Unfortunately I haven’t posted anything of interest for several days.This has partially been because there has been limited internet access but mostly because I’ve been unwell. The manufacturers of tissue and toilet paper have been ecstatic as I recover from the “Delhi Belly” and “Man Flu”. Getting them simultaneously at least compressed the timeframe for feeling miserable.
Last Tuesday the “penny finally dropped” with everyone that my 30 day visa needed to be renewed by Friday and that would entail me leaving the country. I was given the option of Bahrain or the UK. I didn’t want to spend 7 hours on a flight to UK only to have to return so I opted to try my luck again with Bahrain. There were problems last time but hopefully everyone (including me) had learned from the experience. Transport options were fly, train or car. I opted to fly and then discovered I’d have to book “online”. Unfortunately I don’t have a card that works in the country and I can’t get one because I can’t open a bank account; because I’m on a business visa. Long story! Anyway, I was able to arrange for one of the locals to purchase the tickets for me and I reimbursed him in cash.
The next job was to explain to my driver that he needed to take me to the airport rather than the office. This was successfully don’t using my limited arabic, the phrase book, hand gestures and a calculator (for the time).
Riyadh airport is north of the city and I live and work in the south. The roads in the south aren’t in great condition and many of the building then to be bland. However I noticed on the trip to the airport that the roads in the north are in better condition and the architecture is much more interesting.
Nice clean and three four (sometimes made into five by the locals) lane road with a manicured lawn on the median strip and flowerbeds on the verges.
The following interesting building appeared on the right.
A building with a hole in the middle and a pedestrian walkway.
There’s nothing unique about Riyadh airport; apart from the fact it has a separate “Royal” terminal. The country has a very large number of princes and princesses so I guess there’s a demand for a separate terminal. It would probably be named the “VIP Terminal” in other countries.
The first problem I had at the terminal was an inability to find a check-in counter. There were self check-in consoles but they didn’t recognise my booking number. In the end I discovered you had to go through baggage security to get to check-in. After having the bag scanned I eventually made my way to the head of the check-in queue only to discover my booking number wasn’t recognised. After several minutes I discovered the reason why. No one had bothered to tell me there were two domestic airlines (I’d only seen Saudia) and I was booked with FLYNAS. Their check-in was located on the other side of the terminal. Of course that meant exiting security with my suitcase and going through security (again) on the other side of the terminal. However I did manage to get a boarding card. The next problem was working out where to go. I used an old trick and watched where the person behind me in the check-in queue went. This led me to a second security check. Unfortunately I made a poor decision and joined the queue on the right. The problem was that whilst there was a separate Ladies queue (and an enclosed room for them to be searched away from male observation) they were using the same security scanning machine. As there were fewer ladies travelling they were simply going to the head of the queue and placing their hand luggage on the security machine conveyor belt. The males were all deferring to the females which was seriously slowing down our queue. I guess that is one of the advantages of being a female in the country.
Once on the aircraft I had to ask the man sitting in my seat to move (as you usually have to). He was supposed to be in the window seat but had taken mine. Eventually I was able to explain he was in the wrong seat and he moved. We had a vacant seat between us which I thought was good news until a large Saudi arrived to occupy the middle seat. He overflowed his seat pressing me into the isle. Leg room was also a problem. My knees were pressed against the back of the seat in front. Obviously FLYNAS is the equivalent of JetStar, EasyJet, Ryan Air.
The cabin crew were all female and they were obviously not Saudi as the Saudi females are not allowed to work. Moreover they had their faces uncovered. I picked one to be Egyptian and the second looked to be Indonesia. However the third looked European and this surprised me. Eventually there was an announcement over the intercom explaining languages spoken by the cabin crew. One of these was Romanian, so my guess is the European crew member was from Romania.
The introduction by the pilot was slightly disturbing. “We will be departing at 11.50 Inshallah (God willing), flying to Dammam at 31,000 feet, Inshallah, arriving at 13.00 Inshallah. I would much rather the flight wasn’t dependent upon God. I’d prefer to know the mechanics had done a good job on the aircraft maintenance!
Nothing of interest occurred during the one hour flight. I could see down the isle because my Saudi travelling companion was squeezing me over the armrest.
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