Day 9 - Tuesday, May 20th 2025 - Fanateer and the Resort portion of the Intercontinental Hotel

On this day, I set out to get the house pictures for about 5 of my friends who had messaged me and wanted pix of their house. I also picked up a few extra pix for friends whose houses I used to go to for playing Atari 2600, or watching Betamax movies.

Naturally, I didn't get going too early but I was on the road out to Al Fanateer early enough for lunch. One thing I was finding is that Saudi Arabia has plenty of hamburger places. And really, it makes sense because they're relatively affluent and nobody wants to eat Shwarma all the time. Plus it's really easy to get a Halal burger so it's a natural thing.

Much to my surprise, I found my favorite Kiwi burger chain that I first fell in love with in Wellington, New Zealand in 2011. I loved their sweet potato fries. We had a few in Australia but I was shocked to find a Burger Fuel in Al Fanateer, Jubail, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

As I was leaving Burger Fuel, I saw a Nike store and an Adidas store. I browsed the Nike store and didn't see anything I liked although, if you were in Jubail and absolutely needed some Jordans, they had you covered.

I headed over to the Adidas store and struck gold. Adidas is the outfitter of the kit for the Saudi National Team so they had quite a few green and white "Saudi" t-shirts, shorts, etc. Let's just say that when the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics roll around, I'm set with my KSA national team supporter gear.

The interesting thing about this is that when I lived there, the amount of sporting goods available locally was very limited. They did have a good supply of diving gear, spear guns, etc. but if you needed soccer cleats there wasn't a lot on offer. I did have a great pair of black and fluorescent green PONY screw in cleats when I was in 9th Grade.
They were very similar to this in color:

But, I think it was actually this model on the middle left:

Paolo Rossi helps promote the Pony “Rossi” range Boots#Pony #Boots #Rossi pic.twitter.com/f0ecRcC88q

— Football Memories (@footballmemorys) March 27, 2018

Anyway, after lunch, I drove around Fanateer, and then back to Camp 10 (Al Lulu) and Camp 11 (Al Huwaylat) before winding up back at the Intercontinental Hotel and Resort.

I'm not really one who can just "relax" and hang out at a resort. Especially when I'm rolling as a single (married) man with zero available females to flirt with and zero alcohol to get loose with. But nonetheless, I decided to check out the resort portion of the hotel.

There were a variety of activities you could participate in, including - workout room, sauna, pool and then there were the activities available at the beach. You could rent bicycles including surreys, play miniature golf (although it looked like nobody had played mini-golf in several years), rent these little water pedal cars that floated.

And on the other side from the private beach lagoon, they had boat and jet ski rentals. I had never ridden a jet ski before so, I ponied up the 200 SAR for a 15 minute jet ski ride.

This was all pretty comical and they gave me a life jacket and a bicycle helmet as my safety gear but the real funny part was when the Indian guy working the jet ski rental stand told me that - the maximum weight for their jet ski was 140 kg (308 lbs) so, I needed to take it "a little schwei schwei".

Schwei Schwei (or sometimes translated shwe shwe) is a term that translates to "slow and easy" and is a common term in Saudi Arabia most frequently used for crazy drivers that need to slow down, the guys will cup their hand and yell - "schwei schwei"

I enjoyed my 15 minutes of jet skiing but, honestly, I didn't really get much more out of it than I did the Caviar on Emirates. I see how people can enjoy it but, it wasn't really my thing.

After that, I went to the beach and swam in the exact same little man made cove that we use to play in during the early 1980s.

In the Arabian Gulf, it is very salty and due to the lack of depth, there are essentially no waves. The only waves we saw in the cove were a couple of inches (at most) when a boat would drive by. There were no natural waves at all.

Initially, I walked out until I couldn't touch the bottom any more and then I started swimming a little bit. I'm a strong enough swimmer (although really out of shape) that I'm not going to drown in my old neighborhood. But, once I got to a point where I couldn't touch the bottom anymore, I tried to swim back to shore which was no problem.

I had a really bad experience in Australia where I got caught in a rip and I've been a little bit gun shy in the ocean since then. There were no rips here and most importantly, what I figured out was, it is so incredibly salty that there's really no way to drown yourself.

https://www.ihg.com/intercontinental/hotels/us/en/al-jubail/dhahc/hoteldetail/amenities

After spending some time on the beach, I headed down to the Lebanese restaurant where I had some hummus and a nice lamb dish.

The other major things I accomplished this day were dropping off my laundry with the hotel and, performing a Non Alcoholic Beer taste test with 6 NA beers that I bought at the convenience store near the Hyper Panda.

