The Saudi Arabian VISA process can be lengthy depending on your race, nationality and religion, luckily being a white American who is not practicing any religion, my VISA was approved very quickly. Which is good because they need your document number in order to book the flights. Jason's was approved a few days after mine, and the other guy coming JR (he's from Canada) still hasn't been approved.
Since our VISA's were approved later than expected tickets weren't booked until Monday 4/16, the day we were supposed to travel. Luckily they did not have us leaving the same day, although they could have, I was totally ready.
When I got my itinerary, I saw that I was 1)flying through Chicago and the Frankfurt, which means with Jason (yes!) and 2) flying to Jeddah, not Dammam. I found this to be odd and got a little bit concerned. I asked and apparently the stores I was originally planned to go are delayed in opening so I was coming to Jeddah, where we have 4 stores that are already open. I was quite excited to be coming to Jeddah, even if for a short period of time. This way I would have a person I know (and enjoy spending time with) to travel with and would be not have to assimilate into the culture alone.
April 18th arrived, departure date....FINALLY! Although it was only 2 days later than originally planned, those two days were probably two of the longest days ever! All of our flights were pretty great, and we all know how if something is going to happen it will happen when I travel.
I've never taken a long haul flight before and I must say, I'm 100% impressed. Our flight from Chicago to Frankfurt was on a Boeing 777, which I tried to take a picture of, but as you can see, I only got a small section of it as its so huge.
Before we even left Jason and I upgraded our seats to economy plus and we bit an exit row. I swear, we could have both laid on the floor in front of our seats and had a slumber party, we had that much room....it was awesome. All of the flight attendants in our cabin talked to us and asked us about where our journey was taking us. Usually I find flight attendants to be standoff-ish, but these weren't.
Shockingly, we were even given a hot meal, which as far as airplane food is considered was good. Jason had beef and I had chicken. I think I slept for about 2 hours of the 8, which totally screwed up my body clock-but I had anticipated that. When we landed at Frankfurt, we had a little bit of time to relax and walk around before our next flight.
Our flight from Frankfurt to Jeddah felt like it took forever!!!! (it was only 4:45). We flew on Lufthansa, and let me tell you I am in LOVE with that airline now. Every single cabin attendant was nice (and attractive, not that it matters, but it was noticed), we had quick, efficient service with a smile. And these attendants worked. We had 4 beverage services, a hot meal, and tons of other times when the to serve the main economy cabin. This was so weird to me, on US carriers, you are lucky if you get a beverage service on a 4 hour flight.
We arrived 25 minutes early in Jeddah and it was hot, muggy and dusty. Welcome to life in the dessert. The customs process was so easy, in comparison to what I had heard, but I think that we came in at time when mAny pilgrims were arriving and officials were just tired. We got our bags and met up with Josh (the local Operations Manager, aka District Manager).
The trip to our hotel was full of fast driving cars and horns blaring in traffic- I felt like I was back in Boston for a minute. ;-). Josh gave us a little bit of info on Jeddah. Everything looked dirty from all of the dust! It reminded me of India, NYC and Jamaica all tossed together. Lots of people, lots of traffic, dirty and dinged up cars and tons of marketing / stores everywhere.
We are staying at the Marriott Jeddah. It's an average Marriott, although it is rated 5 stars. The service has been superior. The staff here answers the phone with the greeting, "At your Service" and has met any request that I have had. Today I'm going to ask for about 15-20 more hangers so that I can hang everything that needs hanging. So we will see....
I'm a bit disappointed in the room, it's very basic- I was expecting a room much like the one I had during my trip to LA (a bedroom and a full seating area). I plan on buying a few things at one of our stores to make it feel more like home. I'm thinking a throw, maybe a decorative pillow and a diffuser for the bedroom, and then a diffuser for the bathroom. Once I do that, I'll post some photos for you to see. Here are a few photos of the view from my room. U
The internet isn't included in my room and is USD$130 a week. In addition, they only have corded Internet in the rooms (I only brought my iPad, so i can't use it) and wifi in the lobby. Eeek! Jason and I have figured out a solution to the Problem, now to see if anyone here sells it. If not I may need someone from home to buy it and send it to me...details on that later.
I feel like I will able to survive here. We just need to get some of these minor kinks figured out and make some adjustments to how I think and all will be perfect. Please feel free to leave me comments or to email them directly to me at either of these emails: jayliffejessup@wsgc.com or jajessup@gmail.com.
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