Activity level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Modes of transportation: 🚗👟🛫
We woke up extremely early and packed up our things for a ride to the airport for our 8AM flight. We tipped Ratan and went on our way, but we told him the wrong terminal. A porter saw our interaction and made a bee-line to us. He insisted we were in the wrong spot and tried to take our bags, but we told him we didn’t need help. We also told him we had no money (which we didn’t) and he told us it was okay, he worked for the airport (he was in uniform), and we could pay by card. He also insisted the other terminal was very far away and we’d never make it in time (with 2 hours until our flight).
We didn’t really want the help, but we thought we might need guidance getting to the right terminal on time. So we paid a few bucks by card, and he walked us over to the correct terminal… which only happened to be around the corner 🤦♂️. In India, people are very persistent. When we got there, he kept trying to get us to give him a tip even though we already paid (and had no cash, as we told him). It was a little dicey for a minute, but we grabbed our bags and allowed him to follow us until he gave up. We eventually made it inside the terminal at the right spot.
We went to mail our postcards, only to find an empty desk. Eric let out an annoyed grumble, only for the man behind the counter, who was sleeping on the floor, to jump up and offer to help (Eric felt bad).
We stopped through Mumbai before heading on our way to Riyadh.
People warned us that the smells in India can be intense, but interestingly, we found them pleasant mostly (lots of jasmine, incense, etc). Ironically, it wasn’t until the flight leaving India today we had an issue (luckily Sarah was plugged up from the Delhi air and didn’t have any issues).
When we got to Saudi Arabia, the visas were easy—just filling out a small form and paying wayyyy too much (about 130 USD each). The lady helping us was wearing a full niqab (which are more common than not) and was very helpful. We made it past immigration and customs no problem.
Our cab driver on the way in was extraordinarily friendly and welcoming, despite not speaking almost any English (machine translation is pretty amazing nowadays). We tried to tip him a little extra over the recommended 10% because we gave him the wrong address at first, and he refused to take it—which we really appreciated after what felt like a lot of transaction in India.
We got to our hotel room to find it was oddly large with a living room and kitchen, separate from the bedroom. Sarah has started coming down with a cold again and was grateful to be able to relax on a couch.
We had originally hoped to visit “The Edge of the World” but we were short about an hour (most tours got back at 8, and our flight was at 10). Sarah found an awesome opportunity to camp in the desert overnight and then visit the Edge of the World, but it was 400 dollars each and Sarah started to feel ill, so we decided not to.
We tried to order food in, but found that many places didn’t speak any English. So Eric went across the street to a falafel shop and, despite the language barrier, was able to point enough to order two sandwiches and some tea. They hit the spot.
From there, it was an early night. We needed a good nights sleep!
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