1st Place Heineken - tasted like Heineken
2nd Place Moussy - wasn't that bad
3rd Place Bud Zero tasted like water
4th Place Corona Cero - tasted worse than regular Corona
5th Place Holsten - didn't taste that great
6th Place Barbican - awful tasting

Day 11 - Thursday, May 22nd 2025 - Jubail Academy

Today was the day I've waited for, for literally 40 years. I finally got to tour my old school.

That, in and of itself is kind of funny because it is literally the same exact school building where I attended grades 6-9 from 1981 - 1985.

I was instructed to meet some lady with an Arabic sounding name but I didn't know if it was a first name (Christian Name - LOL - that's what they called it in Australia), or a surname.

The first thing I had to do was get through the post - Desert Storm, post 9/11 security to even gain access to the campus. I will say that being well dressed (coat, no tie) and carrying that Blue USA Passport did help with credibility but, they had to make a couple calls to determine if I was legit or not.

The irony here is that when I was a student there, 40 years ago, there was no security at all. Yes, there was a 6-foot wall around the school - which is about 4 feet higher now, but really anybody could drive down the street and walk onto campus. Today, it's almost Consulate/Embassy level security. And not the Security Charade/Theatre that the do in Indian Hotels post-Mumbai Attacks. There was no way I was getting on campus unless Sadik (don't remember his actual name) the security guard let me in.

So, I arrive at the school 15 minutes ahead of schedule because if there's a day to be Swiss-German on timing, it's today. They park me in the waiting room next to the administration offices which are in the exact same location as 1981. While I'm waiting for somebody to show up, I notice that there are 110V outlets in the wall, along with the modern Brit plug 220V outlets. I can't recall if I mentioned it before but one thing that's been tripping me out since I arrived in KSA is the 220V Brit plugs because I know for certain that when I lived there we had US/Japan style plugs and 110V power.

Much to my surprise, the School Principal (a female) shows up and welcomes me. She's an American and says something along the lines of - wow, you're back after 40 years, this school must have had a big impact on you. I say, yes, it certainly did. In fact, I tell her as I point to the classroom across the hall, that this was my very first classroom in 1981. I think it's just mind-boggling for everyone that I'm 54 y/o at this point and I have vivid memory of being in this exact same spot in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia when I was 11 years old. And the teacher who had the classroom to the left, I just saw her at a Jubail Academy Reunion in Las Vegas back in February 2025.

So my tour guide shows up and I'm shocked. I figure out that the name they gave me is her first name because she's wearing an Arabic language necklace with that name on it. Her name and my name start with the same letter so that's what tipped me off. But, honestly, I'm tripping out at what I'm dealing with here.

She's young, 22-25 years old and she's a Saudi. Keep in mind, during my era, once girls reach 12 y/o, they're covered. And you never saw a Saudi woman without an Abaya and a Veil. But..., I lived there long enough, I can tell, this girl is a Saudi.

Now, how she is dressed and what I have to mention here is my time living in Sydney, Australia with "Muslims" who would follow the letter of the law but not the intent. The intent from the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him - so I don't get fragged by some disgruntled Muslim) is all about modesty. In Sydney, I would frequently see Muslim girls who were "covered" but not leaving much to the imagination. I mean, if you look like you're wearing Lululemon and just stepped out of the F45 Gym and put on a headcovering, I don't think that's the intent of what "the rules" are for Muslim women.

I'll also say that they have greatly repealed the accepted rules in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia so these people like the Ilhan Omar's of the world who are covering to make political points, are no longer required post - Mohammed bin Salman reforms in Saudi Arabia. And based on my experience with Islam, if the Saudis don't require it, it's not required. This is one of the burdens (if you like) that is carried by the King of Saudi Arabia, being the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. So the King is also kind of like The Pope for Catholics. He has an ability to dictate to the whole of Islam, what the rules are.

So, back to my tour guide. First, she's pretty. She's wearing Doc Marten boots and she's wearing denim jeans which are loose fitting and the popular (what I'll call) stovepipe legs that finish just at the top of the boot. She's wearing a black and gold Barcelona FC Rakuten sponsored jersey. Finished off with a black leather jacket (keep in mind, it's 115F outside) that goes down past her butt just like the Prophet intended.

So, bottom line, she is both within the letter of the law, and the intent.

A few minutes late, the South Korean dads show up. One thing that was funny is they made it very clear that you were not allowed to take any pictures without permission. One of the Korean dads had a kid coming into 1st Grade and the other into 2nd Grade. So the father of the 1st Grader, the first thing he wants to do it take pictures. This guy was probably 30-35 years old so he's in the zone where he wouldn't give that a second though. But our tour guide said NO.

As we toured the school, the first room she showed us had the same (re-upholstered now) "whistle cushions" that we had back in 1981. And I hadn't thought about "whistle cushions" since 1982. I burst out into laughter as I told the tour guide - "Wow, you still have the same Whistle Cushions". She was such a doll, she was like - what did you call them?

