I am very proud to share that OmanTripper has been awarded Traveler’s Choice 2023 award by TripAdvisor! This incredible recognition, and being amongst the top 10% worldwide is very humbling for me, and frankly a bit of a surprise. I started OmanTripper in 2013 as a blog and as source of information for visitors to Oman, never imagining I’ll ever be a tour guide, or responsible for arranging or conducting tours for anyone.
Now a decade later, I am a licensed tour guide in Oman, and have lead and arranged hundreds of tours, trying to have the OmanTripper social-media channels and blog as active as I possibly can, all while having a (very) demanding full-time job not related to this field whatsoever.
Balancing all of this has been extremely challenging, and ever since COVID-19, and due to various other reasons, I have not been able to conduct tours regularly, relying mostly on my trusted guides & affiliates. Being the solo person responsible for all OmanTripper activities (being essentially the blogger, tour guide, tour planner, social media manager and photographer & videographer) can be a bit overwhelming, especially as this is still a ‘side-hobby’ that I do because I really enjoy it – but it has also been frustrating as I just can’t get enough time (and energy) to grow the brand and do all the things I want for OmanTripper!
This is all why this small ‘recognition’ means quite a lot for me, as it shows that I can still do this despite all the challenges and hurdles!
None of this would be possible without my amazing guides and affiliates, whom I am rely to run tours sometimes, and whose contributions and efforts directly resulted in this achievement.
Of course, no tour is also possible without our amazing guests – those who asked me for advise, and entrusted me (and my guides) in helping make their experience in Oman as memorable as possible, many of whom ended up being good friends!
So thanks to this amazing community of travelers, fellow adventurers and lovers of Oman! I hope you continue sticking around and supporting OmanTripper in this journey!
3 replies on “OmanTripper wins 2023 Traveler’s Choice Award!”
Hello Ali
Congratulations on the well deserved award. I found your blog a few days ago preparing for my solo trip to Oman and it’s extremely helpful.
I am going to rent a sedan during my visit, so that I avoid the off-road driving which I am not experienced with. Could you still recommend me some wadi hikes that are left possible for me, except Wadi Shab, of course? I am also gonna have your Muscat area hikes recommendations, but I’m more interested in Al Hamra, Al Ayn and other places where I don’t need 4WD. Also if you can advise on the best independent way to visit Golden dunes, without extreme driving, I would be really grateful!
Hello Yuli,
Thanks, appreciate the kind words and supper.
You can still access many great hikes and locations with a sedan car. I can recommend Wadi Hawer (nesr Wadi Bani Khaled) it’s beautiful and super nice, you can also do Wadi Suq at Misfat Al Abriyeen (it’s the hike I wrote about in my article titled “Al Mazare’ trek at Misfat Al Abriyeen”, it’s easier to do now compared to when I wrote the article back in 2016-2017 ish). This is also very near Al Hamra village.
You can also consider Wadi Dhum (I have a very old article on that) and combine it with visit to Al Ayn Beehive tombs and my favorite mountain – Jabal Misht.
Hope that’s helpful, feel free to drop me an email if you have any questions or need helo/contacts/guides/etc.
Thank you very much!