Я ЗАСТРЯЛ рядом с Ираном — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Well, good day, good evening, or good
2. 0:03morning to you, whenever you're
3. 0:05watching this video. I have a story for
4. 0:09you. Of this, which didn't go according
5. 0:19to
6. 0:20As you can guess, I’m not in the
7. 0:22studio. Yeah. And as you can tell from
8. 0:25the thumbnail, I’m not even in Russia
9. 0:27. I'm stuck near Iran. You know, all
10. 0:30those things you've been seeing in the
11. 0:32news, everything happening there and so
12. 0:33on. So I’m here, I’m here, and I'll
13. 0:35just tell you a little bit about how
14. 0:37things are going for us here, what’s
15. 0:38happening, and so on. I have no idea.
16. 0:40Whether you see me or not, I’m
17. 0:42currently in some hotel near the Oman
18. 0:44airport. Anyway, here’s the story: I
19. 0:46was supposed to fly to Antarctica this
20. 0:48year. I'd planned it for a long time,
21. 0:50wanted it, dreamed of it. And it seemed
22. 0:53like around New Year's, I could have
23. 0:54flown to Antarctica this year. But due
24. 0:57to work tasks and scheduling, it didn't
25. 0:59work out. It didn't work because, after
26. 1:00all, it’s a long trip. I needed to
27. 1:02set aside about a month. I already had
28. 1:04karting training scheduled in Abu Dhabi
29. 1:06during the January New Year holidays. I
30. 1:08was there, actually, we were training
31. 1:10there, we met up with Zhenya Afronov,
32. 1:11he's a Formula 1 photographer. And he
33. 1:14goes, "Guys, I was in Oman recently,
34. 1:16it's amazing." We said, "Great, sounds
35. 1:19cool, wonderful." Just for a week,
36. 1:21literally, we'll fly to Oman, see the
37. 1:23mountains and so on. Well, damn, did we
38. 1:25see them. It's March 1st on my watch
39. 1:27right now, 10:00 AM local time. We
40. 1:29arrived here on the 19th, and yesterday
41. 1:30, that is, February 28th, when all the
42. 1:32commotion started, we were supposed to
43. 1:34fly out of the airport. We had a 3 PM
44. 1:37flight to Moscow. That’s it, heading
45. 1:39home, work week, work schedule, let's
46. 1:41go, flying out, wonderful, we rested,
47. 1:43everything's cool. We check the news in
48. 1:45the morning and see that something is
49. 1:46happening here. Something, some
50. 1:48missiles flew somewhere. It seems like
51. 1:50it’s not too far from here. Oman, if
52. 1:51you didn't know, is, if you imagine the
53. 1:53Arabian Peninsula as a boot. It’s
54. 1:55right at the toe. It’s a neighbor of
55. 1:56the United Arab Emirates. We’re
56. 1:58literally sitting just over the fence.
57. 2:00So, I check the news and see that
58. 2:01something has happened here. I thought,
59. 2:03"Well, how convenient that I'm leaving
60. 2:05right on time." Actually, in just 6
61. 2:07hours, we are flying out of here.
62. 2:09Uh-huh. And just one hour before our
63. 2:12flight, they closed the airport and the
64. 2:14airspace. And all the news on the
65. 2:16Russian internet is about how there are
66. 2:18tons of people at the airport and so on
67. 2:19. We are part of this whole situation
68. 2:21too. Well, the only thing is that
69. 2:22we’re in Amman. Yeah. Not in Dubai.
70. 2:25But this is the first time I’ve ever
71. 2:26found myself in a situation like this.
72. 2:27In general, as a traveler, I like
73. 2:29collecting strange achievements; for
74. 2:30example, this summer I was stuck in a
75. 2:32typhoon for 3 days. Those who remember
76. 2:34that news segment know what I mean. I
77. 2:36thought that by coming here, I’d earn
78. 2:38the achievement of having visited
79. 2:39absolutely every sultanate on our
80. 2:41planet. There are only two of them, one
81. 2:43is Brunei, and the second is Oman.
