Well the car needs to get to Qatar and so do our belongings - best way, drive the car packed with stuff - or so you would think!!! Despite an array of the Ellie lists this trip did not go as planned! It may seem somewhat of a negative blog, but I will endeavour to find the positives! They are in there somewhere!
So what can happen over 3 days and 2 nights? You'd be surprised!
We have had a mountain boxes stacked high for a few weeks now, and it was time to get them in and on the car. An operation executed with military precision if I do say so myself! Food prepared for the kids and Erika for the weekend and timetables and lists at the ready for all of our most wonderful friends who were taking care of the kids for the 3 days! We are now pretty much ready to go.
5am I am up getting the last few things together and the kids ready for school. Erika arrived to take pictures of the car and the beginning of our journey and her and Lesley took the kids into school for us. Hand luggage in and we are ready to go.
Four hours sleep isn't the best way of starting a journey but needs must. It should take us about 13 hours to get to the border and hour to cross and another hour to the hotel - we should be there by 10pm, Best laid plans.............
We took route 10 up to Hofuf and then route 85 down to the border - unfortunately there was a diversion, which was a diversion that actually took you in a circle back to the same place, add to that the traffic in the city - we had just added 2 hours to the journey. No problem we should still be there by midnight, enough to enjoy a little beer and a good night’s sleep before visiting the school.
We finally arrived at the Saudi border at 11pm. (so now we are definitely looking at 1am!!) There’s a problem, although a 24 hours border crossing, the export office is not! Therefore we can cross but our car can't. We are asked to park up. A supervisor comes down and says we cannot cross. We had spent money on a hotel in Qatar we have to go, we are due at the school at 9am, we REALLY have to go! They suggest we get a taxi to Doha and come back tomorrow - hmmmm not really going to work as that would mean exiting Saudi and re-entering - the visas only allow single visits not multiple. They suggest we stay a hotel in Saudi - why spend money on a hotel when we have already done so for the other side? And aside from that, exactly what kind of hotel are we realistically going to fin at this time of night, we have been in that position before and trust me was not the kind of hotel you want to visit! The supervisor went off and never returned. Leaving us stranded there. I asked at the border booth several times for him to return and nothing. After about 1 1/2 hours I reached my limit. Walking over to the booth I stopped the traffic. I demanded the manager now! To which the guy replied well let me deal with these other people and then I will call him. No way!!!! I had already waited long enough, and I am not moving until he is down here. Ultimately I blocked the border, which I am pretty sure is a criminal offence, but desperate times and all that! Funnily enough, police cars appeared, probably the strangest thing they have come across at this border I am sure. Thankfully these guys restored my faith in humanity and agreed we could not be left there. And also one of the police supervisors was from Khamis and spoke very good English and he made sure that we got sorted.
400 SAR later (a back hander to pay the guy they got out of bed to do the paperwork) we exited Saudi, so now all should be fine.......................shouldn't it??
Well, if you thought that the above 2 1/2 hour fiasco was bad, that was child's play in comparison to what was waiting for us at the Qatar side!
A mile or so through no man's land and we reach the Qatar border. 200 SAR for our visas, ok no probs expected that, drive to the next booth to which the lady says go and park with the lorries?? We ask why, she gets on the phone and says ok no problem drive through. One more gate that's it and we are done!!!!!! No such luck! They tell us we have paperwork missing. Not very clear on what and tell us to go through by the lorries to customs and they will sort it no worries!
Ok so a bit of a pain in the arse, but we do that and we will be on our way.
Got to the office. Does anyone have a clue as to why we are there? No, of course not. You would think this was the first ever car imported in Qatar. We are passed form pillar to post, and through limited broken English given 10 different stories. Ultimately we cannot enter. Telling us to go back to our bank in Saudi and get paperwork - which we have and has nothing to do with the bank. Also told to go into Qatar get our employer to write us a letter and come back! Every option was completely unreasonable and beyond impossible. We have to get the car and things over now and only now!!! Finally we are told if we pay tax we can take the car over. Tax?????? In a GCC country? We argued this for a while and eventually gave in and said right fine take the money and let us go. To which the idiot behind the counter decided he no longer spoke English. Lord knows if there hadn't been a barrier between us I think I would have introduced him to the back of my hand by this point!
Another of their arguments was that you couldn't take a car into Qatar unless you were a resident, however you cannot leave Saudi on a final exit if you still own a car in the country - so what to do???!
With all the commotion another guy came in to help. (Which surprise surprise we ended up having to pay a back hander to in the form of 100 SAR!!!!!!) Although his help was somewhat idle only moving as the tone in my voice increased!! He also couldn't tell the time as his 10 minutes were the equivalent of 45! By this point I had threatened to drive the car across myself and that they would have to physically stop me with a gun!