Ok, I can't find an internet example and obviously I couldn't take pix in the school but, if you google - Acme Thunderer Whistle, that's the shape of these cushions that we used for reading class in 1981 and they're still in use today. I was blown away.

Here's what I'll say about my assessment of the school. The demographics have changed significantly. Far less Americans and Californians (Keep in mind that Bechtel the main contractor and Fluor who my dad worked for were both from CA) but, the academics looked every bit as challenging as they were back in my era. Like seriously, I'd be proud to send my kid to Jubail Academy in 2025, just as much as I would have back in the 1980s.

I had fun sharing which classrooms used to be where. Their band has done so well that they've switched classrooms with wood shop. So Band is a double classroom and woodshop (tragically) has been relegated to a small portion of a regular classroom. But, in 40 years, they've really only moved across the hallway from where they used to be. One funny thing is that our tour guide talked a lot about string instruments and the fact that a few of their violin players (or whatever) had gone on to Oxford / Cambridge, etc. I kind of wanted to point out that one of your trombonists (from my era) went to UCLA and one of your saxophone players was in The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band. But anyway...

As we were headed out to see the sports fields (which used to only be basketball and team handball), we walked past the old typing classroom where I was taught by a Mormon WWII vet - who was a super hardass. Not joking when I say that he would throw a chalkboard eraser at your head if you looked at your hands while typing. So, I mentioned to our tour guide that, that room used to be the old typing classroom. Her reply was - yeah, I've seen a typewriter before.

Reminds me, she took us in the classroom that used to be the computer lab when we had like 12 x Apple II Plus computers with 5.25" floppy drives. Our tour guide introduced us to the classroom teacher who was also the longest tenured teacher at the school - almost 20 years. The teacher asked me if I had ever been to the school before. I said, um, yeah, I graduated 9th Grade here in 1985. And in this classroom used to be the computer lab when we had Apple II Plus computers.

We finished up the tour and I asked our tour guide about the very old pictures they had on display in the gym and would she show us those pictures (she had mentioned this before the tour). She said, oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Do you want to see that now? The two Korean guys were up for it so we headed back to the gym.

They had pictures from like Cross Country back in 2001, etc., then they had some Black and White pictures for Softball and Volleyball from 1984-1987 or so.

I immediately honed in on the Jubail Academy Boys Softball team from 1984-1985. Frankly, it was ridiculous how much taller I was at 6'0" than the rest of the kids on the softball team. But, there I was, the tallest kid in the back row of the softball team photo. I pointed at myself and I said - that's me.

The tour guide and the two South Korean guys were tripping out. I asked our tour guide if I could take pictures of the 5 Black & White pix on the wall from my era and she said yes. I also asked if the younger South Korean guy could take a picture of me next to the picture of me playing Softball in 1985 and our tour guide said yes. I'll try to figure out how to post that pic later.

Keep in mind, I'm a Texas Aggie Bandsman (B-Company Hell Bent Street Fighter no less) but frankly, what's more impressive than me being on display in the Texas A&M Corps Center as a member of Rudder's Rangers, is the fact that I'm on display in my old Junior High in Saudi Arabia from 1985.

So we wrapped up the tour and it was time for lunch. Naturally, I headed out to Fanateer to capture some additional house pix for one of my friends who was really persistent.

I ate lunch (Halal burger, surprise?) at Fuddruckers and had Gelato afterwards. On the corniche in Fanateer, it was first class.

After that, I took some pix of the Hwy 6 signs (runs North and South - just like B/CS) and later, headed down to investigate what had been Camp 9A a single men's camp where we used to have boys swim practice. Swim team would usually start in early February so I remember a few times that Mr. Nair was torturing us out at 9A for swim team.

Bottom line is that the foundation of the Camp 9A swimming pool is still there as well as the racquetball and squash courts. And I'll say that looking at a 12 foot deep end with no water in it is nowhere near as intimidating as being asked to dive down to 12 ft and retrieve stuff.

Afterwards, I went back to the Intercontinental Hotel and had planned on their advertised Thursday night BBQ. Well, I found out that wasn't on so I went with the buffet instead. Which was fine if you like some combination of Asian and Lebanese food.

During the dinner, I sit down and I'm minding my own business and then this krewe comes in with two Saudi women and a child. Well what I'm assuming was the child's aunt was wearing a very tight dress and had some breast implants that were - dialed in. As I glance without staring, I decided that this girl is skirting the rules and I'm going to do my best not to look. Was she gorgeous?, yes. Was I going to get in trouble for staring?, NO.

So, I headed back to my hotel room to get ready for my departure tomorrow morning and what would be a 500+ km / 300+ miles trip to Riyadh for the Guns N Roses concert on Friday night.

