Tag: KSA

Tonight’s post will take you back in time to two weeks ago, when I left for Saudi. The following was written during my trek from Victoria to Riyadh, over a two-day period.
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November 16th, 5:30 pm Calgary time
I’m writing this two and a half hours into my nine and a half hour flight to Frankfurt. So far so good. We had a four hour layover in Calgary that was spent in one of the lounges. The perks of traveling with people who fly a lot. Tracy and I have four seats for the two of us, and Marty managed to upgrade to business class.

I’ve been offered free booze three times already, but have turned it down. I took an Ativan about half an hour ago and I don’t want to be totally out of it. Perhaps on the way home I’ll go the booze route instead of the drugs route.

I have a very warped sense of time right now. No big surprise as it’s 5:00 pm PST, I’ve already finished dinner, and I’m about to see if I can get comfortable enough to sleep.

I’m hoping Greg got on his ferry okay for his concert, and I’m hoping the kids are doing okay with Gramma.

Now that the trip has started I’m more excited than anxious. Imagining being on a plane is much scarier than actually being on a plane. Perhaps that’s the Ativan kicking in.

I seem to have brought some worries with me from home. They are inconsequential in the big scheme of things and I wish I could have just left them there. Maybe as I get further away they will be dropped.

That’s all for now. I’m going to try to get comfortable, read a little and then sleep.

3 hours later (8:30 pm Calgary time)
I’m tired, I have drugged myself and I can’t sleep. Maybe I should have had a drink.  I was able to get fairly comfortable, so I don’t think that was the problem. Perhaps the problem is that it’s only 7:30 pm PST. A good three hours before my bedtime. No idea what time it is where I am because I have no idea where I am right now. It’s pitch black outside.

Two hours later (10:30 pm Calgary time)
The couple in front of us is travelling with a toddler and an infant. Reminds me of our trip to NZ. Travelling is certainly easier without the dependents!

According to the map I just saw, we are approaching the UK. Which means I just flew over the Atlantic Ocean! I think we’ve got about two hours left. I’ve given up on sleep and certainly not too impressed with the Ativan. Although I don’t feel anxious, so that’s a good thing.

11:15 pm Calgary time
I’d say the flight was going well up until 15 minutes ago. I just ate breakfast and now I feel like shit. Hot, tired, a bit nauseous and ready to get off this plane. I still have over an hour. Seems like a long time from now.

10:15 am Frankfurt time (about three hours later)
I’m in Frankfurt! In the last three hours we landed, disembarked, had a shower, had a quick snack, boarded a bus and now I’m on a plane to Saudi. I’m in a total time warp. It’s morning and I never had my night (nor any sleep!). The flight to Riyadh is about five and a half hours. I think it’ll be about 5:30 pm local time when we land. A bed will feel good tonight!
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Back to the present…I again slept quite well last night, but I woke up feeling like someone had run over me. Going to Saudi the only symptoms of jet lag I felt were tiredness and an inability to sleep past 4:00 in the morning, neither of which lasted long. Coming home, I feel sick, impaired and totally out of it. Although I did go for a 90 minute walk with Amy today and I think being in the fresh air helped. I’m totally exhausted right now, but I no longer feel like I’ve been run over. So perhaps tomorrow I’ll feel a bit more normal. A friend pointed out to me today that I really haven’t been home that long, so it’s no wonder I still feel like crap.

I arrived home in one piece. The flight from Frankfurt to Vancouver was long and fairly boring, but I didn’t feel nearly as bad as I did on the Riyadh-Frankfurt flight, so that was good. I didn’t have anyone sitting beside me, which makes a huge difference, and I managed to sleep quite comfortably for a couple of hours. Unfortunately a good number of the movies available on their entertainment system were really choppy, so I couldn’t watch them. Hence the boring factor. I am not embarrassed to admit that I watched an episode of Glee that featured Madonna songs, and I loved it.

We had a two hour stop-over in Vancouver which was okay — got to go in the Air Canada lounge. I also got a chai tea latte from Starbucks, which totally treated me right.

Greg and the kids were at the airport to meet me, and it was so great to see their smiling faces as I got off the plane, and feel their hugs. They chattered on during the ride home and I managed to give them a decent amount of attention (I think), even though all I wanted was a bed. I forced myself to stay up until Amy’s bedtime. I barely got through three books with her, then I lay down beside her to sing. In five minutes of songs, I fell asleep three times. She kept saying “Mummy, why are you stopping?”. I just couldn’t stay awake.

I had promised Elliot I’d read his books as well, but I was done for the night. I have never been that tired. I asked him if he would mind if Greg read his books, and he took one look at me and said, “that’s okay, Mummy, you look really tired”. What a sweet boy.

I slept for 11 hours with a brief wake up call at 3:00 to help Amy pee. I’ve felt pretty gross all day (head-achy and light-headed) and I’m looking forward to another good night’s sleep — drug induced if I have to. I hate this groggy feeling and I hope it goes away soon.

But it’s certainly wonderful to be home.

Writing this from the Frankfurt airport. The flight from Riyadh to Frankfurt was a brutal one for me. It left at 12:50 am (which is not a great time to start your 30 hour trip home). I took an Ativan but hardly slept at all. I was hot, tired, nauseous and squished. I have a window seat for the Frankfurt to Vancouver trip so I’m hoping that helps the nausea. Thank goodness for movies — I watched “Friends with Benefits” and “Thor”. Both were good, although I’m pretty sure my judgement was impaired.

We landed, had a shower and I had an hour’s sleep in the lounge. We have a 6.5 hour layover so there’s plenty of time. I wish I’d slept longer but I woke up needing to pee urgently. Plus I was cold. So I’ve been sitting here for the last couple of hours doing my expenses, drinking luke warm tea and generally feeling sorry for myself. I’m debating lying down again but I think I’d have to set an alarm to wake myself up and I think I’d feel worse afterward. I feel like a zombie, and I’m crossing my fingers that I can sleep on the next leg.

I think I’ll go sit on a couch and veg.

Today is my last day in Saudi. It’s almost 6:00 pm here, and our flight leaves at 12:50 am. It’s going to be a long journey home.

When I was asked if I wanted to come here, my initial reaction (in my head) was a firm no. Travelling long distances on planes is in general outside my comfort zone, let alone going to a country where women are required to cover up, not allowed to do things which I take for granted, and can be charged with prostitution simply by going to dinner with a man they are not related to. But I know myself well enough to not answer right away. I said I’d think about it.

I talked to Greg and he was supportive, I talked to my mother and she was a bit freaked out, and then I talked to my sister and that was the tipping point. I was already entertaining the idea, as despite my general hesitancy in trying new and different things, I do recognize that I need to push myself at times. I think the only fear I had that I felt was rational was fear for my safety. And once I talked to my sister and her husband (who are avid, educated travellers and who would not encourage me to go anywhere unsafe), I realized that I was going to say yes. They were so excited for me, even envious. I knew I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.

I have only been in the country for 14 days and I know I experienced a very tiny part of what is Saudi, but I feel blessed for having experienced what I did, both from a cultural perspective and from a pure enjoyment perspective. I have no regrets, and being here may have opened the door to me entertaining further travel in the future, with my family. Obviously not here, and probably nowhere near the Middle East, but in doing this, I realize that seeing other parts of our world is an amazing experience, and one that should not be omitted simply because Greg and I happen to be nervous travellers.

I will be blogging about my trip in the coming days…not sure how it’s going to play out because I’m going to be doing a mix of things: sharing emails I sent to my family, posting entries I wrote while I was here and creating new entries about stuff I’ve missed. The presentation may be a bit awkward, but I want to get it down. So bear with me.