82. 2:45That’s it, there are no other
83. 2:46sultanates on the planet. If you happen
84. 2:48to not know, a sultanate is, well, like
85. 2:50a monarchy, only Islamic, where you
86. 2:51have a sultan, power is inherited,
87. 2:53it’s a total dictatorship, and all
88. 2:54that. But now I’m also getting the
89. 2:57achievement of being stuck on the
90. 2:58Arabian Peninsula because of a war.
91. 3:00It’s quite funny to watch the Russian
92. 3:02news cycle while being here, because,
93. 3:04well, everything related to Oman and
94. 3:05local airports and so on isn’t
95. 3:07reflected here. I mean, everywhere
96. 3:09there, there’s news about sirens
97. 3:11sounding, things flying, bombings,
98. 3:13closed airspace, and so on. Here, in
99. 3:15reality, that’s not quite the case.
100. 3:16As of right now, at 10 AM, there
101. 3:18haven't been any air raid sirens yet,
102. 3:20and nothing seems to have flown by. The
103. 3:24airspace isn't actually closed, but the
104. 3:25problem is that Oman is located right
105. 3:27on the toe of this big boot. And
106. 3:29everything else nearby is closed. And
107. 3:31in theory, the flight from Muscat to
108. 3:33Moscow goes directly over Iran. And the
109. 3:35airline, apparently, either hasn't
110. 3:37cleared it yet, or can't clear it, or
111. 3:39can't find a detour. Anyway, yeah, well
112. 3:41, like, we’re stuck, sitting in the
113. 3:42Telegram channel. Naturally, we have
114. 3:44tons of jokes and memes there, because
115. 3:45I have nothing else to do here. By now,
116. 3:47I was supposed to be in Moscow, should
117. 3:49have been writing proper news, should
118. 3:50have been making a video for the main
119. 3:52channel, everything should have been
120. 3:53happening. But now there will be
121. 3:55content for a few days. Well, let's see
122. 3:58how my internet works here and if I'll
123. 3:59even be able to send this footage, or
124. 4:01if you'll see it at all, or if the
125. 4:02audio will be decent, because again,
126. 4:03the audio is being recorded on my
127. 4:05laptop right now since I don't have any
128. 4:06equipment or anything with me. I’ve
129. 4:09just got the phone set up on a kettle,
130. 4:11a napkin holder, and a lid from a box
131. 4:13of chocolates. The most reliable
132. 4:15construction ever. I even set it up so
133. 4:17that I can see the reflection of the
134. 4:18phone screen in the mirror, and I can
135. 4:20actually see that it's recording. So,
136. 4:22honestly, you can go and have a walk
137. 4:23without a worry. I can just entertain
138. 4:25myself here. I had this idea in mind
139. 4:28that as soon as I got back to Moscow,
140. 4:29we’d immediately record an episode of
141. 4:31"It Didn't Go to Plan" about being here
142. 4:33in Oman—what kind of trips there are,
143. 4:35what interesting routes there are, how
144. 4:37to drive a car, what to see, because
145. 4:38Oman is really a very interesting
146. 4:40country and, well, a lot more fun than
147. 4:41the UAE, if you ask me. Although the
148. 4:44whole peninsula is fun right now, damn
149. 4:46it. But since I’m stuck here, I’ll
150. 4:48tell you everything straight from here,
151. 4:50because usually our episodes of "It
152. 4:51Didn't Go to Plan" imply that the guys
153. 4:52are sitting in the studio, maybe
154. 4:54tossing out some questions, maybe
155. 4:55we’re discussing something, or maybe
156. 4:57I’m showing some photos. Here I am,
157. 4:59sitting alone, and I’m going to tell
158. 5:01you about Oman today, if there’s any
159. 5:03point, that is, if any of this even
160. 5:05stays up over the next week. No joking
161. 5:07aside, it’s unclear how to get out,
162. 5:09because all airspace is closed,
163. 5:10airports obviously aren't working, and
164. 5:12all the airlines, naturally, aren't
165. 5:13responding. Uh, the consulates are also
166. 5:16like, "Well, you know, just wait it out
167. 5:17somehow." Nobody has any information,
168. 5:19because nobody understands a thing,
169. 5:21honestly. Neither Oman, nor the airport
170. 5:22, nor the airlines, nor neighboring
171. 5:24countries—there's no straight answer
172. 5:25from anyone. So, well, the general
173. 5:27recommendation everywhere is just to
174. 5:28sit and wait. My dilemma looks like
175. 5:31this: either just keep sitting in some
176. 5:34hotel near the airport, don't move, and
177. 5:36just wait—for what, I don't know—or
178. 5:39try to sneak out of here somehow.