Day 12 Part 1 - Friday, May 23rd 2025 - Drive to Riyadh

Today's goals are drive to Riyadh and see Guns N Roses in concert.

I was expecting it to be about a 5 hour drive and I wanted to get to the hotel by 4pm. I also had a wild idea to try to include a stop in Hofuf on the way there because tomorrow (Saturday) when I drive back to Dammam to fly out, I want that to be a straight shot to the airport.

Hofuf is where we used to go to ride camels and shop for Bedouin merch. Coffee pots, rugs, little clay sculptures of horses that the kids would sell. If you brought enough money, you could buy traditional Saudi swords, etc. There was also an old Turkish Fort in the center of town so at least I'd see something I recognized from the 1970s & 80s.

But, we are talking about a long drive through the desert and it was going to be man and machine versus nature so I didn't want to push my luck too far while driving through the Deserts of Arabia in 48 degree heat (118F) in a 3 cylinder Toyota Corolla with R134a air conditioning. There's a lot to do which includes staying awake on the road, avoiding crazy Saudi drivers, trucks, camels (no joke) and heat exhaustion.

I bring up the air conditioning because my Zip Ol Lady from the Aggie Band has worked at the GM Manufacturing Plant in Arlington for maybe 20 years or so. He tells me that the Suburbans and Tahoes they make for export to the Middle East have different AC systems than what they sell domestically.

When I was first out of college, my wife bought a new 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee that had the new style R134a refrigerant which had just replaced R12 Freon as the special stuff that cools your car's AC. R134a was more environmentally friendly for the Ozone layer which had been a big deal in the 1980s. I didn't really realize that due to Global Warming / Climate Change, it had been replaced by something newer while I was living in Australia from 2007-2020. But, I did notice that my 2020 Jeep Wrangler that I bought when I got back in 2020 had something called R1234yf refrigerant.

In July 2023, I had driven my Jeep out to Cave Creek, Arizona for a celebration of life service for a friend who had been killed in a plane crash, I noticed that the air conditioning in my Wrangler was not at all capable of cooling off the Jeep in 110F Arizona heat. I wound up setting the AC to 85F just to keep the cabin tolerable during the drive from about Salton Sea to Phoenix.

Sidebar - here's the story about the NTSB report from my friend's fatal crash
https://www.azfamily.com/2025/04/30/new-report-details-what-led-up-deadly-2023-plane-crash-near-apache-junction/

All that to say that the R134a AC in the Toyota Corolla blew cold air the whole time even when it was 118F in the desert.

Now, that doesn't mean that it wasn't hot in the car. Remember, you have the sun beating down on you plus getting reflected off the sand dunes so, you dry out pretty quickly if you don't stay hydrated. Although I never really broke a sweat, by the time I got to Riyadh, I was just kind of salty all over. Like the sweat just basically evaporated.

As I'm leaving Jubail, I stop to refuel and make sure I've got enough drinks onboard in case I break down or something, I won't die of dehydration right away. I might make it to nightfall. Joking / Not Joking

I departed from the gas station on the south side of Camp 8. I had been to a gas station in that location in the 1980s back when gasoline was 10 US cents/gallon. Some time around 1984, the Saudi Government decided they should really charge people more for gas so they doubled the price to 20 US cents/gallon. One of our teachers got really mad about it. I was only like 13 or 14 but I was thinking - dude, we're talking about less than a quarter per gallon? Where were you during the gas lines during the summer of 1979?

As I'm headed towards the highway, I finally catch a glimpse of the iconic headquarters building that my dad built for the Sadaf Petrochemical Plant. I'm definitely in the area where you shouldn't be taking pictures of this stuff but I thought - there it is. I'm not leaving without a picture of that building so I pulled over to the side of the road and snuck a picture. 30 seconds later as I'm back on the road, a local Police Officer drives by. Just missed me.

Heading south on Saudi Highway 1, I'm still not sure if I should risk going to Hofuf or take the safe play and go directly to Riyadh. The first thing I see after I drive past the massive desalination plant is the water pipeline to Riyadh. Many people are unaware that Riyadh gets its drinkable water from Jubail.

I'm listening to Aramco Radio which is an entertaining mix of Brit pop and US pop with some DJs who try to make it sound like living in KSA is the greatest thing ever. Aramco propaganda but, at least they're fun about it.

Energy Radio 1 91.4 FM (note that overseas they use even numbers for the frequencies as well as odd numbers)
In case you're inclined to give it a listen - https://theonestopradio.com/radio/sa-energy-radio-1-aramco

They've also got an app that you can download in case you want to listen on your phone
https://www.aramcolife.com/en/publications/the-arabian-sun/articles/2023/week-33-articles/ksa-energy-radio-expansion

Driving through the desert, the scenery changes slowly. I'm drinking the liquids I've brought with me and eventually looking for a place to stop and use the restroom and also get more drinks.

