouble of getting the equivalent of $50 in Kenyan currency because the guidebook stated that the visa fee was $50 - except that they really wanted $50 in American Dollars and were highly indignant that I was actually trying to foist off Kenyan money on them, and the guy behind the counter sulked off to exchange it into US dollars, with, what I am sure, was a healthy carrying charge. Any travel agent can also help arrange for you to get your visa in advance, although it is pricey. My advice would be to definitely take that approach with places like Russia or India, but many other places make it much simpler to just do it at the airport. I took that approach with Zambia one time and the visa "stamp" in my passport when it returned was little more than handwriting on top of print - and the folks at the Lusaka airport seemed amused that I had done it in advance. Anyway, as an American resident it would have cost 20 Rials - or a little less than $60 for a single entry visa - but because I am a GCC resident, or at the very least I have a GCC residency visa (as compared to a GCC national), it only cost 5 Rials.