179. 5:42Basically, there are two options: find
180. 5:45a car and drive to the Saudi Arabian
181. 5:47border, cross on foot, and then try to
182. 5:49get out through Riyadh or Jeddah, or
183. 5:51try to catch a Cairo flight, which
184. 5:53seems like it might be flying, but also
185. 5:56might not be. Nothing, once again,
186. 5:58there is absolutely no reliable
187. 5:59information. Flightradar shows one
188. 6:00thing, while the departures board shows
189. 6:02another. In reality, at the airport,
190. 6:03it’s a third thing, because our
191. 6:05Moscow flight status showed everything
192. 6:06was fine for several hours after we
193. 6:08already knew it was canceled. The first
194. 6:10thing I’ll decide to do is check the
195. 6:11Telegram channel. I hope the next video
196. 6:13will be out from the studio, and that's
197. 6:15it. A proper one from Moscow, with a
198. 6:17news roundup. Or maybe just some
199. 6:19fascinating story. If there is, of
200. 6:21course, an option to turn this trip
201. 6:22into a more interesting adventure, I
202. 6:24will certainly take advantage of it.
203. 6:26For now, I’m still thinking it over.
204. 6:29But, jokes aside, if we assume the
205. 6:31entire Arabian Peninsula remains a
206. 6:33fixture on our planet and people can
207. 6:35still fly and travel here, Oman is
208. 6:37worth considering as a tourist
209. 6:39destination, I must say. Because over
210. 6:43the last 10 years or so, the Emirates,
211. 6:45Dubai, Abu Dhabi, all that has become a
212. 6:48fairly popular tourist destination in
213. 6:51Russia. I mean, relatively speaking, in
214. 6:53the 2000s and 2010s, the most popular
215. 6:54tourist destinations were Turkey and
216. 6:56Egypt. But after the pandemic and 2022,
217. 6:58and all that, people started traveling
218. 7:00more to the Emirates and Asia. Honestly
219. 7:03, I’ve never understood, and still
220. 7:04don’t, why people go to Dubai. Just
221. 7:07for a vacation. Why? For what purpose?
222. 7:09Because, well, it’s a very strange
223. 7:10place from every point of view. It’s
224. 7:12dusty, the air is lousy, and there are
225. 7:14absolutely colorless skyscrapers.
226. 7:15There’s an opinion that St.
227. 7:17Petersburg is gray, for example, but
228. 7:18overall, if you look closely at Dubai,
229. 7:20it’s also completely monotonous. I
230. 7:22mean, you’ve just got desert and
231. 7:23identical skyscrapers. It’s insanely
232. 7:25expensive. And besides expensive hotels
233. 7:27, there’s nothing to see, because all
234. 7:30around you is just desert. That’s it.
235. 7:32Well, you could go to Ras Al Khaimah,
236. 7:34that’s a neighboring emirate;
237. 7:36there’s a bit of a mountain range
238. 7:38there, and it seems there are some,
239. 7:40well, roads where you can have an
240. 7:42interesting drive. And that’s all.