Alongside the highways in Saudi, they have these little groupings of buildings which usually consists of:
A McDonalds or some place to eat, a convenience store which is really more of a general store where you could buy pretty much everything you'd need to live in the desert, a couple shops to get your car services, a coffee shop or two, maybe a small grocery store and of course a Mosque.

As many fluids as I was drinking, these roadside stops were a godsend and I learned to be very thankful for the roadside Mosques because they have a bathroom as the first thing where you enter so, you can take care of business before you wash your hands and feet to pray. Keep in mind, it's 118F-ish outside.

As I approach Hofuf, the terrain starts to change and things get much more rocky with large hills, more or less the way I remembered it.

I get into the area near the old Turkish Fort and basically, it dawns on me that - it's Friday. There's nothing open. I mean nothing. The streets are essentially empty. Very few cars. Also, much to my disappointment the Fort is under renovation. Oh well, on to Riyadh.

As I'm driving and stopping at these roadside places every 90 minutes - 2 hours, I do notice that as I get deeper into the central part of the country, nobody is attempting to speak to me in English anymore, it's Arabic only. I remembered a few more words that I had forgotten about.

I was waiting in line to buy my Red Bull, Coke, Water and some snacks and the guy at the cash register yells at me to let me know - I'm next and to come to his register. He points and yells "Halla". And just like it was 40 years ago, I realized he said - "Here". The Saudi kids we played soccer against used to run up and down the field yelling "Halla" to signal they were open and to pass them the ball - "Here".

Another funny interaction was when I was buying a similar amount of snacks and the guy just told me the price "Commstash" which means "Fifteen" because it was 15 SAR. It was cool because I knew exactly what he said and didn't even have to think about it although its not language I regularly use.

On the way, I see some large groups of camels and their herders in Toyota Hilux pickups and Land Cruisers. As I get into Riyadh, I pass the very large water storage tank farm outside of town at the completion of its journey from Jubail.

I almost forgot to mention that I did have to go through an immigration checkpoint but they just waved me through.

As I get into Riyadh, it's massive and we're back to the regularly scheduled crazy driving complete with pedestrians walking through traffic.

I arrive at the JW Marriott in Riyadh and I'll pick it up there later.

Day 12 Part 3 - Friday, May 23rd 2025 - Guns and Roses

I shared some of this on the Concerts topic on the entertainment board but I'll consolidate some of that info here and elaborate on it. https://texags.com/forums/13/topics/3355422/replies/70293226

Leaving for the venue, I grabbed an Uber around 9 pm. The tickets said that the concert went until 1 am so I knew that there was no way GNR was going to play for 4 hours. And if there was an opening band, I didn't know and I didn't really care.

Arrived at the venue and it was the standard screening with lots of lanes. Compared to other concert goers, I was kind of late so there wasn't much of a line. Normal electronic ticket scan and a metal detector, hand wands, etc.

The concessions were outside the venue and they had a bunch of different little coffee shops and some food kiosks. It was essentially a bunch of different food trucks kind of thing but they were fixed buildings. Booths might be the best way to describe them.

The only thing I bought was a couple bottles of water which I think were about $2 USD a piece. Then I headed over to the merch kiosk to see what they were selling.

Walking through the outdoor area at the venue, I see all kinds of different people. My expectation was that it would be mostly Expats at this show. I was wrong. I did see some people who I identified as German, American, Canadian, Filipino, British, Australian (I didn't speak to them because they were from Melbourne), etc. But the vast majority of the crowd (probably about 65%) were Saudis.

It felt in many ways like going to a Junior High Dance where everybody is awkwardly trying to figure out what to do and there are a few people trying to give the impression that they're super experienced.

For me, it was a trip seeing Saudi females wearing t-shirts and lipstick and cruising around in jeans with their heads uncovered. There were 1 or 2 European chicks showing some midriff but otherwise, it was all pretty well under control.

I did see a girl wearing a black t-shirt with 34.xxxx N 118.xxxx W (Lat/Long for LA) on it and I said to her, "Hey, I like your shirt". I was not actually prepared for her accent when she said back to me in a Saudi English learner accent - "You are from Los Angeles?". I told her, Yes, I am (simple enough explanation for this situation). My unpreparedness was that I didn't realize she was a Saudi and I also didn't know what a female Saudi English learner sounded like. And with that, I kept moving.

