3000 miles from home

A long day.

Up early to make sure I got to check in in good time. Anyway, no drama at Heathrow. As I'm under orders from Sarah to take photos, here's one of my plane sat waiting to whisk me to Zurich. Thrilling stuff! :)

Loony on the Bus syndrome kicked in on the plane. I ended up sat next to this guy who was on his way to Munich on business. But he was going to visit the parents of his ex girlfriend who had just split up with him claiming that he had assaulted her and stolen her laptop. Police involved and everything. He gave me the whole story about her infidelity, catching her in the act (almost), the ensuing struggle where he accidentally caught her nose with his knee (oh rly?), she ran out leaving her flat open. He had no keys to lock up, so he took her laptop 'for safe keeping'. You probably believe this as much as I did. And this chap was going to visit her parents in some small village near the Austrian border with a letter of explanation (obviously she's German) to show that he's not a bad man. So he was looking for someone to translate a letter into German for him to present to the parents etc etc - you get the idea.

I smiled and nodded in the right places, then got my headphones on quicksmart and started to read my book (The Story of Crass - it's really rather good). Wished him good luck as we were getting off, but I was secretly praying I got a really boring neigbour for the 5 1/2 hour flight from Zurich to Riyadh.

Flew over Paris - altough didn't see anything recognisable. Switzerland looked nice from the air. I was impressed by the adverts cut and coloured in the fields leading to the airport. (Sorry Sarah, no photo!)

Quick change at Zurich, then onto the plane for Riyadh. So all I got to see of Switzerland from the ground was similar to the picture on the left.

The flight to Riyadh was pretty uneventful really. Watched Be Kind Rewind which was pretty good. Was impressed with the flight info doohickey that shows a map of where the plane is. If flying over countries is the same as visiting, then I've been to loads of places today - France, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, Iraq (or maybe Jordan - not sure about that one), then Saudi Arabia. Phew! Was less impressed with the food - now I understand what the running joke about bad airplane food is all about!

It was interesting seeing the scenery change, and eventually just turn into desert. That got boring eventually, but then we got to Riyadh. It seemed that we had to fly over the city and double back to the airport, so we got a superb view of the city at night - all lit up and looking stunning. It looked rich, even from 30000 feet!

One unexpected hiccup was the need to fill in an entry form - no one warned me about that and as such I was missing a couple of bits of info. For someone as paranoid as me, I was remarkably chilled about it (especially after reading some of the horror stories about travelling to the Middle East on the internet!). Made a couple of calls when I landed, filled in the missing bits and they hardly even glanced at the form! Ho Hum.

Anyway, on leaving the airport I was met with two people holding signs with my name. One was the driver I was expecting - Mr Tariq - and the other was from the hotel. Problem was they both spoke so softly and my ears hadn't recovered from the landing, I wasn't sure what they were deciding - even though they were speaking English. Anyway, the hotel driver took me back to the hotel (which on hindsight was a mistake, as he charged and Tariq wouldn't have). The drive into Riyadh from the airport was surreal. Just very obvious that this is a very different place - fascinating. Just a shame I was by myself - would have been great to share the experience. Again no piccies as it's hard to take photos through tinted glass at night.

We passed car showroom after car showroom - looks like the Saudis love their cars. We also seemed to pass a theme park of sorts but everything was lit up and sparkling. There was some interesting driving happening as well - looks like the driving I suffered in Paris may have a challenge on!

Arriving at the hotel, I stepped out the car, and it was like stepping into a sauna. 9pm at night and I reckon it was still 40 degrees C. Tomorrow will be intersting. I've got a bunch of work to do, but was thinking about sticking my head out of the door at some point...

So, checked in (still suffereing from less than optimal hearing, and trying to understand another soft-spoken person on reception. Lord knows what I said yes to...), up to my room with the ultra polite porter from Namibia (to my shame I've already forgotten his name), unpack my PC and get on the Internet so I can chat with folks back home.

Not having eaten properly all day I ordered a Mixed Grill from the Room Service menu. But this being Saudi, I got various koftas and kebabs - and it was scrummy. So this is what my first Saudi meal looked like.

So - shattered now. Just going to crash in the big bed!