Farewell Tour of Saudi Arabia 2015

Map of Farewell Tour of Saudi Arabia
Map of Farewell Tour of Saudi Arabia

When my husband, Richard, had his 64th birthday on 22nd March 2014, we knew we had only one more year left in Saudi Arabia. He was a 747 Captain with Saudi Arabian Airlines and the retirement age for commercial pilots worldwide is sixty-five. We had moved to Jeddah in April 1984 from Kenya and so by the time we left, Saudi Arabia would have been our home for thirty-one years. We decided that we wanted to do a long ‘Farewell Tour’ of the Kingdom on our Harley Davidson, and this dream became a reality.

I hope you enjoy reading this daily account of our magical last three weeks in Saudi Arabia.

Day 1 of Farewell Tour

02/11/2015

We were up at 5 a.m. this morning, and Peter & Tanya Linton arrived just after 6 a.m. at Saudia City in their Nissan Patrol. We set off more or less on time at 6.30 a.m. on our 19 day Farewell Tour of the Kingdom on our Harley-Davidson Road King, Maridadi, followed by the Lintons in their Nissan. After almost a year of planning, there was a sense of unreality that this departure day had finally dawned and we really were embarking on the trip on which I had set my heart. Nothing would have disappointed me more than to leave Saudi Arabia without doing this tour. A golden dawn was rising over the City as we sped southwards out of town and gave us that feeling that all Harley bikers love: the sense of freedom as you head out on the road. ...more