On the Road Again - KSA Trip #3

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Here we go again.

(6:00 pm, Wednesday, Minneapolis time): I'm sitting in the Minneapolis airport (Northwest/Delta "Princess Lounge") waiting to begin my third trip to "The Kingdom," aka KSA, aka Saudi Arabia. To get there I fly first to Amsterdam, change planes and fly to Kuwait and then on to Bahrain. From Bahrain I will take a taxi over the causeway (a very long bridge that has the Bahrain/Saudi Arabia border in the middle) to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It will take about 24 hours of real time, 32 hours of clock time (Saudi is 8 hours ahead of Minneapolis).

For those of you reading this blog for the first time, I am returning to do another series of assessment centers my company's client - Saudi Aramco. Each trip is three weeks long (plus 4 days of travel) and involves six separate assessment centers that assess 72 participants and three "coaching days" that involve another 72 people. I will be working and living with six PDI consultants, three of whom have been on previous trips with me. The cast of PDI'ers (Personnel Decisions International) include: me (from Minneapolis, USA), Pat (Florida USA), Glyn (Australia), Adrian (United Kingdom), Andrej (Slovakia), Dave (Geneva, Switzerland), and Koen (The Hauge, Netherlands).

See you in Amsterdam!

(12:20 pm, Thursday, Amsterdame time): I'm sitting in the lounge in Amsterdam. I can't tell you how great it feels to shower, shave, and brush your teeth after an overnight flight from Minneapolis. I have a bit of time to catch up on email and relax before heading out to Kuwait, Bahrain, and then Saudi. One of the PDI consultants who lives in the Netherlands (Koen) will be on this flight. I'm sure that all sorts of security violations took place when I asked them to tell me which seat Koen will be in. I really wanted to introduce myself to him before we collided into each other at the Magestic Taxi sign for the ride to Saudi. I guess my winning smile did the trick because they did tell me. Don't worry, Koen, I won't reveal your secret identity.

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Photos

KLM Delft Houses
On every KLM flight, you get one of these. Each one is a bit different. In the KLM lounge, there is a display case with probably 150 different houses.

Comments

[eve]

Round 3
So glad the blog is starting back up again! It seems like yesterday....or at least a week anyway. Can't wait to read about your next set of adventures! (And those Delft houses are so cool--they really give them to you? But I bet no peanuts! I was there many moons ago....)

[Jessica]

Have a nice trip!

[Jim Podlich]

On the Road Again
Some guys will do anything to get away from Minnesota in the Spring. You talk about food and birds and even a jellyfish. How about bugs? Other critters? Looking forward to your posts.

[TedTravel]

Saudi Bugs
I have the feeling the Internet is bugged, but that's not probably what you meant, Jim. The only thing I've seen besides flies are cockroaches. I saw one in the consultant's apartment in February and the expresso machine came back from being repaired with a few extra enhancements. It was sent back, however, I have not had (nor do I plan to have) any expresso since then! Fortunately, I've not had any critters in my room(s) at Steineke Hall.

[TedTravel]

Flying on KLM
Yes, the delft houses are cool and yes, you get them when you fly KLM. However, I'm not sure if they are just a business-class thing. I hear that on all flights EXCEPT ones to the Middle East, they are filled with some kind of booze. As for food, it's amazing how much food you get in business class. Northwest had a promotion that you got triple miles credited to your elite status (not frequent flyer miles) for flights in April through June. Since Northwest and KLM are partners, flying on either airline counted in the promotion. So I became Silver Elite flying over here last time, Gold Elite flying back, and Platinum Elite flying here this time. I'm not sure what all I get for reaching that level, but it sounds cool. I wonder if they have a Titanium level that I'll reach flying back to Minneapolis.