The World is a book...

“The World is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

-St. Augustine

When I was a little girl, planning out my life and my wedding, I didn’t account for this. I planned on going to college, marrying an American, and maybe getting a house in Rogers. A few years down the line, I find myself packing for my move to Saudi.

It started with my 26-hour journey to my husband and my new home. I had a great group at XNA to send me off. That group included my parents, my sister, my grandma, my aunt and my cousin Sally, my best friend Abbie, Pope, Brendan, and Abdullah. Needless to say, it was very tearful.

Once I got past security and found my gate, I pulled it together. Flying out of Arkansas was hard because I was fully aware that I was leaving everything I’ve ever known. Once I landed in Chicago, I had 7 hours to kill. After much wandering around aimlessly, I found a free charging station and watched a movie I had brought on my laptop. After that, I called my dad, my brother, and my sweet grandpa. I had to fight tears again.

My next goal was finding food because I was starving. I bought a sandwich and sat in the food court across from complete stranger approximately my dad’s age. I awkwardly asked him if he could help me figure out where my mysterious gate was. He was really nice and helpful and told me I’d have to leave security to go to the international terminal. He directed me to ask a person who worked at the airport to make sure that was true. Well it was!

I left security, got on a train, road to the terminal, and then got in line at Turkish Airlines. The man who gave me my boarding pass asked me what my reason was for going to Saudi and had my visa checked by someone in the back. Once I got past that, I went to go through security for a second time and waited in a long line of people.

Found my gate and waited to board my flight to Istanbul. Boarded and came to the conclusion that Turkish Airlines are really nice! I made a friend on our 10 hour 40 minute plane ride. She was my age and going to Africa for a friend’s wedding. Once we landed, we had to leave the plane on stairs that went straight to the ground outside. A bus picked us up and dumped us in front of the airport.

My friend and I went through security (my third time through) and then realized that they hadn’t posted either of our flights. They posted them for us 50 minutes before boarding time. We parted ways and I sat at my gate, feeling very accomplished.

About 5 minutes before boarding time, I looked out the window and realized the plane still wasn’t at the gate. I looked up at the screen and it said my gate moved! I frantically gathered my things and basically ran through the entire airport looking for my flight.

I finally found my gate to Saudi and realized I had to take another bus to the plane. We all got on the bus and were dropped off by the plane. I carried my 2 heavy carry-ons up another huge flight of stairs onto the plane.

We finally all boarded and the plane went to the runway. Right when we were about to take off, we turned around. Someone had gotten sick on the plane and needed to get off. The stewardesses started opening all the overhead bins and asked which bag belonged to who, with every single bag. Once all the bags were accounted for, we got back on the runway and took off to Saudi.

I was ready to get to Badr at this point. I put on my veil, we landed, and I grabbed my things and headed to customs. When I got there, a guard asked to see my passport. He saw that I was an American and directed me to follow him. He let me cut everyone in line. Didn’t see that one coming.

I handed my passport to a customs guy and he looked at my passport. He asked me if my husband was a Saudi. I said yes. I couldn’t read the expression on his face. He let me through with no more questions. I was surprised and relieved. Then I saw Badr. To me, the stressful trip was over. I was home.