By this point we had been up for about 24 hours - travelling for about 21 hours. Exhaustion would be somewhat of an understatement! So we follow the man from office to office, across truck filled car parks to go back to customs, where the original said obnoxious refused to do it. After all this!!! They wanted money, we offered, they wanted paperwork we gave - what more did they want my bloody sanity because I was pretty sure at this point it was lost without a trace!
This was the moment I couldn't take anymore. We were stuck in no man's land - not in Saudi, not in Qatar, we had nowhere to go, not even anywhere to get some water and red tape, bad manners and made up rules had us trapped. We were away from our babies (although partially thankful as I am glad they didn't have to suffer this with us. Exhausted, emotional and physically battered and dehydrated I reached my point. I collapsed to the floor, couldn't breathe and was in inconsolable tears. I couldn't take anymore. We had nowhere to go. The most isolating feeling in the world. My husband stepped up with his last ounce of strength to hold me. A real man.
During this the police were there once again. They had witnesssed this last moment and fully understood that we could not just be left.
Finally someone with jurisdiction over the rude, manipulating idiot behind the counter.
So 2400 SAR later and we are allowed to take the car across into Qatar.
By this point it was 5.30am. Jason was beyond tiredness and still had to drive. At one point falling asleep at the wheel. Taking one single kilometre at a time we finally ended our 1500km journey and arrived at the hotel at 6.30am, 23 hours after we started. Thank goodness!!
Looking somewhat shabby for a nice hotel, we check, to be told that breakfast is not included – OMG, not another problem.
Just take me to my room!!!!
Thankfully five minutes later we are called and breakfast would be included.
I pay for the internet to email the school to change the time they were due to collect us. Breakfast thrown down the hatch, bath and a little sleep for an hour. Fully refreshed? Not likely! But a little more human, enough so to meet people.
So we leave the hotel for the school at about 10.45. Welcomed into a lush air conditioned building, after the intense Qatari heat!
So this bit I shall keep short – The head of secondary took us around the school, we saw the infants, junior and senior sections. Fabulous place, so well resourced, pools, art, music, sport. A nurse and counsellor in each section, swimming lessons for every child – just perfect. I was particularly impressed with the junior and infants. So colourful, smiling staff, happy kids!!! I want my kids to go to that school! And I am VERY glad they are.
We also looked at the apartment, was a little difficult to picture at first as there is still some work to be done, but once we sat with Mona, we understood what was going where and how it would look. The compound is lovely, clean, pool, gym, everything we need.
We went back to the hotel, had a little bit of lunch, enjoyed a few glass of wine and a seriously overdue nap!
The head of secondary had invited us out for dinner that evening. Even more wonderful to meet people on a social level too. It is always so nerve wracking, what will they think of us, will they ‘get’ us, and will they be glad we are moving there. Will we make friends like we have made here? So many questions, so many emotional doubts, most of which we have no control over.
After much confusion on times and when we were to be collected from the hotel, we finally managed to join the Head and his wife. They had waited for us for an hour, with remarkable patience, or at least any loss of patience was certainly not displayed in our direction!! We had a Chinese meal at the Ramada hotel. The food was delicious and the company was fantastic. We all chatted from a professional point of view as well as a social perspective, easing many fears and doubts and answering our many, many questions! I just hope they enjoyed the evening as much as we did!
We arrived back to our room at about midnight after having a short walk around the hotel grounds. Our plan was to get up early in the morning to enjoy the pool and beach. No such luck. After almost 3 days of less than a total of about 8 hours sleep we were shattered. The 7am alarm was ignored and we awake at 10am.
We enjoyed a lovely calm breakfast together; talking over what had been a somewhat turbulent few days! Back to our room shared a huge bath and a bottle of beer before leaving for the airport.
On the car ride to the airport we got to see a lot of Doha, the green green grass, the clean streets, the sea, the amenities, so many things to do and see.
As for the airport, well that was great. Very user friendly, the duty free shops are all together, and make great viewing (and buying!!!) so a few gifts for our friends and the kids, we went upstairs. Here they had free internet, charging stations, a family room, a quiet room with reclined seats for people to sleep, a children’s play area and food that didn’t cost you a second mortgage to eat! I was very impressed, which is good as we shall be using this airport a lot over the next two years!
Two flights later and we arrived home.
Straight to the kids rooms to see them sleeping, and image that I had held onto for the last few days.
After a quick catch up with Erika and Farah and our parents we collapsed into bed.
The weekend was over.
The perfect weekend that was planned with lists for every eventuality was beaten by red tape that doesn’t even exist. It turned into disaster. But after every storm the sun will shine. And it rose for us and we pieced together what was left and salvaged the good points and focused on the positives.
And the perfect ending came this morning when I awoke to a Joey hanging round my neck in bed, saying how much he missed me and loves and he was so glad we were home. Family is what matters.
Family is all that matters!
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