Thank goodness it turned out the way it did. For once "Allah" was on our side.
After traveling for 20+ hours (2 from DK to the CT airport, 2 hours in the CT airport, 2 in the air from CT to Jo'burg, 2 on the ground in Jo'burg, 8 in the air from J to Abu Dhabi, 2 on the ground there, 1 in the air from AD to Bahrain, 1 getting our luggage, 1 to the middle of the Saudi/Bahraini Causeway), getting only a few hours of uncomfortable airline sleep, we were greeted by a Saudi Passport Person saying "She is OK but your visa has expired." Words NO ONE ever wants to hear on the Bahraini side of the border. Our friend Lauren heard those words a year ago and 2 weeks later (off work with a huge hotel bill) she got her visa to come back "home" to Ras Tanura.
Bo has not been lucky of late with passports and visas. Our house was broken into in De Kelders, South Africa, on April Fool's day 2010. Bo then spent a month there (off work without pay, but no hotel bill) waiting for the visa to come through. Visas are usually good for one year. Hence why we did not look at his before we left for December holidays. It expired at midnight, Jan 4. We arrived at the passport booth at 3 am, Jan 4. No, they do not cut you any slack, any breaks, any anything. Oh my, were we SAD. Beyond sad.
I, of course, took over (as Bo is my hero in many ways but when it comes to cell phones and emergencies, I'm the competent partner). Mind you, by the time we begged and pleaded with the supervisor to please let us in and we would get the visa as soon as we got to RT, it was 4 am. My cell phone was just about out of juice. So I called the person I knew would be up (since she is an early morning exerciser), my friend Åsa. She just happened to have a number in her cell phone labeled "visa problems". It was actually the number for the on-call guy for Aramco personnel. I phoned a pleasant (for that time of morning - but I guess he's used to it) Hussain at 4:10. We gave him our sad story and found a plug to charge the phone. He got in touch with Saad from Government Affairs. We figured he (Saad) would come help us out around 8 or 9 am, after normal working hours commenced at Aramco in Saudi. Saudi immigration offices leave much to be desired in furnishings (and overall cleanliness) and they don't really like the chicks hanging out so, as I was beyond tired then, I went to grab a nap in the car. It was so cold, but exhaustion beat the chill factor and I slept a while. Upon waking at 6:30, I went to check on Bo. Much to my surprise, there stood Saad, handing Bo his new emergency visa! Wow wow wow! Beyond WOW. Saad had been telling Bo "they never grant emergency visas anymore". Why us?
Seriously, this could have been a very sad (no pun intended) story had Saad not come through.
We thanked him profusely and were finally on our way, completing the journey a mere 26 hours after we had begun. (actually, that is not such a long time when compared to many of our journeys)
No time to sleep - a quick shower and bowl of cereal and we headed to our respective jobs, a mere 1 1/2 hour late. But, at least there would be no more X time (leave without pay) and the visa only cost 400 SR ($110).
The mystery has not been solved yet. We thought perhaps our igama was about to expire so that's why the visa expired. But the igama is good til Sept 2012.
The moral of this part of the story, kids, is always check your visa before you leave on an OOK (out of Kingdom) trip!
Arriving home after work, we tried to stay awake but tumbled into bed at 5 pm. I got up at 4:30 am, took a short nap after that and now it's afternoon.
I am dressed to go for a bike ride so I will bid you adieu and try to get some training in before dark.
The moral to that part of my story is, if I don't train for the Cape Argus in March, I'm not going to make the distance!!
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