End of Contract Trip Home, Part 1

It is 1015 and I am sitting in a business class seat aboard the largest passenger aircraft in the work, and the airplane parked at the terminal in Dubai, capitol of the United Arab Emirates. It is an emirates airline flight and we should've taken off 20 minutes ago. That's kinda how the trip has gone so far, but I can see by the tail-mounted camera that the multiple jetways have been retracted, so that's a good sign.

(photo above, on the ramp at Dubai waiting for departure - Airbus A380 over the wing of my A380!)

I started with such a good plan! I'm on my way home at the end of my 1-year contract with Saudi Aramco as a technical writer creating new training materials. Fascinating work! I've learned a great deal and enjoyed the challenges associated with living in Saudi Arabia and working within a very different work culture than what I'm accustomed to. 

It's been an interesting journey, to say the least. And I get to go home for a three week opportunity to recharge and refresh, both of which are needed. It'll also be a chance to spend some wonderful time with Dana, who has managed without me for a long time now. 

Typical of the trip, the captain has just announced that there are bags loaded but the passengers are not, so we must stay put until those bags are removed. Good safety precaution, but one more delay!

If the trip had gone as planned, by this time I would have been almost halfway to Dallas, but it is 15 hours since I left and I'm only an hour from where I started.  I departed Dammam (King Fahd International Airport, Saudi Arabia) on time, but there were thunderstorms in the vicinity of Dubai, so we had to hold for a chance to get in. It took three hours to make the one hour trip. I was hoping my outbound flight, direct to Dallas, would be late as well, and it was. Almost enough.  

(photo above, Dubai - lower area is duty free shopping, upper areas are business and first class lounges)

It only took a few minutes to get to the departure gate, and the jet was still there, but they'd already closed it up and wouldn't let me board unless my bag could also make it (odd that they don't seem to mind if they lose my bag and I go without it then!). so, missed the flight to Dallas by  a few minutes. Sadly, this kind of thing doesn't happen very often around here - generally thunderstorms don't happen here. And most air traffic is at night so the flights from here can merge into the European flight schedule. What's sad is that they have no effective mechanism to deal with thousands of people trying to reschedule their trip all at once.

(photo above, Dubai - elevator bank on left, blue fountains at bottom, cascading 100' long wall of water on right, giant arching ceiling overhead - they do things big here!)

It took me 3.5 hours to get rescheduled, finally finishing at 0330.  That was 6.5 hours ago. And by the way, we are now just over an hour past our departure time and still at the gate, but the skyways are retracted again, so that's a hopeful sign!  Aramco is very generous about flying us in and out on business class, and Emirates has a very nice lounge system for business and first class passengers. So I was able to enjoy a one-hour nap in the lounge.

(photo above, Dubai - big cool architecture, duty free shop at the bottom)

I got up yesterday at 0630, worked a full day (ok, I left 20 minutes early), went to my room and wrapped up packing, took a walk to stretch my legs, got a light salad for dinner, and got to talk with Dana for 20 minutes before my taxi came. At this point, I've napped for an hour out of the last 27.5.  It's surprising and rewarding sometimes to see what your body can do for you when you need it to.  I'm also grateful for the tank of a body I have to walk around in!

(photo above, Dubai - very tired Mark about 24 hours into the trip and barely started!)

Flight update, the captain just reported we will be ready to go in 5 minutes, but due to traffic congestion we can expect an ATC delay of 20-30 more minutes.  Arrrr! Dana says this kind of day, one of which she had yesterday, is a pirate day, which seems to fit nicely! I'm amazed that I can still make my eyes focus well enough to type this, because they are really tired!

But I'm on a jet and well take off soon! And maybe less than two hours late! For a 14 hour flight to Toronto! What?? Yep. The only option they could come up with at 3 in the morning was Toronto, then Dallas. What about XNA, I asked, happy to be making progress. Well, that leg was booked with American since Emirates doesn't fly to northwest Arkansas, so I would have to handle that with American when I get back to that hemisphere.  At 0330 this sounded doable, and agreed.  

After my refreshing nap I realized I'd have been better off to take their initial offer, a hotel for the night and rebooked on the same flight the next day. As it turns out, I'm going to overnight at Dallas or Toronto, depending on when we actually leave Dubai, which, btw, hasn't happened yet, and were now an hour and a half late. And like magic, as I wrote those words, we began out push back from the gate. I'm on my way someplace! More later when I've slept and know where I'm going!

[end of part 1, more in a day or two to finish the trip!! FYI, I wrote 99% of this on my iPad during the trip, with only minor editing - if it seems a little confused you'll understand why!]

Arabian Sunset

Hello all, and thank you for reading what has become my trip journal. All I intended to do was tell some tall tales on my trip so my beautiful wife and daughters would know what I was up to, but it turned into something read in 18 countries around with world, with almost 5000 visits! Wow - I never expected that.

At the end of my last post, I said the next one would be about sunsets, and here you go:

I know, it doesn't look much like a sunset, but in a way it is. I opened this tube of toothpaste the night I got to Saudi Arabia, and tonight I'm leaving at the end of my first year. I will get one more squeeze out of this before I leave and then will drop it in the can. So in a way, it's the end of a long day here!

If you've followed the blog or my comments on Facebook, you may have perceived that I've accepted an invitation to return for another year. Yes, I'm crazy, but what can I say. They asked very nicely. It's a double-edged sword of course. One edge holds difficult challenges and great learning opportunities coupled with an opportunity to do great work and earn great compensation.

The other edge, which cuts deeply, is that I am a long damn way from home, from family and dear ones, from "normal," from bacon, from Scotch, and the list could drag on for a long time.  Looking at the long view, though, in the scheme of things I'm still young and healthy, and quite a ways from normal retirement age, so I may as well take advantage of the opportunity while I can. At least, that's what Dana and I have discussed and talked and thought and prayed and concluded. Hard as it is to be gone so long and so far, it beats a lot of other options as far as work and income.

So today I wrapped up a major project I've been guiding through development, tonight I'm off for home, and will get there Friday in time for lunch! I'll get to be there for 3 weeks to do gardening, and medical appointments, and taxes, and gardening, and relaxing, and landscaping, and just spend some time with my loved ones, and I can't wait to be home!

Again, thanks for reading this year. Hopefully when I get back I'll still find interesting things to do and see and photograph to keep you coming back. Do let me hear from you! This doesn't have to be a one-way street.  You may have noticed I've posted a few sunset shots by now - these have all been taken in the past few weeks while we've had very clear skies and exceptionally nice weather.  Best to all and I'll be back soon.  Mark