We've Arrived....

We have now arrived in the Kingdom  of Saudi Arabia ( KSA) fresh faced from downtown Notting Hill, London - 

WOW what a difference....

We were met from the London flight by our broker (to help us through the immigration/customs process) and darling husband (known as DH) with 2 abayas (black floor length cloak with long sleeves) for daughter and me to put on.  She felt very self conscious and walked with her head bowed and her shoulders scrunched up!! BUT she looked lovely!

The Broker took us through to the VIP lounge (I knew there was a good reason for me marrying DH all those years ago!!) for passport checking and fingerprinting for me (typically it takes a few minutes...). The children were served cardamon coffee (Arabic coffee) which they copied their father in drinking the small cup in one sip ..... they have never had any coffee in their lives and it was a bit of a shock to their tired bodies!!!

Two 4X4 vehicles were waiting outside to drive us to our compound and our new home. Our driver is from Sri Lanka, a very kind, helpful young man who manages to negotiate the traffic (and the Saudi driving is MAD) and the camels without too much drama (more on camels and traffic in a future post!)

Our Villa (I'm still calling it a house - haven't worked out what the difference is!) is lovely - very light and bright with lots of marble and floor to ceiling windows overlooking our private heated (it was raining and cold on Day 1) swimming pool and a very pretty garden with some grass (perfect for my pilates sessions) 

Double height sitting room where I seem to be spending most of my time trying to sort out the internet/telephones etc - will be changing the colour scheme a little to brighten it up - the house/villa comes fully furnished so we have to work with what we ( and Ikea!) have...

This is THE most important part of the Villa according to the children hence it has 2 photos !! 

Sun's out now so the kids are in the pool and I'm off to join them... 

I won't be wearing my Abbaya....even though it is rather gorgeous with lots of bling on the sleeves ( Dubai-made!)

HAPPY CHRISTMAS readers and hope you have lovely holidays with your friends and families