Bismillah ir Rahman ir Raheem
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatu,
Sorry for the delay in writing a post people, I was too busy being lazy lol! As the title says, this post would be about my arrival in Riyadh first time.
In my previous post, I told you guys that I am from Canada but I got married to a beautiful Pakistani husband (masha Allah) who happens to be settled in Riyadh with familia. Our wedding took place in Pakistan on January 3rd, 2013.
My husband got my pre-approved visit visa from Riyadh before he came to Pakistan and I was all set to submit my Pakistani passport to Saudi Arabian embassy in Islamabad. Note that I do hold dual citizenship (Pakistani and Canadian). To my horror, my visa process got delayed so my husband and his family had to leave for Riyadh and that meant me travelling alone to Riyadh for the first time. I have never travelled to unknown destinations alone and it was quite horrifying for me. I got my passport 10 days after they left for Riyadh. Thanks to Allah my parents were still in Pakistan and I was staying with them.
The day I got my passport back, my husband got a little too excited and reserved my seat for the very next day. I was excited and sad as well because I had never lived away from my parents and it killed watching them cry for me. I remember crying in the bed all night and knew I would miss them so much.
It was February 8, 2013 and I was flying to Riyadh today. My flight was at 12 pm Pakistan time so my mother woke me up around 7 am. After getting ready and saying goodbye to my sister in law and younger sister, I went to the airport along with my parents. We knew a person who worked at the airport and he was going to assist me until I booked my luggage. I had three suitcases with me lol! It was a complete chaos at airport and I just wished my husband was there to protect me from all the people who pushed and shoved me on the side just so that they could be ahead of me. But in short all that pushing, crying and exhaustion resulted in me reaching my plane. All thanks to Almighty Allah.
It was a 4 hours journey and I slept or cried most of the time. Half an hour before we were about to land, I went to the toilet to wash my face and wear an "Abaya" ! Yes, I was asked by my husband to wear an abaya before we landed. It is not mandatory to wear at the airport but it is good to avoid people staring at you. It was my first time wearing an abaya and I wish I had tried that on earlier before wearing it on the day, the thing too big and long on me haha! So basically I had to hold my abaya like lehnga/ indian bridal skirt in order to walk! Oh Lord, I was still getting stared anyways despite wearing an abaya. So I got out and basically followed other people to the immigration counters. Even an idiot can find the immigration counters without following the people because the airport is fairly small in compared to Toronto Pearson International Airport but I took the safer side lol!
There were a few queues and there was one that only had ladies, so I joined it and sooner was called. After I reached the immigration counter, the officer looked at me in disgust and uttered something in Arabic! Note that I have zero skills in this language, so I just gave him a confused look and he uttered almost the same thing again but in a higher volume. I was offended, but stayed calm as I did not fancy being kicked out of the country. The other immigration officer was a polite one and thankfully knew a bit of English, asked me to fill out a landing form which every first time visitors have to fill. So I took the form, and went to fill it out. After filling it out, I had to stand in the queue again. As I was about to be called, I heard a person was calling out my name, I looked behind and there was this Saudi guy who works at the airport and knows my husband really well, came in for my rescue. Oh how thankful I was at that point, since I did not want to encounter another embarrassing/ offensive moment. He took my passport and got me out from that mess and directed me towards the luggage pick up. At that point, I burst into tears with all that humiliation, I ran to the toilet and washed my face. After calming myself down, I got my luggage and came out. A few other Saudis helped me scanning my luggage and I got the impression that not all Saudis are rude of course! My first encounter was surely bad though.
I saw my husband, brother in law and his wife walking towards me. I just hugged my husband tightly because I have had enough for that day. I was really tired and was missing my parents. My father in law, mother in law and sister in law were waiting for me near the car. My husband shifted my luggage to the car while I greeted everyone and spoke to my parents on the phone who happened to be at my cousin's wedding. I was relieved that they were doing perfectly fine without me. We sat in the car and off we go to home. It was an hour ride to my husband's house. By this time, I was feeling a lot better and started talking to everyone.
After reaching the house, I stuffed my face with the most amazing Briyani that was cooked for me and some other deliciousness. Alhamdulillah! While I was eating my mother in law suggested that I should go down to my flat and get dressed nicely. I was exhausted at the fact that the people were coming to see the new bride and I would have to put some make up on and wear jewellery as well. Plus wearing the best possible smile ever and that's what I did! Many people came to see me and appreciated the fact that I stayed awake after a long journey, just to meet them. After the guests left, my husband and I went downstairs, changed, talked for a bit and then I crashed even before he asked me another word :).