The other memorable female I saw was this little 12 year old girl wearing an Abaya. Once girls turn 12 years old, they are considered women and thus have to cover their body and hair - in traditional Saudi Arabia. I'm sure that this girl begged her parents to go to this rock and roll show and they probably forced her to agree to wear an Abaya. And her part of it, like a Catholic School Girl rolling up the waistband on her skirt to make it shorter, was to wear her Abaya as Rock and Roll as possible once she was out of the eyesight of her parents. Her hair wasn't totally covered and the front was kind of open revealing her rock and roll t-shirt. It's easy to imagine the conversations that took place at her house.

One thing I've learned over the years is that if you want to make sure you get some particular merch at a concert, you need to buy it before the show. Otherwise, they might sell out, or, after the show, they're usually packed up and on to the next venue.

As I get in the 200 person deep line, I WhatsApp message back and forth with a childhood acquaintance who is at the show. I was in Boy Scouts with the guy but he was really friends with my brother 2 years younger. He's been living in Riyadh for the past 6 years working for the corporation that is doing all the development of resorts on the Red Sea.

This the social event of the year in Riyadh so he's sitting with his wife, daughter and one of her friends. Since the show hasn't started yet, he comes out to visit me standing in the merch line that isn't moving at all. He goes on to ask about my brother and tells me how great living in Riyadh is for raising a family and then goes back inside because we both feel like the show is going to start soon.

I'm still standing in the merch line when he tells me that they've dimmed the house lights and I need to hurry up and come back inside the arena. Axl comes out a little after 10 pm and apoligizes for being late (no surprise there). They open with "Welcome to the Jungle" and it's off to the races from there.

I'm enjoying the show but still thinking about how to get some sort of souvenier merch. I at least wanted a t-shirt or something. After they played "Estranged" (which is my favorite GNR song), I decided that was as good as it was going to get for now so I made a break back to the merch kiosk.

By this time, there are only about 25-30 people in line but I can see why the line isn't moving. They only have 1 window with 4 people working the merchandise. And you can't really even see what they have until you're within about 5 feet of the window.

I decide to get a t-shirt and I notice they have posters which have the date, the venue details and appear to be numbered. I get mine and they are numbered out of 200. The guys in line behind me are a couple of 19-20 y/o Saudi boys and they're thinking about getting a poster. I tell them, guys... these posters are numbered and there are only 200 of them, you must get one.

My poster which looks just like this tweet is currently framed and hanging in my hallway.

Riyadh, are you ready? We’re here for the very first time! See you tonight. pic.twitter.com/3nbkle9W0a

— Guns N' Roses (@gunsnroses) May 23, 2025

I go back into the venue having missed a few songs and notice as they zoom the camera in on bass player Duff Mc Kagan, he's wearing a really big silver cross around his neck. That would have been unthinkable in my era.

The concert goes on and it's great. The 65% Saudi audience is really into it and they absolutely bring down the house when they do "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and put the lights on the crowd for them to sing. I'm guessing there are probably 12,000 - 15,000 people in the arena. Below is a YouTube which was taken from the section I was sitting in.

This guy was sitting very close to where I was sitting and as he swings his camera around to the left, I can see my right forearm around the 6:20 mark and I'm pretty sure I can make out my Aggie Ring on my right hand.


All in all they played 28 songs and it was an incredible show. Another funny thing was when they went back stage before the encore, a lot of people got up and started leaving. The two guys to my right got up (I think they were Indian, they weren't Saudis) and they started congratulating each other on what a great show it had been and they started leaving. I said, "Hey guys, where are you going? The show isn't over yet". They asked, "Are you sure?". And I told them "I guarantee they're not finished".

So they sat back down and waited. GNR came back out and played a really long encore, I think it was 4 songs, maybe 5. They finished with "Paradise City" and I asked the guys next to me, "Aren't you glad you stuck around?" And they said, "Oh yes". I try to be a Rock and Roll Ambassador whenever I can.

Sidebar - My six degrees of separation connection to Axl is that he used to work the door at the Troubadour and about 10 years ago, I got invited to a party in La Crescenta at the house of the lady who was the manager of the Troubadour who had hired Axl back in the 1980s. And that connection was made because my rock singer friend replaced Axl as the doorman at the Troubadour and he had stayed in touch with the manager lady all those years.

My connection to the song "Paradise City" is that the video was filmed at the New Jersey Meadowlands / Giants Stadium in the summer of 1988. In fact, based on Internet searching, it looks like it was August 16, 1988. Why this is significant is, on August 27, 1988, fish HollywoodBQ marched my first drill with the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band at the New Jersey Meadowlands as the Aggies ran out of time against #2 ranked Nebraska during the final year (unbeknownst to us at the time) of the Jackie Sherrill era.

So finishing up my Saudi Trip with Paradise City just felt like a great closure because tomorrow I've got to get up and drive back to Dammam for my trip to Dubai via Doha, Qatar.