241. 7:43Basically, there’s nothing to do in
242. 7:45Dubai unless you’re an escort or a
243. 7:47crypto bro. At the same time, the
244. 7:48Emirates really don’t have anything
245. 7:49historical. You have completely
246. 7:52artificial streets built, well,
247. 7:53probably on an American model, where
248. 7:55you just have a road, houses, then
249. 7:57another road, houses, another road, a
250. 7:59house, and that’s it. You just move
251. 8:02around these blocks, and as a tourist,
252. 8:03there's really nothing to see besides
253. 8:05the hotel and alcohol. But in that
254. 8:08paradigm, it seems better to me to go
255. 8:09to Turkey, because at least there's a
256. 8:11real city, you can go somewhere, see
257. 8:13something interesting, and the climate
258. 8:14is just better. That's why Dubai has
259. 8:16always been a strange place to me. And
260. 8:17then there's Zhenya Safronov. And a big
261. 8:19thank you to him for the advice. He
262. 8:21advised me to go to Oman and look at
263. 8:23the real Arabia. There are historical
264. 8:24things, there are landscapes, and there
265. 8:26is everything in general. So I went,
266. 8:27and I'm still sitting here confirming
267. 8:29that if there is no war going on—make
268. 8:31sure there is no war—then it is
269. 8:32really interesting, fun, cool, and
270. 8:34great here. If you look at a Google map
271. 8:36, well, any relief map, you can notice
272. 8:38that Oman is actually a rather
273. 8:40mountainous country. There are a lot of
274. 8:42mountains; on one side, you have a
275. 8:43desert with all sorts of camps and
276. 8:45overnight lodges where you can come,
277. 8:46sleep in the desert, and look at the
278. 8:48stars. Maybe we'll do that, because
279. 8:50there’s nothing else to do now;
280. 8:52I’ve mostly been in the mountains the
281. 8:54whole time. We didn't make it to the
282. 8:55desert. Maybe we will, because there
283. 8:57are no plans for the next few days for
284. 8:59now. But the mountains, though. If
285. 9:02you're a person who loves road trips,
286. 9:05in the sense of flying to a country,
287. 9:07renting a car, and just driving off to
288. 9:10explore the area, Oman is simply
289. 9:12magnificent. First of all, car rentals
290. 9:14here are very cheap. You can rent a
291. 9:16standard Prado here for 4-5,000 rubles.
292. 9:18per day. Gas is priced very pleasantly,
293. 9:22it costs very little. In our money,
294. 9:25it's about 30 rubles. per liter. The
295. 9:27roads are absolutely magnificent. And
296. 9:29most importantly, there are very
297. 9:30interesting mountains and mountain
298. 9:31passes here. So we rented a car. The
299. 9:33rental agent arrives and says, "Here's
300. 9:35the car.""Let's do the paperwork." And
301. 9:37usually, how it looks when you rent a
302. 9:38car, the person comes over and says, "
303. 9:40Look, here’s a record of every single
304. 9:41scratch.""Under no circumstances go
305. 9:44into the sand, don't go off-road.""If
306. 9:47it’s clearly visible that you took
307. 9:49the car off-road or anything like that,
308. 9:51we’ll charge you a fine, a penalty,
309. 9:53and so on.""Never exceed the speed
310. 9:55limits," and a whole list of things you
311. 9:57absolutely must not do. It’s like you
312. 9:59just got the car, and you have to be
313. 10:00super careful, hands at ten and two,
314. 10:01buckled up, following the speed limit,
315. 10:03driving in the right lane. That's
316. 10:04pretty much what all rental agencies
317. 10:05say. A guy from the rental place shows
318. 10:07up and is like, "Here's your Land
319. 10:08Cruiser." So, listen up. We actually
320. 10:10have these pre-planned routes. As a
321. 10:12company catering to tourists, we
322. 10:13understand you want to drive around.
323. 10:15Here are some spots you should visit.
324. 10:17But, wait, look what I have
325. 10:18specifically for you. We have an
326. 10:20off-road route with some seriously
327. 10:22crazy mountain passes. It turned out to
328. 10:24be quite difficult, actually, because
329. 10:26if it's your first day behind the wheel
330. 10:27, it's better not to take such a pass;
331. 10:29it's genuinely really tough. You have
332. 10:31very steep descents on sandy surfaces.
