Ok, bullet mode. My mind was constantly mapping out the journey. Pack. Sleep. Put bags in boot. Work. Finish work. Meet Omar. Leave. Check boot. Buy some snacks (a.k.a snakes). Head for the border.

Driving there was pretty easy thanks to my navigation but I can tell you that the most difficulty you’ll face is in Saudi thanks to lack of signs.

While driving to the Qatar-Saudi border, Omar tells me to get ready, smile, don’t give any lip to the Saudies. I pass the Qatari side smoothly. It’s all very straight forward. Go to window one, show your ID and registration, get some Saudi insurance (daily or weekly) in case you break down in that country, and then get your car checked out (for smuggling and whatnot). It’s the same process once you reach the Saudi side. The difference? It looks like it’s been deserted. Glass if broken, the checkpoints aren’t all accessible and the men don’t smile. Luckily Qatar’s side had cute friendly girls that smiled and tried to make you feel relaxed. In fact, every single person I passed on the Qatar side wished me a safe journey with a smile.

I was panicking about the Saudi side. No thanks to Omar I thought I was going to get ‘the glove’. The man at the first point asks for my I.D. no smiles, no thank you, no niceties. He looks at me for a second and says “go’. Omar looks at me and explains it’s never that easy. When it’s time to check my car, Omar says “get out and leave the doors open”. I do. The guy just looks into the trunk and says “Go”.

“Thank you”, I reply with a sense of releif. We’re now on the move. Driving through Saudi is a bit surreal. Busted up roads, crazy drivers that swirve for no reason, broken sheds on the sides of the road. You thought Qatari driving was so bad, just come to Saudi for a day. We’re on the road passing some soft and silky dunes. I see some camels relaxing on the side. “Want a smoke?” one asks? *shakes head*. Woops sorry, was day dreaming for a second. The camels there come in a variety of colours too! White, black, tan, and pink. Yep seems like someone thought it would be cool to spray paint one of the camel’s humps.

After a long while of driving, I see something on the road. It’s a large camel. For a moment by brain doesn’t register that as a fact. “Omar… is that a camel?”. Omar was sleeping. He gets up and looks. “Yeah, they sleep on the roads sometimes.”. I swirve to avoid it. Ok. Now it’s time to be vigilant.

What next? A swarm of locusts? SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH. The damn roads have SPEEDBUMPS with no warning prior on a highway! What the hell is that?! Who does that? (I ended up having to fix my disc thanks to that).

As I entered into the main city, I start to see that the roads are no better and that it looks like I’m one of the most oldest looking towns I’ve ever seen. The driver in front of me veers left and right. I usually don’t care but he didn’t have anyone in front of him! Typical.

After a few hours of driving I’m at the Saudi Bahrain bridge. The Saudi side is actually friendly and it’s smooth. The Bahraini side wasn’t. The funny thing is, I expected them to be nicer than the Saudi side. I guess the ones who spoke to me didn’t like Qataris or thought that we are like the Saudis that come over to have a couple of drinks and go home. I spent 17 years of my life in Bahrain and I still love that country. The Bahraini side though looked like a cheap christmas tree with it’s lighting and burnt out lights. To be honest, this was one of the first times that I saw that Qatar’s side was amazing in comparison.

I arrive home after around 6 hours of driving (1 hour was at the Bahrain side because it was PACKED full of Saudis trying to get their groove on for the weekend.)

I sink into bed. It’s late now and I’m tired of driving. Tired… driving… O_O …. o_o …. -_- zzzzzz