This episode of the Amateur Traveler podcast is sponsored by Smart Travel, a new podcast from the smart people at NerdWallet.

From choosing the right travel card to dodging hidden fees, smart travel helps your money go further.

Literally.

They cover all things travel finance, including the smartest ways to book flights without

playing the guest the cheapest day game, how to avoid paying for upgrades you won't use,

when to book peak season trips without paying peak season prices, and how to maximize

points for real savings, not just free bottled water.

So they cover all the stuff we don't.

And there's a reason for that.

I don't know these subjects as well as the smart people at NerdWallet do.

So if you're looking for information about financing your travels, check out SmartTravel.

Travel smarter and spend less with the help from NerdWallet.

Follow Smart Travel wherever you get your podcasts. And thanks to Smart Travel and NerdWallet

for sponsoring this episode of Amateur Traveler. Amateur Traveler Episode 959. Today, Amateur Traveler

talks about turquoise canyon pools, a cliff top balcony trail,

rescuing sea turtles, the stars in the desert, a perfume fit for royalty, and the green hills

of the monsoon as we go to the country of Oman. This is Chris Christensen from amateur traveler.

Let's talk about Oman.

I'd like to welcome back to the show, Max Walton from Sloths with Latitude.com, who is very

recently on talking about Brunei and Saba, but has come back to talk to us about Oman. Max, welcome back to the show. Hi, Chris. Thanks again for having me on the show. Look forward to talking to you and your listeners about my personal favorite country on earth, the wonderful Sultanate of Oman. For you and I, it has not been that long. By the time this comes out, it will be a couple more months. It will seem a little more spread out to people, but it feels like you were just here. It's good to be back. And I loved the episode we did on Brunei. You pitched me Oman, though, as your favorite country. Yeah, it's a country that I spent some time in a couple of summers ago. And I loved it so much. I actually ended up writing my

university thesis, my college thesis, all about the politics of Oman to kind of understand why

Oman is the way it is. So it's a country that I feel really strongly about, and I spend a long

...