333. 10:33If you, say, start sliding or something
334. 10:35goes wrong, it's very easy to fly off a
335. 10:37cliff. That's why you can only drive
336. 10:40there with full four-wheel drive
337. 10:41engaged, all low-range gears on, and
338. 10:43manual gear selection. Very carefully,
339. 10:46at 5 km/h. Well, something along those
340. 10:48lines. They gave us a few of these
341. 10:50trails. I'll leave the most beautiful
342. 10:51one in the comments. If any of you ever
343. 10:54happen to go to Oman at some point, the
344. 10:56route from Nizwa to the coast is just
345. 10:59insane. It’s a very beautiful route,
346. 11:01probably. It’s in my top three
347. 11:03mountain passes I’ve ever seen in my
348. 11:05life. Top one is the Dolomite Alps. Top
349. 11:08two is the mountains in Kyrgyzstan.
350. 11:09There’s also an opinion among friends
351. 11:11and acquaintances that you absolutely
352. 11:12must go to Tajikistan because the
353. 11:13mountain passes there are also very
354. 11:15beautiful. But I'll get to that later,
355. 11:17just in case some trouble starts nearby
356. 11:19. That’s when I’ll head over there.
357. 11:20Definitely. I'm a lucky guy in that
358. 11:22regard. Anyway, from a historical
359. 11:24standpoint, there is something to see
360. 11:25here. Unlike the Emirates, there are at
361. 11:28least some old buildings here, some old
362. 11:30settlements, and remnants of when Oman
363. 11:32was a Portuguese colony; there are
364. 11:34Portuguese buildings. It's funny how
365. 11:36they try to turn every single object
366. 11:38and old building into a tourist spot,
367. 11:40saying, "Look at our history, you
368. 11:42absolutely must come and see." That’s
369. 11:45because, at the moment, the country is
370. 11:4785%dependent on oil and gas, and they
371. 11:49don't actually have that many reserves,
372. 11:51so they need to find additional sources
373. 11:53of income and organize something extra.
374. 11:56That is why they are currently
375. 11:57investing a lot of money into tourism,
376. 11:58among other things. It seems Oman has a
377. 12:00goal to turn itself into a more
378. 12:02attractive tourist destination than the
379. 12:04Emirates. And they have everything they
380. 12:06need to make it happen, because there
381. 12:08are lovely hotels here, a coast, and
382. 12:10the gulf itself is beautiful; you can
383. 12:12go boating, snorkeling, and diving.
384. 12:14There’s marine life, mountains, and
385. 12:16historical districts. And, of course,
386. 12:18there’s the desert. Again, if you
387. 12:19want to lie in the desert and look at
388. 12:20the sky, no problem at all. And he gave
389. 12:22a little tip: "Well, if you go into the
390. 12:23desert, when you drive on the dunes,
391. 12:25keep your foot on the gas." Something
392. 12:26like that is what he told me. So,
393. 12:28speaking for myself, purely as a
394. 12:29tourist destination—setting aside the
395. 12:31fact that there might be a war—it’s
396. 12:33very interesting. place. Furthermore,
397. 12:35strangely enough, it's safe. It has one
398. 12:37of the lowest crime rates on the entire
399. 12:39planet. If you go online and read
400. 12:41anything about Oman, you'll see claims
401. 12:43that it’s a very strict Islamic state
402. 12:44where everyone is covered up, alcohol
403. 12:46is forbidden, women can't walk down the
404. 12:48street in shorts, and so on. Well, on
405. 12:50one hand that’s true, but on the
406. 12:52other, not entirely. Everything is
407. 12:53available in the hotels, and no one is
408. 12:54going to stop you from walking around
409. 12:55in your trunks. And in all the tourist
410. 12:57spots, people are quite understanding.