As I left the venue with my merch in hand, saw that there appeared to be a fiasco with the taxis and car pick ups outside the venue as the police had the road blocked off. I see taxis with their lights on and people figuring out that their best bet to get out of there quickly is to go grab a taxi with its light on and jump in.

I run over to a guy who has his light on and I jump in. He tries to extort me with special pricing for like 200 SAR (about $60) and I tell the guy, how about 95 SAR and I think we negotiated somewhere around 140 SAR which was good enough for me to get the heck out of there quickly. I just love the haggling for price in Saudi. Just like old times.

I get back to the hotel room and I'm amazed at how much traffic there is on the main streets in Riyadh at 1 am. Still pumped from the show but I've got to get some sleep.

A little flashback to August 1988 (only 3 years after I left Saudi Arabia for Texas)

Related to this story, last night, I was looking for my jacket to take my wife to dinner and as I was browsing through the closet, I discovered that she hung up all the laundry I had done at the Jubail Intercontinental Hotel. Still in the laundry plastic bags for the past 3 months.

Kind of a fun reminder of my trip and also, just expanded my non WFH wardrobe. Just in time to pack it for a work trip to Vegas next week.

Day 15 - Monday, May 26th 2025 - Emirates A380 First Class from Dubai DXB to Houston IAH

My homecoming trip is finally coming to an end as I have a morning flight out of DXB.

What I had been through during the previous two weeks had been nothing short of the trip of a lifetime. Frankly, the only downside is that I didn't have anyone to share it with. My wife doesn't like to travel and my brother 2 years younger, was still recovering from heart surgery.

My brother is the one who was with me through everything from Puerto Rico to Alaska to KSA but unfortunately, he won't be in a condition to make a long trip like this for some time. And after firmly settling into Waco (our Father's hometown), this kind of trip wouldn't hold the same specialness that it did for me. Conversely, I only lived there for 3 years before I shipped out to Texas A&M, the Corps of Cadets and The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band.

I anticipated there being a problem with getting a taxi to the airport so I got up early and summoned an Uber early. I have a 3 hour rule about being on my way to the airport within 3 hours of my flight so that I arrive at least 2 hours early. And in this case, with access to the First Class Lounge, I wanted to be even earlier than that.

I see on the Uber app that my driver is a Sikh guy. From my time living in Sydney, I became very discriminatory towards taxi drivers and Uber drivers. As soon as I see the name Singh on the app, I'm set. Otherwise, you never know what you're in for.

I get to the airport and the interesting thing is that there's a special line for First Class. Not only do Biz and First get dropped off at a different terminal, there's like an extra specialness with the First Class line.

I cruise into the terminal, answer my USA screening questions and head to Immigration to exit the country. That took all of like 2 seconds and then you get on a train to be whisked away to your terminal.

At the terminal, I went to the First Class Lounge again but this time, you could board directly from the First Class Lounge so no messing about with busses (even nice ones).

I decide to have breakfast because I'm there so early, I actually had breakfast and lunch - like I'm a total pig. I was hungry. What can I say.

The First Class Lounge has a Duty Free store and I check out their selection of Louis XIII. Needless to day, I'm not buying any but it was about $4,000 USD for 700 ml and about $9,000 USD for a Magnum 1.5L. One thing I did like was the slogan they had on the ad which was "Think a Century Ahead". Yeah... when you're selling 100+ year old Cognac, that's a pretty good one.

As I was headed into the terminal, one of my Waco friends messaged me that I "had to" buy some Dubai Chocolate. So, in the Duty Free, I asked the lady about it and she said to get the real Dubai Chocolate, I'd need to leave the First Class Lounge so... I accepted their knock-off.

Now before leaving the Lounge, I did get a bottle of Yamazaki for me and I scored a 1000 ml bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label in memory of my dad. When we were living in Jubail, my dad had a Lebanese guy he worked with whose surname was Ezedine but went by the nickname of "Easy". Easy could get you stuff off the Saudi Black Market which for my dad was a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label. Which he paid $350 USD for (in 1983 US Dollars).

Now the Black Label only came out once a year, when his boss came over. This was the same supervisor he had been with since Puerto Rico. It was only within the past decade that my dad told me why that guy dragged him along to every project he was on. And the answer was crazy. The short answer is Freemasonry. Basically, this boss man / corporate climber was Catholic therefore, he could not become a Mason. My father was unaffiliated and then later joined my mother's religion of Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod so my dad could not become a Mason either.

More than you ever wanted to know, no doubt. So I've got my duty free bag with $500 USD worth of liquor and $20 worth of knock-off Dubai chocolate and I'm ready to head to the gate lounge.

