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Phil’s Travels – Jeddah, KSA (03.26)

Phil’s Travels – Jeddah, KSA (03.26)

Unlike those scaredy-cats at Formula One, I went to Jeddah.

I had a small scare when I left home, having left my house keys with a neighbour and having forgotten my phone charging in our bedroom. Fortunately, my wonderful wife was nearby to rescue me, yet again, and let me in.

Thanks to age and being a Londoner, my rail ticket from London Bridge to Gatwick was double discounted and extremely efficient. Why pay multiples to use the Gatwick Express?

Gatwick was smooth and the Saudia check-in simple. For breakfast I tried the Breakfast Club which occupies the old Jamie’s Kitchen space. Ambiance not as good and food definitely not as good. Still, it filled a hole and set me up for the six-hour flight to Jeddah.

Our flight was full and half the plane must have pre-boarded. Many travellers were infirm and many others were en famille. The other big demand segment was, naturally, pilgrims on Umrah dressed in their ritual white robes. Such an eclectic mix of passengers made for a very animated flight as kids had temper tantrums and friendly pilgrims moved around the cabin chatting here and there. To add to the level of my personal animation, I was sat near the back, close to the onboard prayer room (a popular spot, particularly with the enrobed).

I left a cold and sunny London and landed late at night in a warm, dry, very pleasant Jeddah. Jeddah by day was also extremely clement – sunny and high 20sC – not too hot and a decent breeze. It was end of winter for the Kingdom and perfect weather.

At passport control I had another small scare. My client’s visa did not work. The super nice passport man advised me that my application had not been finalised and thus not valid for entry. By way of solution, he suggested I go to the Tourist Visa Lounge behind me. The lovely ladies in the Visa Lounge also advised me that my visa was not valid and that they could only process visas for Arab passport holders. By way of solution, they told me to forget my client’s visa and to purchase a tourist visa from a machine.

Just outside the Visa Lounge, completely unnoticed by your humble blogger, was a line of many tourist visa machines. It took a little while to input all the required data, including a heart-in-the-mouth few moments when my phone would not connect to the wifi (the system wanted all kinds of info on my hotel, for which I had to visit their website). All info input, I had a second semi-heart stopping moment when my credit card did not work. Fortunately, it passed at the third attempt and I was rewarded for all my efforts and stress with a slip of paper. Would such a small piece of carbon and ink be sufficient for me to gain entry to the Kingdom?

I took my receipt to my friend the passport man and he let me in! It was all so simple and easy in the end. Completely different to my previous experiences of entering Saudi in years gone by. Clear signs of enormous progress and a continental shift in psyche. The Saudis are now so helpful and friendly, and clearly great problem solvers.

My hotel was close to Flagpole Square and I could see the King’s Fountain from the entrance, and not too far from the old quarter of Al Balad (sadly no time to visit on this trip, maybe next time). My room was vast. So big, despite an l-shape sofa, two armchairs, two tables, a big desk and a king bed, the room felt sparsely furnished. The bathroom was tired and the shattaf leaked (the daily pool of water seemed to grow long black hairs on the final day). The shower drain was slow and filled to the brim by the end of my ablutions. The breakfast buffet was excellent, but the room service dinner was very poor. And finally, half the pilfer-proof hangers had been pilfered.

My days in Jeddah were filled with meetings and I enjoyed my time updating my knowledge of this historic trading entrepot. There was plenty new in the city, with new towers dwarfing the previous tall-man of the Corniche (the now somewhat old Rosewood Hotel). New towers included Raffles, Four Seasons, Kempinski, Shangri-La – not as many new luxury hotels as were opening in London at the time, but still a good amount of new supply, and all with Branded Residential inventory (unlike London).

I saw the mothballed F1 track. A sad sight and poignant symbol of the uncertain situation at the time – a Third Gulf War.

Aside from one bad experience, everyone was delightful and helpful and friendly. The bad experience was a taxi driver that tried to cheat me. He did not have his meter on and he wanted to charge me twice the going rate for a journey. We haggled for a bit and I still overpaid (as I realised later when I checked). The next day, the same cheater was parked outside my hotel awaiting a ride. I told the concierge that I would not use him again and the concierge acknowledged that the driver had a reputation as liar. By way of solution, the super nice Saudi receptionist logged onto his ride-hailing app and booked me a taxi. The ride cost me a fraction of the cheater’s fare. Why they allowed the lying cheater to park outside their hotel remained a mystery, although he was not there again later the same day. So, maybe they told him to never return and to cease besmirching the hotel’s otherwise reasonable reputation. I hope so.

I quickly came to realise that finding taxis in Jeddah has become a primarily app affair. There were no taxi ranks anywhere, even at the mall I visited for a coffee-meeting. By way of solution, a super helpful local guy and a charming chap from Baku (both waiters at the coffee shop) booked me a taxi and came out into the striking sunshine to see me safely board my ride. They even refused my thank you tip.

Our last night dinner was with the whole team at a modern restaurant serving authentic Saudi food from around the Kingdom. Excellent food, lovely company and a wonderful evening.

For my ride from hotel to airport, I employed my now tried and tested method. The receptionist booked a taxi on his app, it came within five minutes and I was at the airport, stress free, in under 30 minutes.

The new Jeddah airport was very impressive and busy at 05.30. Despite the chaotic flow of thousands of pilgrims and extensive families, I was at my gate in under 30 minutes. Of note, the terminal’s F&B outlets included a Jamie’s Kitchen and a Pret – both now clearly global brands. Regretfully, it was too early for a Jamie’s breakfast. A trip down memory lane would have been interesting. I missed his cooking at Gatwick. He may have become global, but he was not local (to us in the UK).

Flight home was smooth, if noisy with plenty of distressed toddlers not happy with their lot. Heathrow was buzzing but I skipped through quickly and the Lizzie Line ferried me home to an afternoon of admin.

So, despite my wonderful wife’s trepidations, I made it to Jeddah and back safe and sound. No bombs, no missiles, no drones, no debris falling from the heavens, no alarms and no danger whatsoever. A pity the F1 boys had pulled out. This wonderful city was as normal as can be and joy to visit. Mae Alsalama, Bride of the Red Sea.