411. 12:59We weren't reprimanded once, even
412. 13:01though we walked around in shorts
413. 13:02without any issues at all. So, from a
414. 13:04tourist's perspective, in my opinion,
415. 13:06it’s much more fun to go to Oman than
416. 13:08to Dubai. That’s what I’m getting
417. 13:09at. Not in the current situation, of
418. 13:11course, and I hope this resolves as
419. 13:12quickly as possible and that none of
420. 13:14our people get hurt anywhere. But the
421. 13:16feeling is interesting. On one hand,
422. 13:18I’m supposed to be really worried,
423. 13:21stressed out, and losing my mind. We
424. 13:24have a group chat for everyone on our
425. 13:26plane, and people there are constantly
426. 13:27trying to do something, trying to
427. 13:29figure things out, running around, and
428. 13:30so on. I’m a bit calmer because
429. 13:32I’ve already sat through typhoons,
430. 13:35closed airports, and snowstorms for
431. 13:37days on end. I’ve experienced it
432. 13:40firsthand several times, when you're
433. 13:42just stuck for a few days at some hotel
434. 13:44, or camp, or somewhere completely
435. 13:45unexpected due to external
436. 13:47circumstances. It’s easier for me in
437. 13:49that regard. It’s not my first time.
438. 13:51Especially since I’ve been to Sochi
439. 13:52about five times for training in the
440. 13:54last year, and every night there's an
441. 13:55air raid siren and some drone explodes
442. 13:56somewhere. I was in Kursk when the AFU
443. 13:59invasion actually happened there. So,
444. 14:01I’m used to it. The most surprising
445. 14:03thing is that my parents seem used to
446. 14:04it too. I mean, my parents aren't even
447. 14:06raising any alarm or panicking at all.
448. 14:08They’re like, "Ah, well, he’s
449. 14:09somewhere, he’s doing fine.
450. 14:10Everything is okay, it's good, he's
451. 14:11been through it before." Mom just asks,
452. 14:13"Did you eat?" Oh well. They won't give
453. 14:17us our luggage because, once again, the
454. 14:19airport closed right at the moment we
455. 14:21were supposed to take off. They didn't
456. 14:23give us any of it. They just kicked us
457. 14:25all out of the airport and sent us to
458. 14:26hotels. Maybe we’ll go now and try to
459. 14:28fight to get at least our underwear
460. 14:30back. Well, on the other hand, you can
461. 14:32jump around the desert without
462. 14:33underwear too. Anyway, this is just a
463. 14:35short update with no real point, just
464. 14:37to share that I'm here and alive.
465. 14:39Everything is fine. Follow all the
466. 14:40updates on the Telegram channel. And,
467. 14:42accordingly, the main episodes and
468. 14:44regular news segments will be delayed a
469. 14:47bit. Perhaps the next episode will be
470. 14:49something like me riding in some Toyota
471. 14:51pickup truck with a machine gun in the
472. 14:53back. There we go. I’ll also be
473. 14:54saying that everything is fine,
474. 14:55everything is under control. Everything
475. 14:57is good. Just a couple of things to
476. 14:59take care of and we'll be back. There.
477. 15:00And, of course, it’s very interesting
478. 15:03to see how Formula 1 will explain all
479. 15:05this. After all, Formula 1 races in
480. 15:07Russia were canceled because Russia
481. 15:09invaded Ukraine. There. And now, what
482. 15:11is Formula 1 going to cancel something?
483. 15:13And if they are going to cancel, then
484. 15:15what? Logically, should they cancel the
485. 15:18Vegas Grand Prix, or COTA, the Circuit
486. 15:21of the Americas in Texas, or what? Or
487. 15:24Saudi Arabia, or Bahrain, or Qatar. Or
488. 15:27Abu Dhabi. Everything, everything here,
489. 15:28well, as if, everything here in Formula
490. 15:301 was supposed to be. Or there are
491. 15:31already a bunch of memes on the
492. 15:32internet where, you know, cars are
493. 15:34driving, and there are rockets behind
494. 15:35them, Godzilla is walking around,
495. 15:36something like that. And only the
496. 15:38second month of '26 has just ended. I
497. 15:41hope it won't surprise us with anything
498. 15:43else. Or we just won't be surprised
499. 15:45anymore. Already like, "Well, okay, one
500. 15:49continent less. Fine, we didn't want it
501. 15:52that much anyway." I don't know what
502. 15:54else to say. I guess I'll wish you a
503. 15:56good day and send rays of support,
504. 15:58warmth, and hugs. Purr-meow. See you.
505. 16:01Bye.