Hello and greetings from Riyadh – it’s good to be back in KSA and dusting off the blog after its unexpected and lengthy hiatus! It’s been a journey to get back since my husband and I left on a repatriation flight in September 2020, all because of the global pandemic and different restrictions etc. But now I’ve swapped an Irish summer for the intense heat of the Arabian desert and am very happy to be back reunited with my husband and starting Our Big Arabian Adventure, Part 2!!
A new dawn.. 
Pool time at Wadi Quortuba!
It’s been interesting to experience a pandemic in two countries and I might write a longer blog post about the differences, but by far the most notable difference and the one with the biggest impact has been border closures. Saudi closed its borders back in March 2020. It began reopening last autumn, but started closing them again in January 2021.
It temporarily suspended flights from 22 countries in February including the UK and Ireland. Those flights were reinstated in May, which meant as soon as I had my second vaccination and all the relevant paperwork I was able to travel!
Travelling was much smoother than I expected. The airports were very quiet and both flights were at about 50% capacity. Walking through the endless rows of empty departure gates was a little eerie at Heathrow, but overall it felt very calm.
Flying back into Riyadh at around midnight I was able to pick out landmarks familiar to me as we circled overhead before landing – our local area, the nearest mall – which is something you can really only do when you’ve lived somewhere and it gave me a real feeling of homecoming.
King Khalid International Airport 
Riyadh at night
Riyadh airport was also very quiet when we landed and the queues were short. I had to show my negative PCR test result and then on through passport control and baggage reclaim. The only stumbling block was when they asked to see my boarding pass at passport control (they always ask for it here which I had forgotten) and I had a moment of furiously rummaging around in my bag to find it wondering had I left it on the plane, but luckily I found it and all was good!
It was still a relief to get through arrivals and emerge into the stifling heat of a Saudi night and be reunited with my husband after almost 6 months.
So here I am, back in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and looking forward to whatever ‘Our Big Arabian Adventure Part 2’ brings!!
Until next time,
Stay cool!
A :0)
Insta: @anne.mcgrath248
OurBigArabianAdventure 
And we are all soooo happy to have you back again Anne. More adventures await us, some travelling with you I hope inside the Kingdom and before you know it you will be a Mahjongg expert.
Looking forward to your posts.
Welcome back !
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Thank you Ingrid! Definitely up for some traveling in the Kingdom and I fully intend to become a Mahjongg Queen under your expert tutelage! :0) xx
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I have read the new updated post (finally). From the departure lounge there was a flight to Belfast City at the same time as Riyadh, were you not tempted to hop back he-he? Good luck on the next steps of this adventure and hopefully normality will resume shortly worldwide also. Bon Voyage
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