Journey to ten different cities in Saudi Arabia.

Continuing its tour of Saudi Arabia, having visited major cities like Dammam, Riyadh, Dharan. Khobar, and Jubail, Travel Army continued its exploration by visiting ten more cities in Saudi Arabia. Although the destination was Mecca and Medinah, there was transit through Taif, Jeddah, Al-Butain, Al-Khaamis, Al-Majmaah, Al- Qasim, Buraydah and Al- Duwadimi.

It was an interesting family road trip that started on a very cold day.

We set off in the morning at 9a.m., filled the car's fuel tank with just 25 SAR that's like $7.
You do not have to spend much money to have an enthralling vacation. You can make a road trip to cities within the kingdom with little expenses.

Driving on a smooth/free road across vast expanse of desert was captivating. The road signs and the GPS came in very useful. The fascinating cities and people of Saudi Arabia have been intriguing travelers with their peaceful road and delightful landscape. There are police checkpoints at the entrance of most towns. While every town looked similar in outlook, each had its unique and landmark features.
The long stretch of open road provided the first scare of the journey as the fuel indicator pointed empty with no petrol station in sight. All excitement turned to apprehension as I prayed for a filling station.

10 mins later, what appeared like a filling station appeared ahead, it was the opposite of the flashy filling stations typical of Saudi with drive-ins, stores, rest room, mosques, car service all in one. It happened to be a saving grace from an awkward and mortifying situation in the heart of the desert as we were not to come across another one for the next 3 hour drive.

I was just imagine what would have happened if the fuel tank got totally empty. Questions filled my head, like; Are we going to sleep in the desert? or leave the car on the highway? I've come to term this scenario, 'Favor in the Arabian Desert'.

We came across Taif, a city of hills and mountains with winding roads meandering through the rocks. The rest of the journey up to Mecca was effortless, uneventful and fluid. Here we were to experience the next little challenge - locating our hotel, which we had already reserved online.

If you are familiar with Mecca, you will agree that it is a city largely structured around mountains, especially the Haram area where the holy site is located. Houses and hotels are built on the edges of hills and rocks are blasted to create roads through them. We drove on slopes, ascending and descending from one street to the other. The mountains had scrambled GPS signals which was taking us around in circles and against traffic. Driving within this hour was more tedious than the whole journey itself. Giving up the search, we walked into one of the closer hotel. and just lodged there.

The Mecca police have a duty to ensure free flow of traffic in order to prevent congestion, so parking our car was difficult. Cars parked lamely on the roads are promptly towed away. It takes 50 SAR to recover towed vehicles.









I love the hotel apartment, everything was neat and beautiful. We took a short nap before going to the Haram.


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My journey to Dammam, Saudi Arabia

 

I'm delighted to write about my journey to Dammam, the capital of the Eastern Province (Ash Sharqiyah) of Saudi Arabia. 

Facts I didn’t know

The Governor of the Province is His Royal Highness Prince Saud Bin Naïf.                                      Dammam is the largest city in the Eastern province, and it's the fifth largest in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh, Jedda, Mecca and Medina.

Dammam is home to a vast sea, beautiful beaches and excellent fishing spots.                     

It's a cosmopolitan and a mega city; an analogous reflection of places like Lagos Nigeria.

Places I visited in Dammam

The King Abdullah Park

It's located on the seafront in Dammam. It's distinctive designs includes extensive green spaces equipped with all services, such as restaurants, children's playgrounds, amusement park, fountains and theater for holding celebrations and festivals.               

I enjoyed sightseeing of the seafront and its environment. My child certainly had a swell time, playing and enjoying himself                         

The Dammam Corniche

This Corniche has a natural and beautiful view which comprises green spaces and sandy areas, children's playgrounds, kiosks and service facilities.             

Traditional Market

There we saw a lot of traditional goods, and clothing for men, women, and oriental eastern perfumes and jewelries and so on. I met a nice Sudanese lady, who told me more about the origins of the market. After moving round the market, I bought a make up pack with a unique brand from her and I loved its quality.

Hotels

Dammam is not short of luxurious shopping centers and hotels of global brand names. I visited Sheraton hotel and cap it all by visiting Panda to get something we needed for traveling back to our destination.                                    

