• Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Award Expert
Live and Let's Fly
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Award Expert
Home » Afghanistan » Introduction: A Journey to Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan
AfghanistanSkyTeamTrip Reports

Introduction: A Journey to Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan

Matthew March 19, 2013 5 Comments

saudi_arabia_afghanistan_flags When Saudia Airlines (formerly Saudi Arabian Airlines) offered an amazing $557 r/t deal from New York to Dubai via Jeddah last December, I jumped on it—but it was not because I had any desire to go to Dubai. Saudia is a member of SkyTeam and the fare was eligible for Delta Skymiles as well—almost 15,000. But that wasn’t the reason for my trip either. I also was not all that interested in actually flying Saudia—though it is always nice to try a new airline. No, the reason for this trip was two-fold, 1.) a desire to transit through Saudi Arabia and therefore see a bit of Saudi Arabia and 2.) as a means to position me to get to Afghanistan. As you’ll soon find out, the trip was a splendid success.

I found the great fare on Flyertalk and tried to book the ticket directly through Saudia’s site. Each time, though, no matter what credit card I used, my payment was rejected. I was concerned because I had grabbed the last seat in the cheap fare class and when I attempted to book the trip on orbitz.com, the fare had gone up. I had a feeling the space would quickly return to inventory and when I checked about an hour later, I was able to lock in the $557 fare on the flights I wanted, forcing in a 23-hour transit in Jeddah.

After booking a room at the Park Hyatt Jeddah, my next order of business was obtaining a transit visa to Saudi Arabia. Despite fear mongering across the net about how “impossible” this was, I had no trouble obtaining one from the Saudi Embassy in Washington, DC. In part two of this report, I will outline specifically how I obtained one.

Then came Afghanistan. How would I get there? Should I just show up? Is it really that unsafe? The visa was no issue (you should have seen the look on the woman’s face at the Los Angeles consulate when I appeared in person to request a tourist visa!) and was issued in one day at a cost of $100. After some deliberation, I opted to hire a security detail in Kabul—a driver, armed guard, and guide—to eliminate the stress of playing tourist in a war zone. In retrospect, it probably was not necessary but I found that anyone who is someone in Afghanistan has his or her own driver and guard.

There were a few tense moments on the trip—a massive suicide bombing in Kabul the day before I arrived and literally about a dozen security checks to get from the street to Kabul International Airport—but  wait till you hear about my adventure—it was a great trip.


Read more of my Saudi Arabia + Afghanistan Trip Report–

Introduction: A Journey to Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan
How to Obtain a Saudi Arabian Transit Visa
New York JFK to Jeddah in Saudia Economy Class
Review: Park Hyatt Jeddah
Pictures from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Jeddah to Dubai in Saudia Economy Class
Dubai to Kabul on Ariana Afghan Airlines
Arrival in Afghanistan
The Panjshir Valley of Afghanistan
My Hotel, er Compound, in Kabul, Afghanistan
Kabul – TV Tower Hill and Darul Aman Palace
Kabul – National Museum of Afghanistan
Kabul – Gardens of Babur and Kart-e Sakhi Mosque
Kabul – The Green Zone and British Cemetery
Kabul International Airport and Departing Afghanistan
The Afghanistan Dilemma
Kabul to Dubai on flydubai
Dubai to New York via Jeddah in Saudia Economy Class 

Previous Article Pictures from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Next Article Five Steps to Fix the TSA

About Author

Matthew

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 120 countries over the last decade. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, BBC, Fox News, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Al Jazeera, Toronto Star, and on NPR. Studying international relations, American government, and later obtaining a law degree, Matthew has a plethora of knowledge outside the travel industry that leads to a unique writing perspective. He has served in the United States Air Force, on Capitol Hill, and in the White House. His Live and Let's Fly blog shares the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs and promotions, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel. His writings on penandpassport.com offer more general musings on life from the eyes of a frequent traveler. He also founded awardexpert.com, a highly-personalized consulting service that aids clients in the effective use of their credit card points and frequent flyer miles. Clients range from retirees seeking to carefully use their nest egg of points to multinational corporations entrusting Matthew with the direction and coordination of company travel.

Related Posts

  • Hevetic Airways Fokker 100 Review

    Review: Helvetic Airways Fokker 100 Business Class Munich to Zurich

    April 20, 2018
  • Lufthansa First Class Lounge Munich Review

    Review: Lufthansa First Class Lounge Munich (MUC)

    April 20, 2018
  • Lufthansa A380 First Class Munich Review

    Review: Lufthansa A380 First Class Los Angeles to Munich

    April 19, 2018

5 Comments

  1. BR Reply
    March 19, 2013 at 4:47 am

    Looking forward to the report! Very interested to hear how you got into Afghanistan.

  2. Rapid Travel Chai Reply
    March 19, 2013 at 6:07 am

    Keep it coming, skip the flights, get to the good stuff! 😉

  3. Eric Gooden Reply
    March 19, 2013 at 2:53 pm

    Really looking forward to this one. Love TRs about the seemingly “difficult to get into” countries.

  4. Ismael Reply
    March 19, 2013 at 2:57 pm

    I like that you have the courage and adventure to go to these “strange” places. It really opens up our eyes to some misconceptions we have and at the same time allows us to reflect on our own lives. Keep it up. Look forward to hearing about your trip.

  5. Mathias Reply
    April 21, 2013 at 5:57 pm

    When is it to be continued? 🙂

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Search

  • Popular
  • Recent
  • Thrown Off a United Airlines Flight for Taking Pictures! February 19, 2013
  • Turkish Airlines Safety
    Is it Safe to Fly Turkish Airlines? July 21, 2016
  • United Club
    5 Reasons to Purchase a United Club One-Time Pass May 16, 2013
  • How to Make the Most of an Airline Schedule Change August 25, 2015
  • Hyatt Regency Cartagena
    Hyatt Offering Quasi-Variable Priced Awards – Good and Bad April 22, 2018
  • Free Apple on Delta Ends Up Costing $500 April 22, 2018
  • Conrad Cartagena
    Review: Conrad Cartagena – Ocean View Suite April 22, 2018
  • Sunset view from our balcony
    Resort or City: Conrad Cartagena Makes You Choose April 22, 2018

Recent Posts

  • Hyatt Regency Cartagena
    Hyatt Offering Quasi-Variable Priced Awards – Good and Bad April 22, 2018
  • Free Apple on Delta Ends Up Costing $500 April 22, 2018
  • Conrad Cartagena
    Review: Conrad Cartagena – Ocean View Suite April 22, 2018
  • Sunset view from our balcony
    Resort or City: Conrad Cartagena Makes You Choose April 22, 2018

Categories

Instagram

No images found!
Try some other hashtag or username

Archives

March 2013
M T W T F S S
« Feb   Apr »
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
Facebook Twitter Instagram RSS