What do cardamom and pre-flight prayers to Allah have in common? You guessed it! Saudi Arabia.
When I booked my flight to Thailand with two layovers in Saudi Arabia, I didn’t realize what a cool experience it would be. I was able to get an amazing deal flying business class on Saudia Airlines. The layovers are in Riyadh and Jeddah with a fully reclining seat on all three legs of the trip.
Pre-flight
The flight started off with a lively prayer to Allah led by a man with a deep, baritone voice on the TV. After the prayer, the attendant brought me a glass of their “antioxidant green boost juice.” It tasted like grass with sugar sprinkled on top. It was… interesting.
Next, they served a Saudi coffee, which was absolutely delicious! It’s made with cardamom, and it’s not too sweet… how do I convince Starbucks to start carrying it?! It came in a cute little cup accompanied by a single date that is best to eat while drinking the coffee.
En route to Saudi Arabia
The rest of the flight was pretty seamless, although much more turbulence than I expected. In the morning, I ordered a larger cup of Saudi coffee, and the attendant served it with a wonderful breakfast spread. I especially liked the chia seed oatmeal mixed with mango chunks and topped with blueberries, papaya, and cream. The view flying into Riyadh was very cool – just a vast desert as far as the eye could see.
Saudi customs snafu
Once I landed in Riyadh, the customs agent told me I needed to get a tourist visa since my next flight was a domestic flight to Jeddah before flying to Thailand. So after 1) spending $100 on a visa, 2) going through customs process, 3) taking a 15-minute shuttle to the domestic terminal, and 4) going back through security, I finally made it to the Saudia Airlines lounge. One flight down, two flights to go until Thailand!
And what do you think is the first thing I did when I got to the lounge? Well, got myself a giant cup of Saudi coffee of course!
Woohoo! Sounds like a great start to your trip. We’re looking forward to following along. It seems like your airline coffee was a hit… someone we know refuses to drink airline coffee, maybe this will change there mind 🙂
Hope you’re last flight goes well and enjoy your first day in Thailand!
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Looks amazing! I tried a couple cardamom seeds in my coffee grinder. Not sure I tasted the cardamom but it smelled good and I know now you have to remove the husk from the pod before grinding now…