Do not forget your bed sheet, blanket, hand wash to avoid direct contact through using used hotel materials like, bed spread, pillows and blankets. (Sometimes you just might not like what you see)                      

Furnished apartments and food are relatively cheap in Dammam.  Hotel prices vary from a 100 to 750 Riyal for single suites and 200 riyal to 1500 riyal for family suites, depending on location and taste.

There are still more places to visit in Dammam, hope to visit them some other time.                            Again, the GPS assisted in locating so many places, banks, hotels, restaurants parks and more, so it’s a good idea to equip yourself with your internet connections when traveling. It is a must-have tool for traveling these days. If you are coming from outside Saudi Arabia, you can always use your international passport to buy a SIM card or browser at the Airport Complex or simply roam your country’s network (but this is usually more expensive).                                   

Why Traveling?

Traveling is undeniably, a great thing to do, especially now. Summer is a good time of the year to start a new adventure or to see new parts of the world.

Most people travel as part of their daily routine, not only because it is enjoyable but also because it has a lot to offer.

There are lots of places to explore in the world. Your travel doesn’t have to be limited to where you live or what you read in a book, there are lots of exciting places to experience in the world. Traveling is worth every penny you will spend because memories last forever.

There are many advantages to traveling around the world. Here are a few to think about:

                                             

Traveling gives us the opportunity to disconnect from our regular life. You get to forget your problems/issues for a few days or weeks, it can also help you figure things out that you would not have understood without a distant travel. We all have busy schedules, work and a family to take care of, going away alone, with family or with some friends can give you some space to clear your head and perhaps even make you realize how important these people are to you. “Sometimes, we never know what we have until we lose it”.

Another great benefit is the relaxation you get to accomplish. It’s nice to live life to its fullest and enjoy a stress free time with yourself. Going on vacation lets us recharge our “brains" by disconnecting us from our regular life. When we come back we feel invigorated and we are happy to be back in our day to day routine. It’s a very good stress buster.

Traveling increases our knowledge and widens our perspective. To view new customs and different ways of living is fantastic for the mind. You learn to understand and appreciate other cultures. It gives us a new perspective about life and especially our life, it can help us change some of our habits or even create new ones. Discovering different values and ways to get by in life is really interesting. Visit new places and discover what this wonderful world has to offer.

New experiences increase our resourcefulness by living situations you would never encounter at home, this is great experience for you when you come back to your routine.          I have noticed that people who traveled a lot in life were ready to embrace change and have a natural ability of overcoming problems that others would frown upon.

Traveling with friends or family creates memories for a lifetime. These memories will create a bond in the relationship and cement it forever. It also gives nice stories to tell people afterwards, you can create photo albums about your trips.

The internet and all the new technology can assist you in planning your trip exactly the way you want it. Make your budget, the duration of the trip and what you want to do.

If you have some time off I suggest you take that trip you’ve always wanted (I assure you it won’t kill you and the world won’t stop!). Just do it now and experience what more life has to offer. Don’t wait or tell yourself there will be a better time to go. Take the risk, the opportunity and buy your flight ticket (or bus ticket) right now and leave.

                                             

Meanwhile, it is interesting to know that, as Nigerians there are a few places you can go without obtaining a VISA. These are some of the visa-free countries for Nigerian passport holders:

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape-Verde, Cameroon, Chad, Côted'Ivoire, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Togo, Grenada, Haiti, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Turks and Caicos Islands, Maldives, Cook Islands, Fiji, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The period you stay varies from country to country and then you would have to obtain a visa for staying longer than the stipulated period while other countries issues visas on arrival.  Get more facts from their websites or the embassies.

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A TRIP TO JUBAIL

 

Jubail is a city in the Eastern province on the Persian Gulf Coast of Saudi Arabia. It is the largest industrial city in the Middle East. It is also home to the Middle East's largest and world's fourth largest petrochemical company. It has the world's largest IWPP (Independent Water and Power Project) producing 2743.6 MW of electricity and 800,000 m3 of water daily. The Jubail Industrial City is the largest civil engineering project in the world today. Because of this, Jubail has numerous job opportunities for foreigners.