Saturday, January 17 to Sunday, January 18th.
The new adventure begins! I boarded my Etihad flight (they’re based in Abu Dhabi in the UAE). The flight was 13 hrs and fairly comfortable and uneventful except for a couple of screaming babies. Unbelievable how loud and long they can scream. I arrived in Abu Dhabi and transferred to my connecting flight to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We flew over the Red Sea and then across the arid dessert that was very bright and white and looked like we were flying over Greenland. The flight was a little less than 2 hours. I was checked through immigration by a friendly woman wearing a full burkha who didn’t need to see my visa that I had printed, I guess it’s in the system.
I found the driver that Explore had booked for me and we left the airport. It took longer to drive from the airport to the hotel (in the downtown area) than the last flight. The drive was about 40 kms and it took two and a half hours, no exaggeration! I really felt for the driver who was from Bangladesh. He has a wife and eight year old son who live in Bangladesh. He has been in Saudi for seventeen years trying to make a living to support his family. He had two small mobile shops in the bazaars here, but lost them during COVID and then the Saudi laws changed and foreigners cannot own mobile shops apparently. So he drives for a transport company that shuttles people from wherever to wherever. He works six days a week gets paid by the distance not the time, so he got screwed picking me up. He lives in a boarding apartment provided by the company and his friends are all the other drivers who are also from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and other places. He has not been home to see his son and wife for two years. And here’s me, happily retired and enjoying the life of Riley touring around the Arab countries. It makes you realize just how fortunate we are.
I am checked in to the Glory Inn and awaiting my room mate, who is either in the air or the traffic, poor guy. Tomorrow we meet our Explore tour guide Yannis and have a city tour. So, here we go!