I've been in this situation before and here's where it gets tricky. My body wants to go to sleep but I'm afraid that if I do, I'm going to miss my flight and I'm not going to miss a ride in seat 1A in an A380. As I sit down, I see a Black guy seated near me and it was funny because I thought, that guy is headed to Houston too. Keep in mind, I haven't seen a Black guy in 2 weeks.

I power through, board the aircraft and take my seat in 1A. Keep in mind, as WT as I am, it is difficult for me to just sit there and become "Mr. HollywoodBQ". Standard pre-flight Dom Perignon and the purser comes by to check on me. Her name is Susie and she's a glammed out Chav. Basically right up my alley.

So now it's a mix of enjoying the services, trying to stay awake and go to sleep all at the same time. I know that in 16 hours time when I reach Intercontinental, I'm right back to being a pedestrian.

I keep drinking, enjoy the food, watch some movies and eventually, I walk up front to the bathroom. I've already booked my shower for 2 hours before landing. I realized at some point that they had bottles of liquor up front and Susie catches me admiring the Bacardi 8 (I am Puerto Rican after all) and basically, she keeps me supplied with Bacardi 8 for most of the flight.

Another thing I'll say about this flight is that it is complete daytime the entire trip from 10am in Dubai to 5pm in Houston. I've done one other trip like that which was Houston to Tokyo and that was wild because you cross the International Date Line - leave Monday morning, arrive Tuesday afternoon. In this case, it was all on the same day.

Looking out the window over Asia always interesting. For some reason, there's just something special about flying over Turkey in particular. I can't explain it and I've never been to Turkey (or now Turkiye) so maybe that's part of it.

After a while, I decide that I want to go back to the Business Class bar and lounge. I did that with my wife in 2014 and it was a great time even if there was nobody on the flight between Sydney and Auckland. I get a few drinks and eventually strike up a conversation with a Dubai based Brit who is headed to Houston for work.

I explain to the guy how I've just spent the past week in Saudi Arabia where I grew up. I talk about how crazy the driving was and the Brit looks at me like I'm from Mars. He says, our company does not allow us to drive in Saudi Arabia because it's too dangerous. I chuckle. I tell him that I learned how to drive there and I tell him about Full-Send, No Half-Send. I think he's a little disinterested because my Trump train self is loaded by this point (still another 8-10 hours to go). Also, he's headed to Houston for work. I'm just going home after the completion of my mission.

I go back to my First Class Suite and watch a few more movies and try to go to sleep which I can't really do because they continue to ply me with alcohol every 30 minutes or so. I find one that is set in Texas and features Carrie-Anne Moss so... I'm in. The movie was called "Accidental Texan" about an actor from LA who breaks down in rural West Texas and gets stuck there. It was entertaining.

Eventually, I fall asleep somewhere about the 14 hour mark which is right about the time that I'm supposed to go for my shower. It was one of the deals where we landed and then they wake me up. I disembark, clear customs and claim my luggage. Then, I catch the Parking Spot shuttle over to my car which I haven't seen in 2 weeks.

I jump in and I don't know if I'm still drunk or just tired or whatever but my first stop is a Monster energy drink and my next stop is some place to eat. I finish the drive down the Gulf Freeway I-45 and back onto The Island.

I get home and just kind of collapse. Back to work the following morning.

Thank You all for reading along and I can't begin to tell you how incredible this entire trip was. I had literally been waiting for almost 40 years to go "home" and now I've finally done it.

It's like a chapter in my life is finally closed. The loose ends have finally been re-connected.

Epilogue - Metallica at NRG, Saturday, June 14, 2025

During 2024 and 2025, I've had two friends have strokes, two brothers have heart bypass surgeries and my father passed away. It's been a rough time. One of my friends who had a stroke has had a difficult go with recovery but, one of the things he wanted to do this year was to see Metallica.

So, I organized this weekend trip only 2 weeks after my KSA trip. We stayed two nights at a hotel on the west side of Houston where we'd be close enough to NRG but still far away enough that we wouldn't break the bank.

I head up to Houston to meet him for Friday night drinks and dinner and as I'm sitting in the lobby bar, there were two significant groups there. Group number 1 was the Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club who were having a Frontier Regional Meeting. If you haven't figured out by the name, this was a Black MC. Most of them had been in the US Military and all of them were very cool dudes.

The second group I picked up on while we were sitting in the lobby bar. I'm there minding my own business and this bus drops off about 25 people. Sure enough, it's Emirates Flight Attendants, Pilots, etc. I don't know how long they layover in Houston before flying back to Dubai but... now I know where they live - as if I was a stalker.

And for that weekend in particular, there was a 3rd group - The Texas Army National Guard. Apparently there were some "No Kings" protest happening downtown and the NG was staying in our hotel.

Anyway, long story short in this Epilogue is that, I thought I left all that behind and then the Emirates flight crew shows up at my hotel.