King of the Road, without a suitcase!

On Thursday 26th of August, after a lovely, but stressful day I drove off in my parents car and left Glasgow, with a deputation of my friends and their kids waving me off. I must admit it took me all I had to hold back the tears. I've never been known for my lack of emotion.

Friends had pulled out all the stops to help me get organised and it was a reminder of the life I have built with these guys. When I moved to Glasgow in 1995 the internet (as we know it) was in its infancy. I was amazed at the prospect of email on an old Sun Mircosystems machine. Now though I can keep in touch with all these guys so easily and have been blessed to talk to so many of them already through Skype.

I've also been able to make friends with people I'll be working with through Facebook. So as I got chatting to one of them this morning I discovered that she and her husband live across the street. They have been so helpful and neighbourly already, lending me clothes as my case is still missing, taking me to the shops and showing me around. If this is how things continue then through this adventure I am going to make a whole new group of friends here in Saudi to add to the ones I have at home.

So it's been good so far. I flew from Edinburgh to Paris and the flight was delayed due to stormy weather in Paris. This almost made me miss my flight there but thankfully I caught it as it was also slightly behind. I was amazed at the difference in the Saudi Airlines plane. It was no where near capacity, with lots of space between the seats. Everybody had a pillow and a blanket on their seats. Maybe it is the difference between short and long haul, but it was nice.

I was soooo tired as I couldn't really sleep the night before and I struggled to nod off while flying. Many of the other passengers had the right idea and pushed up the armrests and stretched out on the seats. It was funny to see. Unfortunately, because of where my seat was, the armrests were fixed.

I got chatting to a really nice chap from Medina. A young dermatologist who has just got a job in Germany. His wife had just had a baby 8 days before. He had then flown out for his interview. He was keen to get back to see his son, but he was extremely talkative and eager to tell me what I'd love about Saudi.

When we eventually arrived the landing was amazing. This city just spread into the distance. It was lit up in the dark so you could easily tell where it just suddenly stopped at the edges. It was so colourful and brightly lit.

Next however was getting through customs! I got a bit diorientated and couldn't work out which queue I was to join. When I got to the desk eventually he told me to go and fill out a card. When I found the cards, I filled it out the best I could. I was encouraged by the warning of the penalty of death for drug smuggling. Good job I'm a good, clean living kinds guy ;-)

When I joined the queue again, a new flight had arrived, full of orientals. These were all men who had towels wrapped around their waists and wore another towel over their naked torsos. I don't know how that works with Saudi decency laws. It certainly didn't seem to stop them getting through but it just took forever.

So they took scans of all my fingers and thumbs, my photograph also and they let me through. PHEW!!! I was getting worried about how I would meet my driver by this point but I had to go and collect my case. That was a problem though because when I finally got to the baggage reclaim my case wasn't there and I still don't have it.

A representative from the school called to see where I was and I explained so when I finally registered my lost case I managed to meet my driver who had been waiting an incredibly long time for me.

I'm gonna leave it there for now and complete my saga tomorrow. However I am currently sitting in borrowed clothes, still not having my case. I'm itching to get in one of the various pools so will need to try and find some swimming shorts tomorrow.